Ceres dominates Pacheco 27-0 to earn key WAC victory; showdown with Los Banos next
When Ceres High’s football team took on Pacheco on Friday night, it appeared to be a matchup of two of the Western Athletic League’s top teams.
It turned out Pacheco was no match for the Bulldogs.
Ceres scored 20 points in the second quarter and its defense pitched a shutout to give the Bulldogs a shockingly dominant 27-0 victory over the Panthers.
The impressive victory sets up a showdown with Los Banos next week — a game that could determine the winner of the WAC.
“Our motto is win each day, and defensively we were laser-focused from Monday on,” Ceres coach Brett Johnson said. “Showing up tonight and finally playing a game where we start on fire and we finished on fire, consistently throughout, it was an exciting game.
“I can’t say enough about the young men we have playing here.”
Running back Tarrell Lee-Gill ran for 107 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Landyn Hudson ran for a touchdown and passed for another to spark the Bulldogs’ offense.
Kicker Nicholas Vieyra drilled two long field goals — one from 43 yards and another from 45 — to key Ceres’ special teams.
But the story of the night for the Bulldogs was their defense, which stuffed Pacheco running back Abel Bravo, who entered the game with 1,172 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in six games. The junior was held to 36 yards on 14 carries.
The Ceres defense also forced and recovered two fumbles, and brought down an interception.
“We are a physical team,” said linebacker Daniel Baker, a leader on the Ceres defense. “We hustle, we hit. That’s what happens when we put it all together.”
The victory improved Ceres to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the WAC.
A scary proposition for the Bulldogs’ remaining opponents is that Ceres played far from a perfect game to dominate a quality Pacheco team.
The Bulldogs committed eight penalties and their passing attack never got in sync.
It didn’t matter. The Bulldogs’ running game — led by the hard-running Lee-Gill — and swarming defense were more than enough.
Since losing its WAC opener to Lathrop 19-16, Ceres has outscored its next three opponents 103-20.
“We dropped our first game in league, and nobody wants to drop their first game,” said Hudson, who passed for 61 yards and ran for 79. “I think it was something we needed as a team — to get that feeling of a loss early in the season.
“It lit a fire underneath us, and we’re ready to make a push.”
Ceres will travel to Los Banos (5-2, 4-0) next Friday night with a chance at earning a share of first place in the competitive WAC.
Pacheco (4-3, 3-1) plays at Mountain House (5-2, 2-2) next week.
Lee-Gill said he thinks the Bulldogs can play even better. They may need to next week at Los Banos, the last team to remain undefeated in WAC play.
Said Lee-Gill, “We can be a really good team if our defense can play like this and we start hitting on all cylinders on offense.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2022 at 11:10 PM.
