Turlock shuts out Edison in D-I section playoff opener, faces powerhouse St. Mary’s next
First, the good news.
The Turlock High football team played as close to a perfect game as it could on Friday night, and the result was a 35-0 drubbing of Edison of Stockton in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.
Now, the bad news.
The Bulldogs are going to have to play even better next week when they face powerhouse St. Mary’s of Stockton in the second round.
Senior running back JT Foreman ran for three touchdowns and the Turlock defense came up with four turnovers and pitched a shutout en route to the victory at Joe Debely Stadium.
It was a surprisingly easy win for the seventh-seeded Bulldogs, who finished second to Downey in the Central California Athletic League.
Edison, seeded 10th, went 7-0 in the San Joaquin Athletic Association and outscored its league opponents 357-11. But the Vikings could not match Turlock’s energy and intensity.
“We told these guys you’re going to have to shut these guys out if you want to beat them,” Turlock coach James Peterson said. “Because we know how potent their offense is. They’ve scored a lot of points, especially in league.
“We told them all week they have to play lights-out defense and they bought into that.”
Nobody played more “lights out” than junior safety/wide receiver Andrew Johnson, who made big plays on both sides of the ball.
On defense, the 6-foot-4 Johnson forced three of Edison’s four turnovers, one on a fumble and two on interceptions.
On offense, Johnson made a highlight-reel, one-handed catch and threw a long touchdown pass for the only score of the second half.
“Defense, we just came with energy,” Johnson said. “We played probably the best game we played all year, and I was trying to do my thing.
“And I just happened to get two picks and a fumble. I was trying to play the best I can and play as hard as I can out there.”
The Bulldogs (7-4) will need to come up with a similar effort next Friday to compete with No. 2 seed St. Mary’s (10-0), champion of the Tri-City Athletic League and MaxPrep’s 15th-ranked team in the state.
“We can’t allow ourselves to beat ourselves,” Peterson said. “We just have to come in and play sound football. Execute, play another defensive battle and we should have a good game.”
While the Bulldogs’ defense was making plays and turning the ball over, Turlock used a balanced offensive attack to take advantage.
Senior quarterback Cole Gilbert used his left arm and shifty feet to pick up yardage in chunks, and Foreman used his power to blast through the Vikings’ defense.
Gilbert’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Bertalotto on Turlock’s first drive gave the Bulldogs an early lead. Then Foreman ran for three touchdowns (from 4, 19 and 3 yards) to give the Bulldogs a 28-0 halftime advantage.
In the third quarter, Johnson took a backward pass from Gilbert and launched it to Peter Mello, who ran the rest of the way for a 46-yard TD pass.
Turlock then called off the dogs, and was able to rest its starters in the fourth quarter.
“There’s nothing more you can ask for than the defense to play that way,” Gilbert said. “For them to shut them out like that and get turnovers for our offense is huge for us. And we piggy-backed off each other.”
Turlock’s defense hounded Edison freshman quarterback Berrell Staples all night, finishing with four sacks.
Two big plays from Johnson ended the Vikings’ two best chances at scoring.
Down 14-0, Edison drove to Turlock’s 6-yard line. But Johnson stepped in front of a Staples pass for the first of his two interceptions.
Later in the half, with the ball at Edison’s own 8-yard line, Staples dumped the ball off to running back Johnell Pettus, who streaked down the left sideline and broke loose. It appeared he might take it all the way, but Johnson ran him down, knocked the ball loose and recovered the fumble.
“We were our own worst nightmare,” said Edison coach Booker Guyton, whose team finished the season 7-4. “I’m proud of our kids, we fought and didn’t quit. But that’s a good football team ... my hat goes off to Turlock and I wish them well next week against St. Mary’s.”
Turlock was able to celebrate its first postseason win since 2019, but not for very long.
The Bulldogs know what kind of team awaits them next week.
“It’ll be a really tough game,” Johnson said. “We have to come with our best stuff again, even better. We’ve just got to be ready and be prepared for them.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 11:06 PM.
