Games to watch: Turlock and Modesto teams with family ties face off in Week 8
At the beginning of the season, football teams establish their identity in nonleague games. They play a mix of tough competition and winnable contests, seeking to build momentum to start league play. Midseason, they try to set themselves up for league title contention. With just 10 games in the high school football regular season, there’s no time for a week off.
In Week 8, most teams already have had their byes and they are setting up for a final push, but these league games matter. In the Valley Oak League, Central Catholic and Patterson are looking to get in a groove after battling injuries and narrow losses through their first few games. They take on East Union and Oakdale, respectively. The Mustangs, fresh off of their best offensive showing this season, hope to keep their name in league title contention with a win.
Downey and Pitman are Central California Athletic League teams in different cities with a family bond. At least 20 members of the Plaa family will be at Joe Debely stadium for the league battle that pits father (Jeremy at Downey) against son (Braden at Pitman). Both are coming off league wins and hope to maintain perfect CCAL records through two weeks of league play.
It wouldn’t be a week of Stanislaus District regular season football without an important game in the Trans-Valley League. A small-town rivalry and a battle between defending section champs take center stage as Ripon hosts Ripon Christian and Hughson travels to defending section, NorCal and state champion Sonora.
No. 2 Central Catholic (2-4, 1-1 VOL) at East Union (6-1, 2-1 VOL), 7 p.m.
After an up-and-down first half to the 2025 campaign, the Raiders took their needed bye week to get healthy, shore up schemes and welcome transfers into the fold. Arguably, no transfer across the Stanislaus District is a bigger name than Max Medina. The Patterson High passing record holder transferred to Central Catholic with his younger brother Cole originally to play baseball. He was set to forgo his senior football season to participate in fall baseball showcases, but when he realized he could do both showcases and play football, he jumped at the opportunity. Medina became officially eligible the day after the Raiders’ loss to Manteca and had the whole bye week and this week to prepare for his first game action Friday. Kayden McHenry is expected to be the starter against East Union, but Medina will have play packages giving him offensive snaps.
The Raiders’ defense will have its hands full with an explosive offense that just put up 55 points in a loss to Oakdale last week. UC Davis commit Jackson Fay is one of the fastest pass catchers in the state and has shown his speed and skill this season. He is No. 5 in California in total touchdowns (19). Among those in the Sac-Joaquin Section, Fay is ninth in receiving yards (646) and quarterback Kirk Simoni is third in passing yards (1,549) and second in total yards (1,818).
Since entering the VOL, the Raiders have won all 10 matchups against East Union.
No. 1 Oakdale (5-1, 2-0 VOL) at No. 5 Patterson (2-5, 1-2 VOL), 7 p.m.
In a normal season, Oakdale would be coming off its best offensive week by far. But this has not been a normal season for the Mustangs. Friday night against East Union, they put up 71 points in a VOL victory, beating their previous season high of 70 points, set in a nonleague game against Lincoln of Stockton. Last week, they did it when it mattered most, keeping a perfect league record through two games.
Air Force commit Wes Burford did more than his part, turning in a 423-yard, seven-touchdown effort on 30 carries. The rush yards and touchdowns totals are both career high marks. Richard Flores added over 140 rush yards and three touchdowns on the ground. With games still to play against Central Catholic and Manteca in the regular season’s final three weeks, a win Friday night means Oakdale’s league fate is still in its own hands.
The Mustangs will take that momentum on the road against a Patterson team that has been banged up this season and is looking for a statement league win. After losing freshman starting quarterback Jacob Pierce for an extended time, junior Caden Lozano has stepped in to fill the void. Senior running back Dasen Pettis has been a constant, producing over 130 rush yards per game. His 953 total rush yards and six rushing touchdowns are team highs.
Patterson enters the game possibly riding some momentum after a big 49-13 VOL win over Mountain House. Defensively, the Tigers were dominant, allowing a season low in points and recording their third-best single game tackles and tackles for loss totals this season. Hayden Droogsma has 78 tackles this season, third best in the Sac-Joaquin Section, and Royale Tago has seven sacks, sixth in the SJS, after switching positions from linebacker to defensive lineman for his senior season.
No. 3 Downey (3-3, 1-0 CCAL) at Pitman (4-2, 1-0 CCAL) at Turlock High, 7 p.m.
Plaa vs. Plaa. Father vs. Son. Jeremy and Braden will stand on opposing sidelines as head coaches for the first time ever Friday when Downey visits Pitman at Turlock High. Both teams are 1-0 in CCAL play. Jeremy and Downey blew out Gregori last week, and Braden and the Pride used a strong second half to pull out a 29-12 win over Modesto. But they’re trying to make Friday more about the football and less about the family ties.
Both teams are seeking a key CCAL win. A Pitman win would build on a number of already impressive nonleague showings, as Downey has been a perennial league title contender since the CCAL’s first season in 2018. A Knights win keeps Downey’s league title hopes alive, as it will likely have to be perfect heading into its matchup with Turlock High. The Turloc-Downey game has determined the league champion the last few seasons.
Both Downey and Pitman are coming off their first league wins, but they came in different ways. Downey was dominant in its 45-8 win over Gregori, where the Knights’ usual suspects shined. Quarterback Julian Masaniai passed for 146 yards and two touchdowns and Elias Haynes rushed for 101 yards and two scores.
Head coach Jeremy Plaa said the Knights have gotten healthier the past couple of weeks and have transfers who became eligible after the sit-out period.
Pitman was in a nailbiter at halftime against Modesto High last week, but pulled away to secure a 29-12 victory.
No. 6 Hughson (6-1, 2-1 TVL) at Sonora (7-0, 3-0 TVL), 7 p.m.
Hughson and Sonora played in an instant classic in 2024 and while this year’s game might not be as high scoring as last year’s 52-51 shootout, the stakes are just as high. Last season’s matchup ended up determining the league champion. Hughson finished perfect and one of Sonora’s two TVL losses came at the hands of the Huskies.
Sonora likely still will be without the services of fullback Tommy Sutton, who is recovering from a broken forearm, but it seems like whoever gets the carries has produced. Juniors Steven Olley II, Jeremy Snyder and Colton Gibson have combined for 96 carries, 721 yards and 10 touchdowns. Add their production to that of triple-option veterans Cash Byington (40 carries, 396 yards, 8 touchdowns), Eli Ingalls (72 carries, 289 yards, 7 touchdowns) and Brody Speer (19 carries, 228 yards, 3 touchdowns) and the Wildcats continue to run like a well-oiled rushing machine.
The Wildcats survived a nailbiter last Friday night against Hilmar squeaking out a one-point win after a late fourth quarter drive and touchdown by Ingalls.
Hughson’s mix of newcomers and experience had helped it to a 6-1 overall and 2-1 league record despite losing three Division I players and multi-year starters.
Freshman quarterback Hudson Baldwin won the starting gig and has taken off. In his first two league games as a starter, he did a good job distributing the ball between Lawson Aviles, Lincoln Souza and Fresno State commit Bryce McDaniel. In Friday’s 29-6 win over Escalon, he got a new target in Big Valley Christian transfer Titus Beers, who became eligible after serving the CIF-mandated sit out period. Beers had over 120 receiving yards and a pair of touchdown catches with an interception.
No. 9 Ripon Christian (5-1, 1-1 TVL) at Ripon (5-1, 1-1 TVL), 7:30 p.m.
It seems like every week in the TVL includes a rivalry game, and very few have more at stake than the game between two schools separated by a street. To make things more interesting, they have the same overall and TVL records entering Friday. Buckle up.
Ripon has done it with a talented junior class led by dual-threat quarterback Andrew Shaw, who has 632 passing yards and six touchdowns and 300 rush yards and seven touchdowns.
Also leading the rushing attack is Kael Rangel (373 yards, 7 touchdowns) and Ace Dougherty (295 yards, 4 touchdowns).
One of the best defensive linemen in Stanislaus District small-school football plays in Ripon red and white and is a nightmare for opposing offenses. Tipeti Paini is one of Ripon’s most disruptive defensive forces and will lead a defense charged with slowing down a number of the Knights’ multi-year varsity starters.
Ripon can put up points with some of the best small schools in the area, scoring over 40 points in four of its five wins and putting up 64 points against Enochs in Week 2. The defense has shown up as well, not giving up more than 30 points in nearly all of its games except its lone loss, a 31-28 game against Hughson.
Ripon Christian’s duo of Mason Tameling and Amos Cady have been terrorizing opposing defenses for two years, and now, in their third and final season together, they hope to add at least one more title to an already heavily decorated trophy case.
Tameling and Cady have connected on 20 completions for 256 yards and six touchdowns, and Cady is still one of the best kick returners in California. He is 12th in the state in punt return yard average (35.4 yards) and had taken two punts and one kickoff for touchdowns.
They balance out their offense with a rushing attack that has accounted for 880 yards and 17 touchdowns. They have four rushers with at least 100 yards and two touchdowns, led by Lushen Sanders (62 carries, 292 yards, 6 touchdowns) and Tameling (30 carries, 120 yards, 5 touchdowns). Defensively, Aaron Van Hofwegen is sixth in the section in total tackles with 68.
