Atascadero Greyhounds advance to second round of CIF playoffs
Trejo and Gaona shine as Atascadero offense finds its stride
– Coming into their first Division V CIF Central Section Playoff game against the Liberty Hawks, the Atascadero High School Greyhounds had lost their last two games, dealing with injuries across the lineup.
However, the Greyhounds showed resilience and posted a dominant second half en route to their first playoff victory of the postseason.
The Hawks came out fast, scoring on their third offensive play as quarterback Adrian Vasquez found senior runningback Talan Lamattina wide open down the seam for a 42-yard touchdown.
Lamattina, a star player for Liberty, dominated both sides of the ball in the first half, scoring on offense and heading the defense as a middle linebacker.
With one of their top runners, Joseph Hyde, back from injury, the Greyhounds found success in the ground game and earned some first downs on offense, but Lamattina and Liberty used their size to bat down passes at the line of scrimmage to force Atascadero punts.
It became a defensive battle, as senior cornerback Ethan Blais made multiple plays for the Greyhounds, nearly earning an interception and preventing LIberty from scoring.
It took a bad punt for either offense to get on the board again, as Atascadero was given great field position inside Liberty territory.
Quarterback Michael Trejo lobbed a pass to Josiah Gaona down the seam for a 31-yard touchdown, tying the score 7-7.
The Hawks wouldn’t let the tie last long though, as Lamattina bowled defenders over for a big first down run to help LIberty drive down the field. Runningback Shane Williams ran up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown to get the lead back 14-7.
It was clear that if things stayed this way, the Greyhounds would be making an early exit in the first round of the playoffs.
However, coming out of the break, Atascadero looked like a completely different team.
“We knew that they were going to be tough, and we just had to make some adjustments at half time,” Greyhound head coach Dan Loney said.
The Greyhound defense dominated the second half, completely shutting out Liberty for the final two quarters of the game.
Atascadero forced an early three and out, then Trejo took a quarterback keeper 34-yards down the field. Hyde punched a 2-yard touchdown to tie the game once again at 14-14.
Trejo also had a huge second half, extending plays with his legs and rushing for big gains to keep the offense going.
“Between him and Josiah, it’s a good one-two punch,” said Loney. “Mikey (Trejo) does a great job of just staying cool the whole time and reading the field, and he doesn’t ever seem to get rattled.”
Late in the game, Trejo made a big pass to fellow sophomore receiver Jacob Perry that set the ‘Hounds up just inside the Hawk 20-yard line.
The sophomore quarterback took the ball 18 yards on a keeper for the go-ahead touchdown to give the Greyhounds the 21-14 lead.
Liberty drove down the field in a hurry-up offense in order to tie the game with the clock winding down, but the Atascadero defense refused to let up.
Sealed by an interception by junior cornerback Tyson Tenhaeff in the endzone, the Greyhounds advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Loney was proud of the fight his players showed despite dealing with injuries and setbacks.
“I mean, they worked their tails off, you know, all year, since spring last year, and we’ve had a lot of adversities, a lot of ups and downs, and for them to continue to fight and fall behind early just shows you the resiliency that these guys have.”
In the second round, the Greyhounds will look to get revenge on the Morro Bay Pirates after losing to them 54-34 in the regular season. That game will take place at Morro Bay on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.
– Sports report by Mustang News writer Lano Somotun
