Downey earns shutout win in first father-son CCAL coaching matchup
All week they talked about minimizing distractions.
Jeremy Plaa reminded his Downey team that their Friday opponent was a completely revamped outfit with a new coach, new mindset and a new belief it could win.
Braden Plaa stressed the importance of gaining momentum and pushing through adversity. Noting that the fewer mistakes they made, the more chances they had to come out of Friday night’s contest victorious.
The Downey (4-3, 2-0 CCAL) vs Pitman (4-3, 1-1 CCAL) matchup in years past wasn’t a game you circled on the calendar. The Knights had outscored the Pride 161-23 over the last three games and have won every matchup since 2018.
But this was the game to be at Friday night because history was being made.
It was the first time in recent Stanislaus District history and the first time in Northern California since at least the 1990s that a father and son stood on opposing sidelines as head coaches.
Over the past 40 years across California, fathers and sons have avoided coaching against each other. It is more common that a father ends up on his son’s coaching staff or a son takes over a program when the dad retires. But this matchup could not be avoided because it was a Central California Athletic League game. The first of possibly many times the two will face off in the coming years.
The buildup was there. The Plaa family was out in full force, but both Jeremy, the dad in his 19th season, and Braden, the 26-year-old son in his first year as a head coach, felt they kept their teams focused on the football, not the magnitude of the matchup.
“For our kids, it was all about Pitman vs Downey and that mindset never changed,” Braden said. “When we were practicing all week, we were getting ready for Downey, we weren’t getting ready for coach Plaa vs coach Plaa, it was Downey High.”
Said Jeremy: “I don’t think our kids got into the whole dad vs son thing.”
On the field, both teams started slow but Downey found its groove in the second half, scoring 28 unanswered points to pull away with a 28-0 win, staying perfect in league play.
Downey showed improved rushing ability
It was not the typical Downey High game where it spread the defense out with the passing game. Friday night’s contest was won in the trenches.
Elias Haynes rushed for 220 yards and a touchdown in 21 carries and Bryant Mendes tallied 104 rush yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
After rarely running the ball in years prior, the Knights showed they can control the game on the ground, expanding its offensive attack to fit whatever the game calls for with starting quarterback Julian Masaniai hampered after taking a few tough hits.
The Knights entered Friday’s matchup averaging 227.7 passing yards and 222.5 rushing yards per game.
“Balance is doing what you have to do when you need to do it,” Jeremy Plaa said. “We have a great offensive line with good backs and our quarterback was a little banged up, so we just turned to the run game tonight.”
The Knights put together an efficient scoring drive on their first possession out of the intermission, starting the possession with back-to-back 20-yard runs by Haynes and Mendes. Haynes punctuated the drive with a 33-yard touchdown run to give Downey a 7-0 lead.
The Knights took a 14-0 lead late in the third. After forcing a turnover, Masaniai found Chris Cannon on the sideline for a 26-yard touchdown.
Mendes put the game away for Downey in the fourth, finding the end zone on both of the team’s drives in the final frame on 34-yard and two-yard runs.
“It’s fun that we can do both,” Haynes said. “We messed up sometimes, but we got it back together and started scoring.”
A building block for Pitman
The 28-0 score could be misleading.
The two sides at halftime were tied 0-0 and in the third quarter, it was just a 7-0 ballgame. Braden Plaa felt the momentum flip late in that third frame. The Pride stopped Downey on fourth down, gaining possession at their own 33-yard line, but on their first offensive play of the ensuing drive, they fumbled the ball. Downey fell on the ball and one play later the Knights were in the end zone on a 26-yard pass play.
“We talked to our kids about momentum and adversity,” Braden Plaa said. “You’ve got to ride the momentum and get out of adversity. We were in adversity for pretty much the whole second half and we couldn’t make a play to flip the momentum.”
The Pride had their chances throughout the second half but penalties and incompletions plagued them whenever they tried to put a long drive together. On their final drive of the game, running back Mason Helwick rushed for eight and 22 yards on two back-to-back plays. After a Downey penalty, the Pride found themselves in the red zone for the second time all game, but could not find the end zone. Pitman also fumbled once in each half, ending what looked like promising possessions.
“We had a couple of dropped balls and a couple things that didn’t go our way and if we hit on one of those, the momentum is back in our favor, our crowd’s back in it and our kids feel energized,” Braden said. “But until you make those plays, you’re just fighting adversity.”
The Pride are continuing to build. Braden Plaa is in just his first season, but says he has already seen improvements. Though Pitman was shutout, 28 points is the fewest it allowed against Downey in five matchups.
Both teams continue CCAL play next week. Pitman returns to Joe Debely Stadium for the Harvest Bowl against crosstown rival Turlock and Downey hosts Modesto High.
This story was originally published October 11, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
