Photo by Aaron Crutchfield - Atascadero running back Nick Tenhaeff drags a Sanger defender along for a 39-yard run during the Greyhounds’ 20-7 win over the Apaches on Friday.

After a scoreless first half, the Atascadero High School varsity football team got a spark from a kickoff return for a touchdown by Sterling Bullard, and a pair of Nick Tenhaeff touchdowns sent the homecoming crowd home happy after a 20-7 win over Sanger.

“We played a great defensive game,” said Atascadero coach Vic Cooper. “Offensively, we’re making a lot of mental mistakes and we’re making a lot of stupid plays, things we’ve got to fix.”

The Greyhounds had a pair of scoring chances in the first half. A missed 41-yard field goal on their first drive of the night and a dropped 48-yard pass in the end zone midway through the second quarter stymied the drives. Tenhaeff had a 39-yard run in which he dragged the pile of defenders for at least 20 yards, but Atascadero only totaled 54 yards on the rest of its first-half plays.

Meanwhile, the Hounds took some time to adjust to defending Sanger’s Wing-T offense. The Apaches regularly ran the ball for four or more yards in the early going, with the game’s first play from scrimmage being an 11-yard run. The first drive for Sanger ended when a four-yard loss on a fumble set up fourth-and-six and the pass fell incomplete.

But by the end of the game, the Apaches had amassed 133 yards rushing, only 37 of which came in the second half. Meanwhile, Sanger quarterback Aaron Perez went 0-for-9 passing with two interceptions.

“It’s tough to practice against an offense like that,” Tenhaeff said. “We don’t have a scout team offense that runs it as well as they do.”

Atascadero’s final possession of the first half ended with a fumble with 12.5 seconds left, and Sanger had a pair of incomplete passes before Evan Hicks intercepted a pass as time expired. Then, the Hounds went to the locker room to prepare for the second half.

“I think we made limited adjustments,” Cooper said. “Defensively, we just made a few tweaks here and there and we tried to account for the fact that their coaching staff was going to be in there making adjustments. It’s a little chess game, trying to figure out what their adjustments are going to be so we had a counter to it.”

Bullard then took the opening kickoff of the second half, broke a couple of tackles, then found an open field for a 98-yard return for a touchdown.

“I was thanking the Lord, that he gave me strength to get all the way down the field,” Bullard said.

After forcing the Apaches into a three-and-out on their next possession, the Hounds appeared to be in business until quarterback Brad Smet threw an interception that was returned 48 yards. Smet made the touchdown-saving tackle at the 13-yard line, but Sanger tied the score two plays later.

The Hounds were driving again on their next possession until a questionable fumble call ended the drive. But another Apache three-and-out neutralized that threat.

On the next drive, Smet completed a 33-yard pass to Conner Allen and Tenhaeff had a 14-yard run to help set up his own two-yard touchdown run with 11:09 left in the fourth quarter. Nathan Stein’s extra-point kick put the Hounds’ lead at 14-7.

Tenhaeff then broke off a 38-yard touchdown run with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

The kickoff return for a touchdown was the second of the season for Bullard; he also returned one for a score on Sept. 19 against Gilroy.

“Both of them have been real big,” Cooper said. “He’s a guy that doesn’t go down real easily.”

Tenhaeff finished with a season-high 197 yards rushing, 137 of them after halftime, while Smet went 5-for-8 passing for 57 yards.

With the win, the Hounds’ first at home, Atascadero improved to 3-2 overall at the conclusion of nonleague play. The Hounds, hoping to win their third straight PAC 7 title, will head to Santa Maria on Friday, Oct. 17 to take on Righetti in the league opener for both teams. The Warriors beat Dos Pueblos 14-0 last week.