Turlock defense dominates Freedom in season-opening win
The recipe for success for Turlock High’s football team over the past few years has been pretty simple — run the football and play great defense.
It sounds easy, but few teams do both as well as Turlock.
Turlock dominated Freedom of Oakley in the Bulldogs’ 21-7 season-opening victory on a hot night at Joe Debely Stadium on Friday.
And they did it with the kind of stout, hard-hitting defense and powerful running attack that Bulldogs fans have become accustomed to.
The only disappointment was that Turlock’s defense lost a shutout with 43 seconds left in the game.
“I thought we came out really good,” said middle linebacker Jayden Jackson, a key leader on Turlock’s dominating defense. “I thought we kept pressure on the whole game. I’m just so proud of our guys and I cannot wait to get back out there next week.”
Turlock’s offense was led by senior running back Anthony Frias (25 carries, 129 yards), who is in his third year at the varsity level, and junior RB Josiah Gonzales (2 TDs).
The Bulldogs finished with 205 rushing yards on the night.
“It feels great, man, the defense came out and did a great job and I feel the offense executed at times, enough to put points on the board,” Turlock coach James Peterson said. “We have a great football team and they played their butts off tonight.”
Turlock quarterback Brock Paslay was solid in his debut as the Bulldogs’ full-time starter. He ran Turlock’s offense efficiently and threw a TD pass to Holden Baldwin late in the second quarter to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 halftime advantage.
Paslay said he was well prepared for the season opener.
“I put in more film work this week than my past three years of football so we knew exactly what we had to do,” he said.
Having a great defense certainly takes pressure off the Bulldogs’ quarterback.
Turlock pressured Freedom’s quarterback, Jake Byrne, all night and the Bulldogs limited the Falcons to less than 30 yards rushing. The Bulldogs also forced two turnovers.
Jackson capped the night with an interception on Freedom’s second-to-last possesion. But Freedom drove on Turlock’s backups and scored to avoid the shutout.
Turlock travels to Concord next Friday to play powerhouse Clayton Valley Charter, then returns home to take on Tracy on Sept. 5.
The consensus pick to win the Central California Athletic Conference heading into the season, Turlock did nothing to dispel that in its opener.
Turlock graduated several excellent seniors off last year’s team, but the Bulldogs continue to show the ability to produce talent year after year.
“You know what it is is the leadership,” Peterson said. “They always pass it down, you know. If I have great leaders I’ve noticed the next year we have a great team.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2019 at 10:54 PM.
