Modesto JC football opens Valley Conference with key win over Fresno City College
One can argue the annual Valley Conference game against Fresno City College is the most important game on the Modesto JC football team’s schedule.
And Saturday, after a 20-7 win over the Rams, the coaches, players and fans celebrated like it.
The postgame huddle was extra loud, filled with players yelling, coaches high-fiving and smiles from ear to ear.
“I don’t know how far we look back, but as far as I can remember, when we were in the Valley Conference, it was either us or Fresno,” Pirates head coach Rusty Stivers said. “Fresno has been the team that we’ve kind of looked up to to try to raise our level of play. It’s always been kind of like trying to catch up.”
The Pirates (4-2, 1-0 Valley Conference ) were dominant in the Saturday afternoon game, their fifth straight win over the Rams (2-4, 0-1). After a scoreless first quarter, the two teams entered halftime knotted at 7-7. A 13-point third quarter proved to be the difference, as the Pirates scored a pair of touchdowns, drilled an extra point and held Fresno City scoreless in the second half to secure the victory.
MJC was one of three Valley Conference teams to start conference play with a win as College of the Sequoias beat Sacramento City and Monterey Peninsula beat Reedley to stay a perfect 6-0 on the season overall.
The Pirates’ next game is Saturday at home against Reedley at 1 p.m. for homecoming.
Players stepped up to secure the victory
The Pirates came out victorious despite an injury-riddled season that Stivers said has included losing players on the offensive line and several defensive players. Because of a midsection injury, opening-day starting running back Bryson Davis, who had 452 rushing yards and six touchdowns the first three games, has not played more than a few snaps in the last three contests.
Though it is tough to replace Davis’ production with just one player, a pair of MJC sophomores gave plenty of offensive production. Enochs graduate Aiden Muhammad rushed for 157 yards and a touchdown and Hilmar alum Caden Bailey took 15 attempts on the ground for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback DayDay Tafoya completed 10 of 13 passes for 113 yards and rushed for 70 yards and another score.
A 98-yard drive spanning 6 minutes, 14 seconds from the end of the first quarter through the start of the second resulted in the Pirates’ first score. Muhammad rushed five times on the drive, including punching in a four-yard touchdown run to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead.
“He’s continued to just improve,” Stivers said of Muhammad. “He was a little tentative at the beginning of the season, but at some point just turned it on and has just been stuck there and has been playing well.”
Fresno answered with a 12-play, 88-yard scoring drive capped by a Ya’j Vance’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Jacob English.
In the third quarter, Bailey, who has played everywhere from receiver to running back during his MJC career, scored on a 15-yard run. After a successful extra point, the Pirates retook the lead at 14-7. Tafoya put the game away with a 15-yard run with 1:43 left in the quarter.
“When Bryson got hurt, we needed (Bailey) because he was quite the running back,” Stivers said.
The Pirates’ defensive line tandem of Jalonn Booth and LeBron Stallworth continued to make it tough on opposing offenses. Stallworth had seven tackles and Booth had six tackles, one sack, four tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a pair of quarterback hurries.
The Pirates outgained the Rams 450-236 in total offensive yards on the afternoon.
“We couldn’t pass the ball in spring football because we had nobody who could block Jalonn and LeBron,” Stivers said. “They go two or three holding calls, it’s awesome.”
Moving forward
Stivers couldn’t even think about the order of the Pirates’ remaining opponents. All he was focused on was taking the season one week at a time. Beating Fresno was the most important thing.
The Pirates are in position to capture the fifth straight conference title, but in order to do that, they’ll have to keep winning. This Saturday is homecoming, where they’ll host Reedley and honor the 1995 Central Valley Conference champion football team at halftime. Players, coaches and cheerleaders from that team are expected to be in attendance. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
Two of the Pirates’ last three games are on the road as they travel to Sacramento City College on Oct. 25 and College of the Sequoias on Nov. 8. Sandwiched between the road contests is the final home contest of the 2025 regular season against Monterey Peninsula on Nov. 1.
The Pirates have won back-to-back outright Valley Conference titles and have shared two titles with Fresno.
