Downey cruises past Gregori, is just one win away from CCAL crown
Nine down, one to go.
The Downey High football team’s march toward an undefeated regular season continued on Friday night.
The Knights blew out Gregori 51-10 to improve to 9-0, with only a home game against 2-7 Pitman standing in the way of regular-season perfection.
Running back Ki Ragland rushed for three touchdowns and quarterback Conner Stoddard passed for three TDs — including one to Ragland — as the Knights dominated the Jaguars at Don Lanphear Stadium.
“You know, the mature thing about this team is that nobody has really talked about that (undefeated season),” Downey coach Jeremy Plaa said. “Now we can talk about going 1-0 against Pitman and finishing up with a 10-0 record, but I haven’t heard one time kids talking about having an undefeated season.
“They’ve been that laser-focused on a week-to-week basis.”
Downey, at 4-0 in the Central California Athletic League, can also claim its second consecutive league championship next week with a win over Pitman.
The Knights will be big favorites over the Pride, who lost to Gregori by 7 on Oct. 14 and could be without star running back Joey Stout due to an ejection from Friday’s win over Modesto.
“We’re going to enjoy this one for 24 hours and then get to work on Pitman and try to finish off that perfect season,” Plaa said.
Friday’s win over Gregori was a complete performance for the Knights.
Plaa said his theme this week was “enthusiasm” and Downey certainly had plenty of it on both sides of the ball.
The offense moved almost at will against Gregori, with Ragland rushing for 159 yards and three TDs, including a 79-yard romp in the third quarter that made the score 44-3.
Stoddard didn’t need to throw often, but he was as efficient as ever. His three TDs on Friday gave him 29 for the season; he’s been intercepted just twice.
“We wanted to use the run game a little more this week,” Ragland said. “Our offense is usually a passing offense, but we like to show what we can do ... we got the job done.”
Downey’s enthusiasm also was seen on defense, with the Knights flying to the ball on every play. The Knights led 31-3 at halftime, allowing only a short Gregori field goal.
“Our thing this week was to be enthusiastic, just have fun and always be consistent with it,” senior linebacker Richard Williams said. “We practiced our pursuit drills (this week).”
Tough start for Gregori
Gregori came into the game undefeated in the CCAL, but the Jaguars (4-5, 3-1) were simply overmatched by a talented, experienced Downey team.
It didn’t help that standout junior running back Michael Marsden — who had more than 1,100 yards and 12 TDs heading into the game — was injured on Gregori’s first play from scrimmage.
Lucas Medrano ran hard in Marsden’s place, rushing for 74 yards on 18 carries, but he coughed up two fumbles and was injured in the third quarter. Gregori wound up with tight end Nathan Dobbins playing running back the rest of the way.
Senior quarterback Grant Veneman made some big-time throws for the Jaguars, including a nice 20-yarder to Trey Webb late in the game for Gregori’s only touchdown.
“Hats off to Downey, they played well,” Gregori coach Lamar Wallace said. “They were the better team tonight.”
Wallace has more to look forward to next season. His Jaguars squad is full of juniors at key positions and the Gregori JV team is undefeated in league play.
‘Excited for Pitman’
Downey, meanwhile, can look forward to the near future.
The Knights will host Pitman at Chuck Hughes Stadium next Friday with a lot on the line — including the CCAL title, that perfect regular season and a chance at a high seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
“We’re excited for Pitman and we’re focused on Pitman,” Stoddard said. “And playoffs will take care of themselves, so we’re not too worried about that.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 11:52 PM.
