Templeton edges Mission Prep in a thriller

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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