On Friday night in the first round of CIF playoffs, Mission Prep scored three unanswered touchdowns to go up 21-7 at halftime. Unfortunately for the Royals, Aquinas scored three unanswered touchdowns of their own to beat Mission Prep 28-21.

Mission might have gone up by three touchdowns just before the half, but officials ruled Patrick Miller’s catch in the end zone incomplete. A subsequent Mission Prep field goal attempt failed and the Royals led by just 14 at halftime.

Mission Prep finishes the season 8-3 and won the Northern League title.

Photos by Owen Main – Click here for all photos

On Friday night, Mission Prep football completed an undefeated Northern League season, beating Morro Bay 54-19. The game was close in the first quarter until Morro Bay lost starting quarterback Isaac Manuputy. Mission dominated the second quarter en route to the big win, including consecutive interception returns for touchdowns by the defense.

The Royals finished the regular season 8-2 and will host a CIF playoff game Friday against Aquinas (San Bernardino).

Mission Prep quarterback Bryce Fledderman threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns on Friday night. By Owen Main

On Friday night, Mission Prep used a big performance from quarterback Bryce Fledderman to improve their record to 3-0 on the young season. The Royals, who won just four games a year ago, have a defense that gets off the field on third  down and an offense that has been able to consistently move the ball.

Fledderman’s 295-yard, three-touchdown performance will make defenses have to respect the Royals’ passing game along with a running game that has been very efficient so far in this young season.

Mission, which has two more games before the start of league play, will host Sierra Canyon on Friday.

Photos by Owen Main – click here

Friday’s game had everything a fan could want from a high school football game, including the renewal of an old rivalry. By Owen Main

It brought me back to the days of the Central Coast League.

I’ll admit it — I’m as myopic as anyone can be about high school sports, but as I watched the football game between Mission Prep and Templeton, memories were flooding.

Back in the 1990’s, there was a league called the Central Coast League. It included, for a short time, Mission Prep, Morro Bay, and Templeton, which are all members of the revamped Northern League. The fourth team was Coast Union (where I went to school).

The final year of the Central Coast League — I think it was the fall of 1995 — saw Templeton lose to Morro Bay in the CIF Section Championship game, which was played at Cal Poly.

The following year, Morro Bay got back into the Los Padres League and Mission, Templeton, and Coast Union made the switch to the Central Section, where they added Avenal to make up the Coast Sierra League.

Mission’s football was soon an 8-man program before it’s current resurgence. Meanwhile, Templeton just has not stopped growing. (In the mean time, Coast Union’s enrollment has shrunk and it is now an 8-man program).

With that background, it was really fun to watch these two old rivals square-off on Friday night. The game had all the elements of a classic.

Tie scores. Both teams answering a touchdown by scoring touchdowns of their own. Big pass plays and tough, hard hits. It was everything that a league game is supposed to be — and neither team backed down.

In the end, the last pass of the game sailed just a bit high and Templeton escaped with the 41-34 victory. The message for me was clear: this league is going to be fun. Nobody’s going to back down.

Photos by Owen Main

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Dyllan Smiley led the Royals in rushing on Friday, but Bishop Diego was too much. By Owen Main

It was homecoming on Friday at Mission Prep. After the homecoming festivities were done, the Royals came out and ran into a team that executed a strong passing game. Bishop Diego held Mission scoreless in the first half en route to a 31-14 victory in San Luis Obispo.

Mission was ready for Bishop Diego’s running game, but a few receivers got open downfield to cause huge problems for the Royals. Alvoid Bennett stood out for the Cardinals as an especially elusive target. He’s definitely the fastest players I’ve seen in high school this season.

As for Mission, they did get their offense going late in the first half and put up a pair of touchdowns in the second, but four turnovers are too much for anyone to overcome.

Dyllan Smiley netted 75 rushing yards and Jack Balentine rushed for another 64 for Mission.

The Royals will visit Templeton next week in their league-opener.

Photos by Owen Main

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