Greyhounds end CIF season against Bakersfield

NORTH COUNTY — With winter sports wrapping up CIF games, it proved to be a successful season for North County student-athletes. In Paso Robles, it was the first time in a while that every winter sports team qualified for CIF postseason games.

Paso Robles High School Athletic Director Michael Sauret said, “In addition to that huge accomplishment, however, the teams accumulated some serious hardware throughout the season and we’ll be hanging some new banners in the Gil Asa Gym.”

Sauret rounded up the Bearcats’ wins for the winter sports season:

Competition cheer won the CIF State Competition in its first season at PRHS.

Boys wrestling won the Mountain League title and took several athletes to the Masters and State competitions. The team is headed to the State competition, led by senior Dominic Marquez.

Girls wrestling took one female, Denise De La Cruz Lopez, to the Masters competition and qualified for State.

Girls soccer took their first Ocean League title and qualified as a seventh seed but lost in the first round of the CIF Central Section playoffs against a very strong Righetti team.

Boys soccer had a fantastic season, qualifying as the third seed in the CIF Central Section Division II playoffs. Paso Robles was victorious in defeating Sunnyside in the first round of the playoffs but fell a little short in the second round against Clovis East.

Girls basketball had a strong season, qualifying as the sixth seed in the CIF Central Section Division II tournament, but lost in the first round to Mission Oak.

Boys basketball was in a rebuilding year and despite some of the ups and downs of the season, were able to qualify in the CIF Central Section Division III as the 16th seed.

Templeton excels on and off the court

In Templeton, two more Eagles teams received academic honors.

The Templeton High School boys and girls basketball teams not only had outstanding seasons on the court but also in the classroom. The CIF Central Section just released the top winter sports based on their academic accomplishments. Varsity winter sport athletic teams were ranked based on their team’s unweighted grade point averages.

In the boys basketball academic rankings, Templeton came in with a team GPA of 3.52, just behind Atascadero, who had a 3.59, and Sierra Pacific, who had a 3.54. Among the girls, the Lady Eagles are fourth with a 3.77 team GPA. They finished behind Farmersville (3.93), Exeter Union (3.88), and Liberty Bakersfield (3.82). This is the second year in a row that both the girls and boys basketball teams were ranked in the top five.

This is the third time this year that an Eagles team has been ranked in the top five of the CIF Central Section for their academic achievements. Earlier in the fall, the THS girls tennis team took fourth, behind only Golden West, Liberty, and El Diamante. Last year, the Eagles had a total of eight teams that were ranked.

All four of THS’s winter sports teams made it to the CIF Central Section brackets this year, including the boys and girls basketball and soccer teams.

Atascadero boys basketball reaches CIF semis

The Atascadero Greyhounds boys basketball team ended their season Tuesday night, Feb. 20, when it was eliminated by Bakersfield North 64-53 in the CIF Central Section Division III semifinals.

See our schedule below for the upcoming spring season games for North County schools.

The Atascadero boys basketball team faces off against North High in a CIF Central Section Division III semifinal game in Bakersfield. The Greyhounds fell to the host Stars 64-53. Photos by Rick Evans