New starters step up, help Enochs roll past Beyer for another Sylvan Bowl victory
The Enochs High football team started the season with a lot of new players in starting roles on Friday night.
They all passed the first test with flying colors.
New starting quarterback Adam Ammar was especially impressive, passing for two touchdowns and running for another in the Eagles’ 35-6 victory over Beyer in the annual Sylvan Bowl at Downey’s Chuck Hughes Stadium.
Enochs graduated about 30 seniors from last year’s team that reached the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, but you wouldn’t have known it by the Eagles’ season-opening performance.
Sure, there were plenty of mistakes and too many penalties, but Eagles head coach Tracey Traub was happy with his team’s first game of the season.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys, they’re just learning, trying to get things down,” said Traub, who started his second season as the Eagles’ head coach. “We’ve got to get rid of those mental mistakes and get better every week.
“We only have 12 seniors this year; the rest are juniors and sophomores coming up. And so I’m really happy with these guys. They worked really hard, so I’m excited with what we’ve got for the future.”
Last year, Ammar backed up star quarterback Keith Orona.
In his first start Friday night, Ammar was efficient and effective, passing for 166 yards and two touchdowns in just eight attempts.
The 6-foot-1 senior also showed his ability to run, rushing for 25 yards on six carries and using effective movement on play-action passes.
Ammar’s most impressive highlight of the night was when he launched an 81-yard bomb to Joshua Terry late in the first half to give Enochs a 28-0 lead.
“It feels great, it feels so great,” Ammar said about the victory. He said the Eagles’ need to work on better execution and doing “the little things” better as the season progresses.
Ammar was helped by an effective run game spearheaded by tailback Aiden Muhammad, who went for 112 yards on 15 carries. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound junior shows good burst in open space and found plenty of nice holes thanks to the Eagles’ sizable offensive line.
“It feels amazing,” Mohammad said. “I’ve never been happier to win a game; first game, varsity season ... it feels great.”
It was another tough Sylvan Bowl defeat for Beyer, but not for a lack of effort. Compared to last year’s team, which started the season with just 12 players, this year’s squad is much improved.
Head coach Mike Young has plenty of talent at the skill positions, thanks in part to the transfer of senior twins Blake and Brock Gross, who look like they’ll do some damage when the Western Athletic League season begins.
Brock handles quarterback duties for the Patriots, while Blake is a wide receiver. They also were effective in returning kicks.
By the time the WAC schedule rolls around on Sept. 16, Beyer will be battle-tested from a stretch of games against bigger nonleague opponents.
“Preseason is always tough because we play three straight (Division I) teams,” said Young, who took over as Beyer’s coach just weeks before the start of last season. “But I think we’ll come around. I think we’re building something here, and we definitely saw improvements over the past few weeks.
“We just (need to) continue to build on it.”
Enochs travels to Brentwood next Friday to play Liberty High. Beyer will take on old rival Modesto.
This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 12:05 AM.
