Johnston victorious in return to Davis

It had been a decade between wins for Davis High football coach Len Johnston, but Friday's night's 51-7 win over Ceres at Johansen High made it worth the wait.

Quarterback John Woody threw for four touchdown passes and Wade Bettencourt scored three times for the Spartans, who dominated from start to finish in Johnston's return to the Davis sideline.

"It's nice to get back in coaching, but what makes it even better, is that we have a great group of kids and a great coaching staff," said Johnston. "But it's nice to be back, no doubt about it."

Bettencourt opened the scoring with a 17-yard scoring scamper midway through the first quarter, then caught a 40-yard TD pass from Woody three minutes later. Davis went up 20-0 on a 28-yard Woody scoring strike to Cody Neuner, who caught the ball at the Ceres 10-yard line, then carried half the Bulldogs defense with him into the end zone.

Woody, finished 8 of 10 for 141 yards, continued to have the hot hand in the second quarter, connecting with Jordan Wyrick on a 22-yard TD completion that made it 27-0. Bettencourt capped the first-half scoring spree with a 5-yard TD run on an option from backup quarterback Adam Ragsdale that increased the lead to 34-0.

By the time the smoke had cleared, Davis had outgained Ceres 319 yards to 73 after two quarters.

"Davis just played a great game," said Ceres coach Brett Johnson. "It was just one of those games where nothing seemed to click from the start and it just got worse from there.

"We just have to put this behind us and go back to the drawing board."

During the 1990s, Johnston guided the Spartans to a 72-29-1 record and six Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berths. Over the past seven seasons, Davis had gone 36-37-1.

Woody continued to torch the Bulldogs defense in the third quarter, hooking up with Demetrius Prunty on a 25-yard TD pass. Jackson Meyer, Davis' third-string quarterback, got in on the fun with a 16-yard scoring run in the game's final two minutes to cap the scoring.

"I thought John Woody played really well, and the offensive line played a lot better than I thought they would," said Johnston.

Ceres avoided a shutout when receiver Justin Canatsy hauled in a dart from quarterback Josh Edwards in the back of the end zone, somehow keeping his feet in bounds while snaring the ball with his fingertips a la Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes in last year's Super Bowl, that covered 14 yards.

Both teams were without their stars. Ceres linebacker Hadon Lopez missed the game with a knee injury, while Davis was minus running back Xevion Vega, who sprained his ankle on Tuesday, and wide receiver Lance Castaneda, who has been battling a groin pull for two weeks. Johnston said Castaneda should be able to play next week.

"It's nice to get that first win, now we can concentrate on the things we need to work on to get better," said Johnston.