With a team's greatest improvement always coming between the first and second weeks of the season, bank on Modesto Junior College playing a perfect football game next weekend.
Nothing less could be considered an improvement over the effort the Pirates made Saturday in notching an impressive 26-13 victory over San Joaquin Delta before about 2,500 fans at MJC Stadium.
"Delta is very well-coached, which means we have to play flawless ball, and what made the difference is that we didn't have any turnovers," said Pirates' coach Sam Young. "For an opener, we're very, very pleased with the progress the players have made."
In defeating the Mustangs for the first time in three years in this now-traditional opener, the Pirates rolled up 362 yards to Delta's 190. But more important was the refined game of keep-away MJC was able to play.
In holding an 81-57 advantage in offensive plays, Modesto was able to control the ball for 38 minutes, 11 seconds. That, combined with a near-complete stifling of Delta's big play offense made this a rather dramatic turnaround from last year's 39-20 loss in Stockton.
"Last year we had a real rough game up there," said sophomore linebacker Keith Yamamoto. "We thought we were going in there strong, with a lot of sophomores. But it's nice to get redemption for that with a nice, solid defensive win."
And don't forget about the offense, which flirted with some perfection of its own.
Sophomore quarterback Greg Panelli was in complete control of the Pirates' short passing game, completing 21 of 24 passes for 224 yards and two scores. The three incompletions came on two drops and a pass batted down at the line of scrimmage.
"We've been practicing a lot, going over and over the same basic plays," Panelli said. "It was tougher for us because we didn't have a scrimmage this year, but everybody was excited to finally get to play against another team."
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Modesto was impressive early, jumping out to a 20-0 first quarter lead, but equally as important was the way the Pirates were able to control the clock with a fourth quarter lead. Forced to pass, Delta ran 13 plays and gained minus-7 yards in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Modesto's final 17 plays in the game all were rushing plays, and they gained 55 clock-chewing yards.
The Mustangs had a chance in the third quarter to climb back into the game. They whittled the 20-0 deficit to 20-13 in the opening five minutes of the third quarter on the second field goal of the game from Edson Ortiz.
But MJC needed to answer with one more score, and it did, driving 74 yards on five plays, with a 43-yard pass from Panelli to Joe Baker the big gainer as the lead was built back up to 13 points.
From there, Delta was forced to pass, and Modesto's pressure kept quarterback Pietro Murdaca from finding his primary targets. He was sacked five times, three in the second half.
"It was the game plan," Yamamoto said. "You could see how their offensive line was kept off-balance with our blitzes, and sometimes it looked like their quarterback didn't know what was going on. We just executed the game plan, and that's why we were effective."
The Pirates played nearly flawless football in the first quarter to take a 20-0 lead. The moved 50 yards in nine plays on their second possession for the season's first score, a 4-yard quick-look seam pass from Panelli to Carlos Acosta.
It took only 17 seconds for MJC to reach the end zone again, as Yamamoto intercepted Murdaca on the next play, setting up a quick seam pass from Panelli to Mike Ward for a 34-yard score.
The Pirates weren't done, holding the Mustangs without a first down for a third straight possession, then taking over just outside the 10 after a short punt and a Delta personal foul.
Casey Cotta took over from there, carrying five straight plays and scoring from the 1 with 30 seconds left in the first quarter. The conversion try of Matt Burkett hit the right upright, but the Pirates were in control.
"As a sophomore, I had an idea of how it was going to be tonight," Panelli said. "Delta always finds a way to make big plays. We just did the right things to keep them from doing that."
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