Buhach Colony slugs it out against Turlock, but kickoff return sparks Bulldogs’ win

The Turlock High defense lived up to its billing and the Bulldogs special teams provided the spark as Jordan Porter returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown as Turlock opened Central California Conference play with a 21-10 victory over Buhach Colony on Friday night at Dave Honey Stadium.

Bulldogs safety Dustin Grein preserved the victory by intercepting a Clay Abrams’ fourth-down pass and returning it to the Thunder 2-yard line with just under a minute left in the game.

“Our defense makes big plays,” Grein said. “That’s Turlock football. We have a lot of guys that want to hit. Our offense was a little better. We moved the ball down the field. It just gets tough for us in the red zone.”

It was a tough loss to stomach for Buhach Colony (2-3, 0-1 CCC).

The Thunder had the momentum at the half.

Buhach Colony took advantage of a Turlock fumble early in the second quarter as Seth Duran pounced on the loose ball at the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line.

Two plays later, Clay Abrams plunged in the end zone from 1-yard out to give BC a 7-6 lead with 9:56 left in the half.

Buhach Colony later blocked a Dallin Tilby 38-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter. The Thunder took over from their 36 and drove down the field in the final 30 seconds and Solomon Her booted a 36-yard field goal to give Buhach Colony a 10-6 lead at the half.

“I told our guys to take a moment and remember everything about tonight,” said Thunder coach Kevin Navarra. “If this doesn’t drive you to wake up at 6:25 to lift weight or get out to practice when it’s too hot nothing will. One or two plays and this game could have gone the other way. You just went toe to toe with the team everyone expects to win it all.”

The Thunder lost the momentum on the kickoff to open the second half as Potter returned it 86 yards up the Bulldogs sideline for the touchdown.

Suddenly Turlock (3-2, 1-0) had a 14-10 lead after Dominic Nunes ran in the two-point conversion.

“At halftime I told our guys just don’t panic,” Turlock coach James Peterson said. “Stay the course. We got some things fixed up front. We didn’t have to make many changes on defense. Of course that’s a big play by the special teams to start it off.”

The Thunder got another scoring opportunity midway through the third quarter when Mark Flores fumbled to set up the BC offense at the Bulldogs’ 14-yard line.

However, the Turlock defense responded by pushing the Thunder offense backward the first two plays and then the Bulldogs pounced on a BC fumble to stop the drive.

The Thunder had one final shot when the Buhach Colony defense made another stop. The Thunder started their final drive at their own 11 and drove close to midfield before facing a fourth-and-six situation with about 1 minute left.

That’s when Grein sealed the victory by intercepting his former teammate at Turlock. Abrams attended Turlock High as a freshmen and sophomore before transferring to Buhach Colony.

Abrams and Grein were two of the three freshmen called up to the JV team 3 years ago.

“Back in the day at Turlock Junior High, Clay was the president and I was the vice president,” Grein said.

Grein said he almost had an interception on second down but a teammate tipped the ball. He was the fourth-down play develop in front of him.

“It was fourth down and I knew they were going to run a pick play,” Grein said. “I was No. 2 (Brandon Ruiz) trying to pick me. I got away and saw No. 3 (Brendan Ekizian) go to the middle of the field. I saw (Abrams) was looking at him. I just broke on the ball. My calves cramped up the whole way or I would have scored. I still thought I got in.”

Tyler Etheridge scored on the next play to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 21-10 with 53 seconds remaining.

“Turlock for years has had big, fast players,’ Navarra said “Dustin Grein was everything I thought he’d be. He’s a great player.”

Turlock will host El Capitan (2-3, 1-0), which defeated Golden Valley 31-0 on Friday night. Buhach Colony will try to bounce back against Golden Valley.

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 11:43 PM with the headline "Buhach Colony slugs it out against Turlock, but kickoff return sparks Bulldogs’ win."