Lopez’s look back, look ahead: Pitman continues to roll, Oakdale falters

Even with a 38-6 win over Enochs, Pitman head coach Tom Tyler was less than thrilled with his team’s performance on Friday.

“I didn’t think we were as prepared mentality,” Tyler said on Saturday morning. “We didn’t have that edge that we normally have and Enochs was ready to play.”

Tyler attributes the slow start to the bye week last week but said his team had “a really good second quarter”, when the Pride scored 23 unanswered points.

“I think we are pretty well balanced,” Tyler said. “We are not giving up long drives on defense but it’s still a work in progress.”

Big Valley Christian’s House overcomes sickness in win over Stone Ridge Christian

Big Valley Christian junior linebacker Blade House felt fine all day on Friday and went through warm-ups with no issues but as the game started he was “sick as a dog and throwing up on the field and on the sidelines” Lions coach Brian Berkefeld said.

The sickness didn’t stop House from playing the entire game as the Lions won 26-10 over Stone Ridge Christian to take over first place in the Central California Athletic Alliance league.

“It was a really big win for us,” Berkefeld said. “We are not done yet, though.”

Junior running back Javyn Drobnick had 240 rushing yards and three touchdowns and as a team, the Lions finished with 315 yards on the ground.

Merzon remains upbeat despite Oakdale’s loss to Manteca

Even with the 19-14 loss to the Buffaloes on Friday, Mustangs head coach Trent Merzon was in a positive mood on Saturday.

“We grew up a little bit last night,” Merzon said. “There is a lot of season left and we came so close.”

Oakdale trailed by five with a little under three minutes left and had the ball inside Manteca’s 10-yard line but was unable to convert on fourth down.

“We finish that drive, we win that football game,” Merzon said.

Turlock players are eager for rest of CCAL season

Even after a dramatic 30-24 win over Downey on Friday, Turlock senior defensive end Garret Fountain and junior offensive lineman Everett Johnson know there more football to be played and they can’t celebrate the first league win for long.

“We are feeling great,” Johnson said. “We are going right back to work on Monday. We’ve got a tough Modesto team and we just have to be prepared to play another good team.”

Fountain, who made the game-ending interception, was “fired up” after the win.

“Words can’t describe how pumped I am for the rest of the season,” Fountain said.

Changes to the Rankings

All of the top spots in the large, medium, and small school rankings remained the same after Week 7 but several teams fell out of the rankings while others made their debuts.

• In the large school rankings, Downey dropped out while Turlock (No. 4) and Gregori (No. 5) entered the rankings for the first time this year.
• There are now two Western Athletic Conference teams in the medium school rankings with Mountain House (No. 4) and Pacheco (No. 5). They play each other at Pacheco on Oct. 12.
• Four of the five teams in the small school rankings are from the Southern League. They are: Ripon Christian (No. 1), Orestimba (No. 2), Denair (No. 4) and Waterford (No. 5).

Notable games next week

The second week of the Central California Athletic League will bring us more exciting matchups and fans will have an opportunity to see games on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, Downey hosts Enochs in a battle of two teams who are coming off of losses. The game of the week is at Joe Debely Stadium on Friday when Gregori travels to face Pitman. The Pride have started the season 6-0 while the Jaguars have rebounded from an 0-2 start to win their last four games.

In the Trans-Valley League, Hilmar hosts Hughson in a game that could eliminate one team from a potential league championship. Both teams already have one league loss.