WAC Football Preview: Can Davis build on last year’s perfect regular season?
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. It might be hard to top the success we saw last year, but the beauty of sports is that every team will try.
The Bee will preview each league, highlighting last season’s league winner and giving notes on what to expect from teams this season.
Davis High led the playoff charge in the Western Athletic Conference last season. The league winner was joined by Ceres and Los Banos in the postseason last year. This year’s WAC playoff race could get interesting as Davis, Los Banos and Mountain House are expected to be at the top, but Ceres returns a large number of players and Johansen looks to improve its season with a new group of athletes.
2021 WAC Standings
Team (Overall record, League record)
Davis (10-1, 7-0)
Los Banos (6-5, 6-1)
Mountain House (5-5, 5-2)
Lathrop (6-4, 4-3)
Ceres (5-6, 3-4)
Pacheco (3-7, 2-5)
Johansen (4-7, 2-5)
Beyer (0-10, 0-7)
It’s impossible to have a better regular season win percentage than the 2021 Davis High football team.
Behind do-it-all two-way player Jose Sanchez and running back Isaac Martinez, the Spartans finished the regular season 10-0, earning a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
Sanchez and Martinez were part of a 21-man senior class that will be hard to replace, but they won’t be building completely from scratch as the Spartans started five to six juniors on both sides of the ball last season.
“Trying to replace 21 seniors is going to be difficult but it’s next man up and the kids have been in our program and we’ve laid the foundation of expectations and culture,” coach Tim Garcia said. “We feel good about the guys that are back and now it’s their turn.”
Davis plans to have 60 to 65 freshmen and sophomores and 110 total in football. That’s the most Garcia has had since taking over the program in 2014, giving the school numbers to build on even past this season.
The Spartans look to put together their third straight playoff-worthy season. They went 8-2 in 2019, but missed the playoffs then and finished last year 10-1 after falling in the postseason to Ponderosa. Returners including Jackson Brooks, Adrian Gallegos, Danny Valencia and Les Derma will bring experience on the field and teach the newcomers how Davis High’s program runs.
“I’ve been on 1-9 teams and now I’ve been on 10-0 teams, the message isn’t gonna change,” Garcia said. “We’re gonna control what we can control. We can control our attitude and our effort every day, being respectful and being good teammates and doing all those little things that a lot of people preach. Then let the scoreboard take care of itself.”
A perfect regular season is a once-in-a-lifetime feat, but winning a league title is an opportunity that comes around every year. Can Davis possibly go back-to-back as WAC champion? How does it stack up against the rest of the top half of the league?
“I think we’re right there,” Garcia said. “It’s just all gonna come down to who steps in and fills some roles that we graduated and continue to do what we do, buy into the system and believe in the process then let the chips fall where they fall.”
WAC Notes
Beyer adds transfers as program rebuilds
Patriots coach Mike Young took over the program last season about two weeks before its start and amid a mass exodus of players. In his first full offseason, Young aims to turn the program around after a winless 2021. The Patriots were young, with a team full of sophomores and a few juniors who return at the center of the Beyer rebuild.
“I’m bringing in a new offense that’s going to highlight the speed that we have this year,” Young said. “It’s going to definitely look different than it did the last couple years.
“From top to bottom, we’re totally changing the culture ... to build more of a destination school ... and hopefully have some W’s on the board this year.”
Part of the rebuild includes two transfers from Manteca High School, brothers Blake and Brock Gross, who came in as the last school year ended and spent the summer with the Patriots. The twins are entering their senior season but Young is hoping they bring their winning ways from Manteca to Modesto to shift the culture at Beyer.
“They lead by example,” Young said. “The juniors that are coming in are seeing their work ethic and their abilities and I think that kind of sets the tone for the rest of the team.”
Mountain House and Los Banos key teams
Los Banos and Mountain House finished second and third, respectively, in the WAC standings last season but these two and Davis might be fighting for the league’s top spot. While Davis’ culture will be its backbone as it replaces key players, the Tigers and Mustangs return the bulk of their offense and defense.
Mountain House returns both leading passers Amare Brooks and Roy Gardner Jr., who threw for 1,006 yards, 11 touchdowns and 628 yards, two touchdowns, respectively. Gardner, who earned second team honors at running back, rushed for 885 yards and 10 touchdowns, both team highs. Mustangs leading tackler Cedrick Major Jr. is back for his junior season. He finished last year with 83 total tackles and earned second team all-league honors at linebacker.
Los Banos returns junior quarterback David Herrera, senior receiver Ayden Barcellos, senior defensive back Isaiah Medina and senior defensive lineman Jamon Cannon, who all earned All-WAC Second Team honors last season.
Johansen hoping for turnaround
There’s a lot to be excited about at Johansen. It’s in the process of a weight room project and will be one of two schools to debut turf football fields this fall. On the field, coach Rod Smith Sr. will have depth for the first time in a “long time.” During preseason practice, the Vikings are six deep at running back and have a good amount of linemen to block for them.
“It’s really nice to at least open the season up ... having some competition and some depth,” Smith said. “In the years past we’ve had first team guys and then we’ve had third or fourth team guys.”
In recent years, Smith believes he has built a winning culture starting at the lower levels. Now that those players have grown into roles on varsity, the Johansen coaching staff believes they can put together a successful season.
“We’re trying to build off of what we started last year at our lower levels,” Smith said. “A lot of this core is gonna be kids that were used to winning football games last year, so we’re gonna keep building off that.”
Ceres’ skill position returners
The Bulldogs went 3-4 in WAC play last season and qualified for the Division V playoffs despite ending the regular season on a three-game losing streak. In their first-round matchup against Ripon High, they lost 39-13.
Ceres brings back nearly all of last season’s offensive production and is primed for a big year. Quarterback Landyn Hudson threw for 1,389 yards and 18 touchdowns and added three rushing touchdowns. Running back Tarrell Lee-Gill finished with 1,006 yards and 13 touchdowns and also was part of the passing game with 212 yards and one touchdown. Both return for their senior seasons.
The hole the Bulldogs need to fill is in the passing game. Receiver Verlis Smith finished his senior season with 775 yards and 14 touchdowns and will play this upcoming season at CSU Pueblo. Lee-Gill and 6-foot-4 receiver Lebron Stallworth are two returners in the passing game who will need to carry a lot of the load to balance out Ceres’s offense and keep defenses from keying in on their running game.
