The Bee’s Final Football Rankings | Stanislaus District Top 5 Large, Medium, Small Schools
.JPG "Raiders D’Angelo Bellamy (4) score from 19 yards out to give the Raiders a 10-3 lead in the second quarter in the Section football championship game between Del Oro vs. Central Catholic, at Sacramento State on Saturday, December 1, 2018.")
Here are Julian A. Lopez’s final football rankings.
- Large Schools (Divs. II, III)
Ranking | School | Note |
No. 1 | Central Catholic (11-2) | The Raiders still have a bitter taste in their mouths after falling to Del Oro in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Div. II Championship in the final minute. |
No. 2 | Turlock (8-4) | I am going to miss watching the Jonah Kosakiewicz to Cameran Sherwood connection. |
No. 3 | Merced (10-1) | Merced rolled in the regular season before being upset by River Valley in the first round of the Div. III playoffs. |
No. 4 | Pitman (10-2) | Pitman won 10 games, the school’s most since 2011. |
No. 5 | Downey (7-5) | Downey beat Grant in the first round of the Div. II playoffs. It was the first playoff road win by a Modesto City school since 1999. |
- Medium Schools (Divs. IV, V)
Ranking | School | Note |
No. 1 | Hilmar (13-2) | Seven straight wins to end the season including a Div. VI title and a CIF State Division 6-AA Championship for Hilmar. The Yellowjackets outscored opponents 226-53 in the playoffs. |
No. 2 | Ripon (10-2) | Ripon lost to Bear River in the playoffs for the second straight year. The Indians won a share of the Trans-Valley League title with a win over Modesto Christian to end the regular season. |
No. 3 | Modesto Chr. (10-2) | Modesto Christian lost two of its final three games. The Crusaders will have to replace senior quarterback Hayden Sauser and linebacker Dillon Johnson, among others. |
No. 4 | Escalon (9-3) | The Cougars played Hilmar tough in the Div. VI semifinals. Andrew Beam did a superb job in his first year as head coach. |
No. 5 | Pacheco (9-3) | Pacheco won a share of the Western Athletic Conference title and fell to state champion, Rio Linda, in the playoffs. Head Coach David Snapp stepped down in November. |
- Small Schools (Divs. VI,VII)
Ranking | School | Note |
No. 1 | Ripon Chr. (12-1) | The Knights were the most dominant small-school in the area by a wide margin. They only had one win decided by 10 points or less. Ripon Christian lost to Hilmar in Div. VI championship. |
No. 2 | Denair (12-1) | After a two-win season in 2017, the Coyotes not only won the Div. VII championship but they won the CIF State Division 7-AA Championship as well. |
No. 3 | Big Valley Chr. (9-2) | The Lions won the Central California Athletic Alliance League title and earned the No. 2 seed in Div. VII but fell to Golden Sierra in the semifinals. Brian Berkefeld has built a stellar program. |
No. 4 | Orestimba (7-4) | Orestimba had a tough stretch where it lost back-to-back games against Ripon Christian and Denair but won three straight to end the regular season before falling to Los Banos in Div. V playoffs. |
No. 5 | Waterford (7-5) | Waterford lost four of its final five games to end the season. |