CCAL Football Preview: Downey brings back experience after winning first league title
Stanislaus District football teams went all out last season. There were seven league champions, 16 teams earning playoff spots, three section champions, two runners up and one NorCal Champion all from this area. With all that success, it might be hard to top last year. But the beauty of sports is that every team is going to try.
The Bee will preview each league highlighting last season’s league winner along with notes on what to expect from teams this season.
The Central California Athletic League had four teams that made the playoffs last season. League champion Downey, second and third place Gregori and Turlock and fifth place Enochs advanced to the postseason in Divisions I and II. None advanced to the second round, but Enochs was close, barely losing 28-21 as a No. 10 seed to seventh seed Del Oro. Four teams bring back their quarterbacks, each who had 700 or more passing yards last season.
2021 CCAL Standings
Team (Overall record, League record)
Downey (9-2, 5-0)
Gregori (6-5, 4-1)
Turlock (4-7, 3-2)
Pitman (3-6, 2-3)
Enochs (5-5, 1-4)
Modesto (2-8, 0-5)
Two years ago, COVID tore through the Downey High football team. After two shutdowns, the Knights had plenty of freshmen and sophomores, but an already small senior class had been cut almost in half.
Coach Jeremy Plaa called on underclassmen to fill roster spots, giving them valuable experience in the shortened spring season.
“Out of necessity, we had to pull up a bunch of sophomores,” Plaa said. “Some of them were probably good enough to play varsity (at the time), but definitely not all of them. We had to have kids come up and get playing time.”
Among those players, 17 were sophomores. Now that they are seniors, the Downey coaching staff hopes their extra experience will pay off as the team looks to defend its league title.
Plaa estimates the team is bringing back two-thirds of its starters from last year’s team that secured the school’s first CCAL crown. It was the school’s first league title since winning the Modesto Metro Conference every season from 2012-2016.
The Knights return their offensive and defensive leaders in quarterback and league MVP Conner Stoddard and in CCAL Defensive Player of the Year linebacker Richard Williams.
“We have two captain type guys returning this year, one on each side of the ball, so we’re pretty lucky.” Plaa said.
The Knights have three-year starters at offensive skill positions, on the offensive and defensive lines, and the trio of starting linebackers all started the previous two seasons for Plaa’s team.
Downey’s experience will be put to the test right away as it plays Lincoln, East Union and Merced, all playoff teams from last season that have superior athletes at multiple positions.
“I’m hoping that pays off this year,” he said. “We have a bunch of kids that have not only done this once before, but they’ve done this twice, in terms of playing varsity football.”
CCAL Notes
Enoch’s “Rebuild”
Coach Tracey Traub’s program rebuild starts this season with major additions in two areas: new coaches and new players.
On the sidelines, Enochs returns five of its eight coaches from last year, not counting Traub, and adds 10 for a total of 16. They will be split between three levels. Among the hires are new offensive coordinator Aiden Ruiz, who is coming off a coaching hiatus but served as Beyer’s OC for years. Defensive coordinator Haroun Muhammad returns for another season.
“Something I saw last year is as offensive coordinator, a lot of times I was so focused there that I wasn’t able to help our defensive side,” Traub said. The goal is to build a program, and to build a program, you got to have key coaches in certain places.”
The Eagles will have to replace a lot of the offensive production in their search for a league title and second straight playoff appearance.
“There is a piece of a rebuild,” Traub said. “You don’t replace Keith (Orona), Yomi (Babalola), Kola (Babalola), Isaac Adams and some of those key guys from last year. We’ve talked about how we really have to win by committee of players.We have we have some really talented players that I think someday can step into those roles … their senior year as that key guy.”
Turlock’s bounceback year?
Similar to Downey, Turlock has returners all over the field. In his junior season, running back JT Foreman rushed for 1,211 yards and 10 touchdowns and quarterback Cole Gilbert passed for 700 yards and eight touchdowns in just five games played due to injuries and COVID protocols. Add Peter Mello and a slew of returning offensive and defensive linemen and defensive backs and the Bulldogs are ready to run it back and show that last year was a fluke.
“I don’t think anybody in our camp is excited about what happened last season,” said coach James Peterson. “You could say it was for this reason or that reason, but we don’t care. We weren’t at our best and we want to get back on top.”
The bounce back starts with tough games early. The second game of a home-and-home with Rocklin brings the Thunder to Turlock then two games against Fresno schools Clovis West and Central before finishing with Manteca and Clayton Valley Charter.
The Bulldogs are hoping Weeks 1-5 prepare them for CCAL play, which starts on August 30. The two most experienced teams could very well be fighting for a league champion, a title Turlock held the in the CCC and CCAL four years prior to last season’s down year.
“The only way (winning the CCAL) really comes to fruition is if you take care of business and play well in these preseason games,” Peterson said. “If we play a tough schedule and win a couple of them ... then we go into league with some momentum and some confidence and I think that that really does help us and that’s what we had done in the previous years.”
MoHi’s duo primed for big season
Quarterback Eli McCabe could be the CCAL’s best kept secret. The senior passed for nearly 1,800 yards and 16 touchdowns in his junior year. Julian Gonzalez was his main receiving target, with 730 yards and seven touchdowns.
McCabe is a lead-by-example type of player. Sometimes quiet, but when it’s time to perform, he’s game.
“From the quarterback perspective, there really no holes in his game, in my opinion,” Coach Dylan Miller said. “He has an understanding of defenses and knows where the weaknesses are and the coverages that we’re gonna see. We feel like we’ve got the offense geared in a direction that can give him the answers to the test and let him attack it in the ways he know how.”
He’ll throw mostly to senior Heston Blom, who came in second to Gonzalez in receiving yards (409) and touchdowns (3). The duo grew up in football together, playing in local youth leagues.
“They’ve known each other for quite a few years, so there is definitely a connection that predates high school,” Miller said.
Pitman sharing the load
Joey Stout did everything for the Pride last season scoring 11 of the team’s 15 rushing touchdowns and seven of 10 in the passing game. He finished with 1,403 total yards. Coach Eric Reza knows that in order to go from barely missing the playoffs to top three in the league, they’ll need offensive production from other skill players.
“We’re always trying to get as many guys touching the ball as possible,” Reza said. “Joey’s gonna be keyed in on a lot this year. Anybody that watched his film, was gonna see how talented he is, and they’re gonna try to take him out of the game. So the best way to counter that is to get as many people involved as possible.”
In his first season as head coach, Reza led the Pride to a fourth-place finish in the league but with a full offseason under his belt and a tougher preseason with games against Patterson and Golden Valley and two Sacramento-area schools, the Pride are looking to take the next step.
“Everybody wants that championship, but I think we have a talented enough group to to fulfill many of our goals and and I think we can reach the playoffs.”
Gregori’s new look
Coach Lamar Wallace says Gregori’s offseason was used for getting the new guys “varsity ready”. The Jaguars will be a junior-heavy squad this season after graduating 16 seniors, so the extra time in the weight room will have to pay off if they want to see similar success as last season’s second-place team.
They will have experience on the offensive and defensive lines with a number of three-year varsity starters and receiver Reggieon Foster, who finished with a team high 441 receiving yards and seven touchdowns and has had a great offseason.
“This offseason was different than the past because I think he’s finally confident,” Wallace said. “Being a freshman and a sophomore at varsity, we were asking a lot of him and he was trying to take it all in. Now I think he feels comfortable.”
The departure of Cruz Marines leaves a hole in the Jaguars’ offense. The 2021 CCAL Offensive Player of the Year finished with 1762 passing yards, 1030 rushing yards and 32 total touchdowns. Incoming junior Conner Bailey has been good, but last season’s backup, senior Grant Veneman, comes in with a big arm and a different, but still effective, playing style.
“Grant’s a smart kid and his athletic ability is different than Cruz,” said Wallace. “He’s a pitcher in baseball and will bring something different to the table, and he has some things that I think he’ll be able to show.”
The team will get its first game action at a scrimmage against Division V section champion Escalon on Aug. 12.
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 12:00 AM.
