What are some storylines to watch for Stanislaus District football in 2018? Here are a few.

The off-season is finally over. No more scrimmages, no more 7-on-7s. Games now count. With the high school football season set to begin on Friday — or Saturday, if you’re Modesto High — here are some story lines to look for in 2018.

1) Quarterback Battles

There are a couple of quarterback battles going on right now in the Modesto area. At Central Catholic, juniors Dalton Durossette, Dylan Everhard, and Kyle Jackson are all competing for the starting signal-caller job for the Raiders. Durossette has the most experience of the trio as he threw for 1,709 yards and 16 touchdowns last year while at Ceres. With senior Bryce Peterson moving to wide receiver, junior Bryce Gouker and freshman Beau Green are battling it out at Downey. Gouker played a little bit for the Knights last year and Green has a big arm and good accuracy. With Bobby Avina now at Arizona State, junior Baker Melendez is the favorite to start for Gregori but the Jaguars could run some packages with all-purpose senior Marcello Longstreth lined up at QB.

2) Look out for the Davis Spartans

They are coming off of a 3-7 season but there is a lot of optimism around the Davis program. First, they added legendary Central Catholic Mike Glines in the off-season as defensive coordinator. Senior quarterback Xavier Rodriguez, who threw for over 1,900 yards last year, is also returning and with the Spartans leaving the tough Modesto Metro Conference — where they struggled — for the Western Athletic Conference, Davis could make some noise in the WAC with head coach Tim Garcia and Rodriguez leading the charge.

3) Can Central Catholic survive their non-conference schedule?

Last year’s combined record of Central Catholic’s non-conference opponents is 36-14. Roger Canepa said this is “one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the state” and easily the hardest one he has scheduled as head coach of the Raiders. The Raiders start their season at Clovis West before heading to nationally-ranked De La Salle the following week and then host St. Mary’s in the Holy Bowl before ending their non-league scheduled against Lincoln at home. If Central Catholic comes away with four or five wins, the Raiders could be in store for a special season. It doesn’t get easier for Central Catholic as their first league game is against Manteca, the defending SJS Division III champions.

4) How will Oakdale replace the production of Cherry and Jacobson?

Cameron Cherry and Josh Jacobson combined for over 3,800 yards and 58 touchdowns last year for Mustangs. Now with the loss of both running backs along with two-year starting quarterback Marc Dickson, Oakdale has a lot of production that they have to replace on the offensive side of the ball. Sophomore running back Zeke Saffar is perhaps the next breakout running back for the Mustangs. Coach Trent Merzon “loved ” where his team was at after their scrimmage against Tracy last Saturday.

5) Playoff Format Changes

Only 12 teams will make the playoffs in Divisions I through VI instead of 16. Bylaw 2007.8 was revised at the Board of Mangers Meeting on April 4 which will now give the top four seeds automatic byes in the first round as opposed to playing the 13-16 seeds in the past. Also, each league will only get one automatic qualifier instead of two and the rest of the bracket will be at-large teams. The new format will create more of a competitive equity as 1 vs. 16 and 2 vs. 15 games tended to be more blowouts and also lacked in attendance.

6) Declining football numbers causing problems among lower levels

For the third straight year, the number of athletes playing football declined. At Beyer, Doug Severe said it was a tough summer but he hopes they could field all three levels. Tim Garcia said the early start to the season will mean kids that join the freshman team when school started on Monday will have to sit out the first two games. Some teams in the WAC have discussed combining their JV and freshman teams to form one team.

7) What can Big Valley Christian do in Brian Berkefeld’s second year?

In his first year at the helm of the Lions, Berkefeld led his team to a 9-2 finish. Now, with the return of junior quarterback Gunner Selover (927 passing yards, and 14 touchdowns) and junior running back Javyn Drobnick (1,608 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns), the Lions look to get back to the Division VII title game for the first time since 2015. Big Valley Christian hosts Stone Ridge Christian on Sept. 28, a game that could pit two of the best teams in the division and league against each other.

8) Modesto Christian tight end/defensive end Xavier Carlton

At 6-7 and 245 pounds, Modesto Christian junior Xavier Carlton is a physical force and already has offers from Arizona, Oregon, and Notre Dame among others, according to 247 Sports. Carlton had 82 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, and six sacks in 2017 as well as 14 receptions for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns. Carlton is listed as one of the best recruits in the Class of 2020 by 247Sports and it’s not far fetched to think that he will have double-digit sacks and double-digit touchdowns this year.

9) New coaches in the Trans Valley League

Andrew Beam (Escalon) and Shaun King (Hughson) are the two new faces in the TVL. Beam takes over for legendary Mark Loureiro while King replaced Vince Brown, who left after two years. Beam will have junior running back Kaden Christensen (13 total touchdowns) to rely on while King will look to help the Huskies get their first winning season since 2015.

10) Thursday Night Games

Due, in part, to the split of the MMC with some teams heading to the CCAL and some to the WAC and the lack of stadiums for Modesto public schools, there will be four Thursday Night games in Modesto this year. They are: Weston Ranch at Gregori (Sept. 13), Downey at Enochs (Oct. 4), Enochs at Modesto (Oct. 18), and Beyer at Johansen (Oct. 25). There was one regular-season Thursday game in Modesto last year and two in 2016.

Thanks for your strong interest in local journalism. We rely on readers like you more than ever before, and we currently offer free access to five stories a month. We hope you see value in supporting us further with a digital subscription to help ensure we can provide strong local journalism for many years to come.