Turlock can’t keep up with explosive Clovis West, falls 56-16
It’s often the little things that make the difference between winning and losing, but Friday night in Turlock it was the big things — as in big plays — that proved to be crucial.
Clovis West was a big play waiting to happen and Turlock couldn’t keep pace as the Golden Eagles rolled to a 56-16 nonleague victory at Joe Debely Stadium.
Clovis West’s explosiveness was on display from the very beginning — it’s first play from scrimmage was a 61-yard touchdown pass.
And while Turlock hung in there for a quarter, the Bulldogs were unable to match Clovis West’s explosive nature.
The Golden Eagles (1-1) scored on touchdown passes of 80, 61, 52 and 48 yards, recorded a defensive touchdown on a 55-yard fumble return, and scored on a 67-yard punt return.
“That’s kind of what our team is going to be built on, is big plays,” Clovis West coach Eric Brown said. “We’ve got some really explosive guys and some guys that can get them the ball and let them go do what they do best, make plays in space.”
Will Turlock’s tough schedule pay off later?
It’s been a rough start to the season for Turlock (0-2), which has been outscored 87-19 in two weeks. The Bulldogs lost 31-3 to Rocklin in the season opener.
And things likely will get worse for Turlock before they get better.
The Bulldogs play three more tough nonleague opponents, including Sacramento-area powerhouse Folsom at home on Sept. 8, before they open Central California Athletic League play at Gregori on Sept. 28.
Turlock coach James Peterson calls it the toughest schedule in the area for a public-school team.
“We’re going to be battle-tested, that’s for sure,” Peterson said. “Not one guy on my staff is saying ‘maybe we should’ve padded our schedule.’ Everybody agrees, we play the toughest teams.
“We want to be in a section title game at the end of the season.”
To get there, Turlock will need to clean up its play. Besides the punt return they allowed to go the distance, the Bulldogs were intercepted three times and fumbled twice.
The second fumble came on the Bulldogs’ opening drive of the second half.
Clovis West defender Jonavon Darrington scooped the ball and ran 55 yards for the score to give Clovis West a 28-9 lead and the game was pretty much over.
Clovis West’s passing game impressive
Golden Eagles starting quarterback Tyler Patrick, a senior, threw two touchdown passes, and backup Tyler Franklin, a sophomore, threw two more, including an 80-yarder to Landon Wright that wrapped up the scoring.
“Our goal was to be explosive and we have the right receivers to do it, and our (offensive) line did a great job protecting,” said Patrick, who passed for 227 yards on 17 attempts. “Our goal was to be explosive and we executed that.”
There were some bright spots for Turlock.
The Bulldogs’ offensive line opened some nice holes for the running game. Turlock’s two touchdowns came on a 21-yard Vincent Gonzales touchdown pass and Kaeden Peterson’s 3-yard TD run.
But maybe the biggest reason for James Peterson to be optimistic was something a little more important.
“I don’t feel like we quit, I tell you that,” Peterson said. “These guys played a whole night and never gave up, so they improved a lot from last week. Fundamental stuff ... I feel like we improved a ton.”
Turlock travels to Fresno next Friday night to take on Central. Clovis West will be at home against Lemoore.
This story was originally published August 25, 2023 at 11:27 PM.
