Modesto Junior College ends season with huge win over in Gridiron Classic

The third name listed on the Modesto Junior College football roster is Dan Velasquez, wide receiver.

He is neither Dan nor a wide receiver.

“He wants me to go by Dan,” said quarterback Danny Velasquez, pointing to coach Rusty Stivers following the Pirates’ 73-41 thrashing of Diablo Valley College in Saturday night’s Gridiron Classic at MJC stadium. “He thinks Dan sounds older.”

Velasquez, who prefers to go by Danny, was pressed into action under center when a rash of injuries decimated the depth chart early in the season. It wasn’t entirely a new proposition for the true freshman out of Turlock High. He played the position during his senior season – winning Central California Conference MVP honors along the way – after playing flanker and running back in previous years.

Modesto has not started a true freshman at quarterback since 2003, which probably is why Stivers wanted Velasquez to “sound” older.

“Basically we were breaking in a brand new quarterback on the fly,” said Stivers, whose team finished the season 6-5. “There was no training camp for him. Usually, our quarterbacks have from January to August (to prepare).

Velasquez carried the ball 13 times Saturday for 196 yards and two touchdown runs and completed 5 of 10 passes for 191 yards and one TD pass. He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player for his performance.

Devan Bass, a high school rival of Velasquez’s at Pitman High last year, carried the ball 21 times for 231 yards and four touchdowns and earned Offensive Player of the Game distinction. Sauvao Vaatofu was named the Defensive Player of the Game for MJC.

Bass and Velasquez are expected to return next year to form a dynamic, more experienced combination.

“Yeah, it’s exciting, but it’s a slow process,” said Velasquez. “You’ve got to keep working hard, get in the training room and definitely watch a lot of film, too.”

The game began to slow down for Velasquez during the loss to Fresno City a month ago. A week later, the Pirates faced Laney College, an eventual qualifier for the state playoffs, in Oakland. The Eagles’ defense yielded just 16 points per contest in the regular season.

“The Laney game was easy,” said Velasquez. “We really kept it simple and ran our basic offense to perfection.”

The Pirates scored more points against Laney in a 41-33 loss than anybody in the regular season. They followed that up with a 63-45 win over San Joaquin Delta and then 73 on Saturday afternoon. That’s an average of 56 points per contest over the final three weeks of the season. With more preparation and more reps, Stivers thinks Velasquez can be a special player.

“He’s cool,” Stivers said of Velasquez. “He’s a running back with the ball in his hands. He can get so much better. He’s just kind of touched on what he can do.”

Against Diablo Valley, Velasquez and Bass got the Pirates off to a hot start.

Bass scored on a 36-yard run less than three minutes into the game, and then Velasquez hit Michael Thompson on a 77-yard scoring strike just about 3 minutes later. Bass punched in his second TD of the game – a dive from the 3 – with 7:41 left in the opening quarter and Noah Preuss plunged in from the 1 with 5:06 remaining to make it 28-0.

“I was surprised a little bit because of what they do defensively,” said Stivers. “But the guys were ready to go. That was fun.”

The sophomores were saluted after the game for their two-year run that included a Valley Conference title and a berth in the state playoffs last season, and Saturday’s bowl victory.

Now Velasquez can start looking to his senior year. But will the former running back return as the top candidate to be the Pirates’ quarterback?

“Oh, I would think so,” said Stivers.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 3:19 AM with the headline "Modesto Junior College ends season with huge win over in Gridiron Classic."