Football Preview: Morro Bay Pirates vs. Atascadero Greyhounds
The Morro Bay Pirates will face off against the Atascadero Greyhounds at 7:00 a.m. on Friday. Morro Bay is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 26.9 points per game this season.
Having struggled with three losses in a row, Morro Bay finally turned things around against Santa Maria on Friday. They blew past the Saints 46-13 on the road. The Pirates might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three games by 22 points or more this season.
Sands Dougherty was his usual excellent self, throwing for 380 yards and four touchdowns while completing 84.6% of his passes, and also rushing for 70 yards and a touchdown. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 300.1 passing yards per game. Ryder Busch was Dougherty's top target, picking up 90 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Atascadero entered their tilt with Righetti on Friday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Warriors , sneaking past 20-17.
Atascadero had a senior duo take command as Josiah Gaona rushed for 127 yards and Austin Smith rushed for 58 yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Gaona a new career-high in rushing yards.
Atascadero was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 248 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 187 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Morro Bay's victory bumped their record up to 3-5. As for Atascadero, their win bumped their record up to 5-3.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Morro Bay has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 300.1 passing yards per game. Atascadero, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 213 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Morro Bay came up short against Atascadero when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 35-26. Thankfully for Morro Bay, Kane Cooks (who rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 172 yards and a touchdown on only ten passes) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
