Led by ground game, MJC football team ranked No. 10 in nation; men’s soccer unbeaten
The ground game has the Modesto Junior College football team flying high with a No. 10 national ranking, according to JC Gridiron.
Danny Velasquez (Turlock HS) and Michael Ramos (Lathrop HS) lead with way, averaging 104.7 and 103.7 yards a game, respectively.
The Pirates play at American River on Saturday at 1 p.m.
No. 1 Riverside City, No. 5 Saddleback and No. 6 San Mateo are the teams ranked above the Pirates in the Gridiron poll.
The Pirates (3-0), coming off a 23-20 victory over City College of San Francisco, are No. 3 in the California Community College Sports Information Association poll and No. 4 in the JC Athletic Bureau poll.
The defense, led by lineman Antonio Pule and linebackers Jahssiah Maiava and Ferrin G. Manuleleua (Manteca), the team’s leading tackler, has allowed the fifth lowest rushing yards in Northern California.
Soccer: The Pirates are 6-0-1 as they enter Big 8 Conference play Friday at Santa Rosa Junior College. They’re ranked ninth in the state and fourth in Northern California, according to the latest CCCAA poll. Hilmar grad Bryan Millan leads the team with nine goals. ... The women’s team (4-3-1, 1-2 Big Eight) plays Friday at 1 p.m. on the west campus against Folsom Lake after coming off a 5-0 loss to Cosumnes River.
Wrestling: The wresting team was first at the Mount San Antonio College Duals, defeating Santa Ana College, East Los Angeles College and Mount San Antonio. Houson Scibek, Rainier Colina, Devin Holman, Ivan Gomez (Waterford) and Kevin Fernandez (El Capitan) went undefeated. MJC competes this week at Lemoore against West Hills College.
Cross country: The women finished second at the eight-team Lou Vasquez Invitational at Golden Gate Park last week. Aryana Perillo (Modesto HS) was sixth in in the 5K at 20 minutes, 46 seconds, a personal record on the course. The No. 5 Pirates beat two teams ranked ahead of them in the NorCal polls. Meanwhile, the men finished sixth out of 12 teams with Bryce Pasquale (Tracy HS) finishing 21st over the 4-mile course in 22:06. The Pirates are home on Friday at the MJC Invitational at Legion Park. The women’s race starts at 3:30 p..m, the men at 4:15 p.m.
Elsewhere: The Pirate women’s golf team finished fifth at the North South Invitational at Morro Bay with Natalie Cowan (East Union) finishing sixth overall ... The men’s and women’s water polo teams hosted their first home game in two years at Stanislaus State last week. The men lost to American River College 10-15 and the women fell short 8-10.