Things didn’t start to fall apart for the Templeton High School varsity football team until the second half of the game on Friday night.

Eventually, the Pirates outlasted the Eagles for a 36-26 Los Padres League victory.

The Pirates struck first for a touchdown off a 44-yard run from Trevor Barkas. But the Eagles answered right back with a 15-yard touchdown run from Kris Dearie to put the game at 7-7.

The Pirates retook the lead briefly off a 55-yard run by Wyatt Gerbracht to end the first quarter up 14-7.

Once again the Eagles answered, this time on a a 52-yard pass to Dearie from quarterback Kaleb Sawdey that retied the game at 14-14.

Dearie had 15 carries for 93 yards on the ground and caught two passes for 59, scoring two touchdowns.

The momentum soon stalled for the Eagles as they watched the Pirates move ahead 30-14 in the third quarter on their way to a 36-26 homecoming victory at Morro Bay High School in the second league match up for both teams for the season.

While the Eagles will have to wait another year to try and take back the coveted rivalry trophy, coach Don Crow said the rivalry keeps players focused on the game.

“There’s nothing wrong with hard fought football games,” he said. “When you talk to the Paso guys and the Atascadero guys, and when AG plays SLO, or Lompoc plays Cabrillo, there’s nothing wrong with hard fought football games.”

Crow gave credit to the team that played better football in the game.

“[The Pirates] came out on top tonight, they’re a little more experienced and made a few less mistakes and they won,” he said.

Nearing the end of the third quarter, with the game at 30-20, the Eagles had a chance to close the gap but failed when two consecutive touchdowns were called back due to penalties.

The Eagles got a lucky break when the Pirates fumbled and the Eagles recovered, setting them up at the 18-yard line. Sawdey handed off to Dearie, who ran it in. But that touchdown was called back on a holding penalty against the Eagles.

The Eagles got a second shot at a touchdown when Sawdey connected with Ricky Horn in the end zone. But that touchdown was called back as well on a false start penalty.

The Eagles attempted a field goal on fourth and 20, but it failed.

As a team, the Eagles rushed 42 times for 266 yards. The Pirates rushed 31 times for 419 yards. The Eagles passed for 65 yards, the Pirates for 67 yards.

“We were back-and-forth, back-and-forth, then we’d make a mistake and they’d go in and score,” Crow said. “We’d get a touchdown, then get it called back, so that was tough. Two touchdowns in a row called back hurt us. We have to eliminate those mistakes.”

The Eagles managed a final touchdown on a seven-yard touchdown run from Sawdey to start the fourth, but the Pirates held onto the 36-26 win.

With the loss, the Eagles fell to 1-4 overall, 0-2 in the LPL. With the win, the Pirates improved to 4-1 overall, 2-0 LPL. The Eagles play the Santa Maria Saints on Friday, Oct. 17 at home.



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