Lopez: Five thoughts from the spring football season, including a TVL vs. VOL debate
Time to take a big sigh of relief.
The 2021 High School Football Spring Season has come and gone with a five-week season unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
Yes, there were some last-minute cancellations due to COVID-19 but overall, it was a smooth season.
However, I don’t think athletic directors and coaches would use that word - smooth - after the weekly anguish of possible positive tests.
Some schools used the spring season to give their seniors one last hurrah while getting some sophomores and juniors some varsity experience for the upcoming traditional fall season... which starts four months from Tuesday.
With no section champions or player of the year honorees, here are five things that caught my eye this spring season:
1. Turlock’s dominance continues and gap keeps growing
Another Central California Athletic League title for the Turlock Bulldogs.
Three straight league titles for James Peterson’s crew, who have yet to lose a CCAL game and have had only one decided by 10 points or less.
As I wrote after their win over Pitman, dominance.
They play a brand of old-school football where they are going to “punch you in the mouth” and run the ball behind a powerful, offensive line.
Oh, and on defense, they are always physical.
They will lose some talent this off-season (senior running back Josiah Gonzales and senior offensive lineman Solomon Ussery are two notables) but sophomore quarterback Cole Gilbert will return after an impressive season and sophomore running back J.T. Foreman II looks to be the next great Bulldogs’ ball-carrier.
Rebuild and reload.
Their trouble in recent years hasn’t been locally but instead against the Sacramento-area powers in the playoffs.
Is next year the season they finally get that section title?
It’s too early to tell but this spring season will have them in the conversation with the likes of Folsom, Rocklin, and others for a Division I title.
2. The unexpected 5-0 teams
We shouldn’t be surprised that Turlock went 5-0 but I have to give a shout out to Central Valley and Hughson, who also finished undefeated.
The Hawks were led by senior do-it-all athlete Isaiah Hidalgo (1,005 rushing yards, 12 TD’s), who will be tough to replace.
Hughson was a dominant power in the 1990s under Larry Shimel and Reyn Franca (four section titles between 1991-2000) and had its toughest test of the season against Kimball on Saturday.
The Jaguars averaged over 30 points per game entering the contest... and the Huskies held them to under 20 in a 23-18 win.
Can the Huskies carry that success back into the Trans-Valley League next year?
3. The potent Patterson offense
Which team had the top scoring offense in the Stanislaus District and top five in the Sac-Joaquin Section?
That would be the 4-1 Patterson Tigers, who averaged over 42 points per game.
Senior running back Jordan Imada finished the season as the section’s leader with 17 total touchdowns, 1,086 rushing yards, and an average of 217 rushing yards per game.
In his final game, he had three rushing touchdowns and two kickoff returns for touchdowns.
Senior kicker Adrian Melesio led the section with 38 PAT’s made and 22 touchbacks.
Another area notable performer was Sonora tight end Gabe Milbourn, who had 524 receiving yards and six touchdowns in three games.
4. The decline
One thing that was glaring was the continued drop in the number of football players at schools.
Some schools fielded only varsity teams and it looks like the days of teams having all three levels (freshman, junior varsity, and varsity) are dwindling.
Even watching some varsity games, schools who are known to have over 40 or 50 players had 30 or under.
So, what happened?
Well, with multiple sports overlapping, some chose baseball, basketball, or soccer instead of football.
Also, talking with some coaches, the normal first week of school in the fall is when some freshman come out and join the team and that didn’t happen this year.
It will be interesting to see what the roster sizes look like in the fall.
5. The debate
In the days leading up to Saturday’s matchup between Hughson and Kimball, a spirited debate began on Twitter.
The Trans-Valley League vs. Valley Oak League.
Oakdale beat Escalon, 38-35 in Week 1 and some said Hughson had no chance against Kimball.
Well, the Huskies won.
The TVL is the best small-school league in the state and the VOL has traditional powers with Central Catholic, Manteca, and Oakdale.
This year, Escalon and Ripon joined the VOL for the season while Central Catholic played an independent schedule.
Escalon was going to play Central Catholic in Week 4 but instead played Ripon, which was its original opponent.
So, can the smaller TVL schools compete against the VOL?
It’s an interesting discussion and would be fun to see some of these schools play each other in the non-league season.
