‘Exactly what you dream of’: Turlock upsets Central Catholic in overtime D-I playoff thriller
The plan was always to go for two.
There was no doubt in Turlock head coach James Peterson’s mind when Central Catholic scored. It was overtime. That’s how it had to be.
It was all part of the plan. On Central Catholic’s last drive of regulation, Turlock let them score. Peterson said one of his assistants came up with the idea. They would give up a touchdown but get the ball back with time left and the possibility of scoring a late-game touchdown. If they didn’t give up a score, the Raiders could have ran out the clock and scored with under a minute left.
“I said I’ve never done that in my life,” Peterson said. “He goes, ‘Think about it coach, there’s no other way. We’re going to run out of time.’ We played it, the (Central Catholic) back took it to the hole and the rest was history after that.”
The Bulldogs (9-3) are a hard-nosed, hard-hitting, never-say-die group that make plays that toe the line between crazy confident and just plain crazy.
But going for two on the road in overtime of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I quarterfinals as the No. 6 seed against the No. 3 Raiders (7-4) was not crazy to Turlock James Peterson. It’s what made the most sense.
After Central Catholic scored in four plays on the first possession of overtime and kicked a field goal, the Bulldogs knew they were playing for the win.
“They kicked the PAT and we knew we were going to score and go for two,” Said Scout Silva, Turlock’s freshman quarterback who led multiple late-game scoring drives, “and we did just that.”
Said Peterson: “We got to overtime and had the chance to win the game so I was like we’re on the road, we’re going for two. … That’s who we are.”
Their master plan worked. On Turlock’s only possession of overtime that started at the 25-yard line, Silva diced up the Raiders’ defense and capped the 25-yard scoring drive with a nine-yard scramble to make it a 42-41 game.
Silva and the Bulldogs offense stayed on the field and he found sophomore running back Alex Ventura on a wheel route out of the backfield for the game-winning conversion to seal the 43-42 victory.
“That’s exactly what you dream of,” Silva said. “I was sitting on the sideline the whole time just repeating, ‘We’re going to win this game, we’re going to win this game.’
The Bulldogs in 2022 went on the road to upset St. Mary’s of Stockton by just a point, 51-50. In similar fashion Turlock won on a last-second play. Silva says he was in the crowd watching that game. Two years later, the 16-year-old led his own clutch drives.
He and the Bulldogs got out to a 19-0 lead. Ventura started the scoring with a 66-yard rushing touchdown and after a Joseph Delte rushing score, Silva found Landyn Fitzgerald for a 23-yard score. Turlock withstood a run of three unanswered Raiders touchdowns and Silva scored on an eight-yard rush and completed a pass for a two-point conversion to tie it at 27-27.
Turlock answered a Raiders score again late in the fourth quarter as Scout Silva found Junior Silva for a touchdown and connected with Jeremiah Stine to tie it again with 13 seconds left to set up overtime.
“It’s just amazing,” Silva said. “History repeats itself.”
Central Catholic rallied back
Central Catholic fell behind early 19-0 after the Bulldogs came out more physical and more active. They scored just before the end of the first half to make it a 19-7 game, stop the bleeding and pick up momentum heading into halftime.
The Raiders then went on to score three straight rushing touchdowns, one by Wyatt Dragoo and two by Joey Alcutt, in an extended 21-0 run that put the Raiders ahead 27-19 with 8:04 left in regulation.
“I told our kids, we played hard,” Central Catholic head coach Roger Canepa said. “We showed some grit. That’s why I got into coaching.”
In the end, though, the Raiders needed to get a stop. After trading touchdowns and two-point conversions, Central Catholic scored what looked like the game winner. Alcutt crossed the goal line on a 10-yard run and ran in the two-point conversion to give the Raiders a 35-27 lead with 1:11 left in the game. After the ensuing kickoff, Silva and Turlock took the field with 1:07 left. The Bulldogs traveled 63 yards and tied the game.
“Both teams played pretty well,” Canepa said. “I’ll be honest, we had every chance to win that. We just didn’t get a stop.”
Even still, the Raiders did not punt. Canepa was almost surprised that despite not punting, the home team could not squeak out a win.
“We never punted,” Canepa said. “We lost a game we never punted in.”
In his final high school game, Alcutt finished with four rushing touchdowns. Dragoo, who is also a senior, added one rushing score. Junior quarterback Kayden McHenry found junior Chase Perino for a 17-yard touchdown for the Raiders’ first score of the game. Canepa says though he hates losing, the team showed flashes of what they had been taught all season.
“They won, give it to them, but our team played how I trained them to play,” he said. “We were physical, ran the ball, played good. I can’t be disappointed.”
Survive and advance
At the end of the day, the name of the game in the postseason is survive and advance.
There’s no best of three, no best of seven series in football. The best team, the one that executes that night, wins and advances. Regardless of seed. Friday night, that team was Turlock.
“You’ve got to give them credit, they beat us,” Canepa said.
Even after a big win like this, Turlock subscribes to the 24-hour rule: They celebrate this win for tonight, then tomorrow it’s back to work. Just like two years ago, the Bulldogs will travel to El Dorado Hills to face off against Oak Ridge.
Peterson says there were some similarities between the two upsets. The Bulldogs crowd traveled well, piling in as the game went on and making it feel like a Turlock home game when their team made a big play.
And of course, the Bulldogs, a confident, battle-tested bunch, were the same. Though the characters this time are different, they take after their coach. They won’t change for anybody.
“We’re just going to keep playing, man, we’re the Bulldogs for a reason,” Peterson said. “We love to hit and nothing’s going to change. We’re going to pack up our traveling boots and head up the hill.”
Peterson says the preparation starts tomorrow. They will meet with the Turlock quarterback club in the morning then hit the weight room.
“We’ll eat breakfast first, though,” he said with a smile.
