Games to watch: Teams enter Week 11 with league, playoff seeding on the line
Week 11 doesn’t mean Stanislaus District high school football teams get to rest starters. It’s quite the opposite. Teams across the area will play must-win games Thursday and Friday to secure a top spot in their league, in the postseason bracket or a bowl game.
The Western Athletic Conference, Central California Athletic League, Valley Oak League and Trans-Valley League all have big matchups, so we picked one key game from each to highlight. Two Modesto City Schools, Johansen and Davis, face off in the WAC for the league’s No. 2 spot. Both are also playing in a game with bowl seeding implications, with Johansen barely on track to secure an extra game entering the game.
The VOL championship is Friday night, featuring a pair of teams that have not lost a league game this season. Oakdale’s win over Central Catholic made this game possible and Manteca has not lost a game all season, coasting to Friday’s important regular season finale. Oakdale is looking to capture its first outright league title since going 7-0 in 2017. In 2019, the Mustangs shared a three-way championship with the Raiders and Buffaloes after each went 5-1 in league play.
In the CCAL, Gregori and Pitman play with a win likely going a long way in keeping either side in bowl-game talks. Ripon plays to keep its spot in the Division VI bracket secured, while Hilmar, the No. 2 team in D-V entering Friday, looks for a bounceback, momentum win as the postseason nears.
Thursday
Johansen (6-3, 5-1 WAC) at Davis (6-3, 5-1 WAC) at Downey High, 7 p.m.
Once again, Johansen and Davis find themselves tangled in a tight race for league positioning. But this time, if they want sole possession of the No. 2 spot in the WAC, they’ll have to go through each other. In 2023, Johansen and Davis and Mountain House finished tied for third in the WAC standings with 4-3 records. That year, the Vikings finished 13th in the Division III standings and the Spartans were No. 16. Mountain House rned the final D-III playoff spot as the 12-seed.
Last season, both finished 4-3 in league play. Davis thought that a win over Johansen, a team slightly ahead in the rankings, would secure it a playoff spot. The Spartans won, 35-22, but Johansen still earned the playoff spot coming in at No. 11 in the Division III rankings.
While neither team is fighting for a spot in this year’s eight-team, D-III bracket, a bowl game can still be in the cards for both. Davis is No. 12 and Johansen is hanging on with a No. 15 ranking entering the regular season’s final week.
Both teams are playing their best football late in the season. Davis has won four straight games and Johansen has outscored its last two opponents 66-21. In league play, Johansen quarterback Anthony Torres has thrown 18 touchdowns and just two interceptions, and receiver/defensive back Jeydan Saing has nine touchdown grabs and two interceptions.
Davis running back John Castro has come alive during WAC play, rushing for eight touchdowns in their four-game win streak with 100- and 232-yard performances. Three of the four games were multi-touchdown outings.
Davis two-way stars Zane Gerbo and Lincoln Brooks did not play last week against Pacheco and it is uncertain if they will be able to take the field this week.
Each team’s lone league loss was to Lathrop, the now back-to-back league champion. Davis fell 20-9 and Johansen’s game against Lathrop went down to the wire, but the Vikings fell by just seven points. That sets up this week’s matchup between two Modesto City Schools with the same overall and league records. Davis is perfect as the designated home team with wins over Orestimba, Central Valley, Beyer and Pacheco, while Johansen is 3-1 on the road.
Pitman (5-4, 2-2 CCAL) at Gregori (3-6, 2-2 CCAL), 7 p.m.
Thursday’s Pride vs Jaguars matchup has major bowl game implications. Gregori’s bowl game eligibility likely rests on a Week 11 win or loss. The Jaguars are a No. 15 seed in Division I and one more win, coupled with losses from the No. 16 and 17 teams, Enochs and Cosumnes Oaks, respectively, could earn a spot in this year’s postseason.
The Jaguars’ CCAL win earlier this season over the Eagles was big, and another victory over Pitman would give Gregori a three-game win streak to end the regular season and four overall wins.
Pitman has won five games for the first time since 2018 but did not win the CCAL, so the selection committee will focus on its ranking among other D-II teams. The No. 12 team in its division, led by first-year coach Braden Plaa, Pitman is on track to qualify for the postseason and put a stamp on the Stanislaus District’s best turnaround story this season.
Pitman had its best showing in the Harvest Bowl rivalry game against Turlock in around a decade, but fell to the Bulldogs 28-14. They bounced back with a 31-24 win over Enochs, tying it with Gregori in the league standings with 2-2 records.
Pitman’s offense is good, but its defense has been great. The Pride have allowed over 30 points only once this season, a game they won 42-41 against Cosumnes Oaks.
Numbers-wise, Mason Helwick has been one of the area’s top backs. He has 19 total touchdowns, good for 13th in the Sac-Joaquin Section. He has 1,155 total yards (1,012 rushing, 134 receiving, nine passing) and is the Pride’s first 1,000-plus yard rusher since Devan Bass in 2016.
Quarterback Rj Wilharm has passed for 1,118 yards and rushed for 223 yards on the season. Gregori found its rushing attack against Enochs, tallying a season-high 293 team rush yards and three touchdowns. Last week in a 35-0 win over Modesto, the Jaguars put together back-to-back weeks of over 240 rush yards and three scores (243 yards, 3 touchdowns).
Friday
Manteca (9-0, 5-0 VOL) at No. 1 Oakdale (8-1, 5-0 VOL), 7 p.m.
The VOL champion will be crowned Friday night in Oakdale. Manteca is looking to claim its second straight league title and will need great performances from two of the section’s top recruits, junior running back Nikko Juarez and senior receiver Quinn Martinez. They’ve proven they can win however they need to, recording five passing touchdowns in a game or scoring as many as six rushing touchdowns in an outing.
The Buffaloes’ versatility has led to a perfect 9-0 record through 10 weeks and a spot at the top of the rankings in a loaded Division II bracket. This game will truly test the Mustangs’ defense, which will need to be the best it’s been all season if the team will make another deep playoff run.
Manteca scores 46.6 points a game (420 points in 9 games) and allows 11 (100 points in 9 games). Oakdale averages 51 points a game (464 points in 9 games) and allows 24 (222 points in 9 games).
Both teams have their spots in their respective divisions sealed. In Division III, Oakdale’s playoff journey will likely start as a top 3 seed as the Mustangs look to get back to their second straight section title game.
Wes Burford and Richard Flores have combined for 48 rushing touchdowns, with each recording over 1,000 rushing yards and at least 20 touchdowns.
Chase Lopez could also be finding his groove at the right time. Though his yard production has dropped since a 1,000-plus-yard junior campaign, his role on the team is as important as ever. He embraced his duties as a blocker out of the backfield, responsible for breaking free the two other backfield mates. Last week against Sierra, however, he tallied his third 100-plus-yard rushing game this season (his first in VOL play) and finished with a season-high three rushing touchdowns. He has still accounted for 735 yards on the ground and nine touchdowns this season.
No. 6 Hilmar (5-4, 2-3 TVL), at No. 10 Ripon (5-4, 1-4 TVL), 7 p.m.
The only key game between two Stanislaus District top 10 teams sees Hilmar coaching legend Frank Marques finish his last regular season on the road against Ripon. The Yellowjackets enter the regular season finale as a top-three seed in Division V looking for a bounceback win after falling to Hughson (a projected top-five team in Division IV) in a dramatic, classic TVL showdown.
Adam Branco has been the team’s workhorse on the ground all season. Just a sophomore, he has rushed for 740 yards and 13 touchdowns. He is second in the TVL in rush yards and second in total touchdowns (13 rushing, 1 pick-six).
Juniors Nathan Ayala and Cohen Felber are the other two Yellowjackets with over five touchdowns on the season. Momentum is everything in late-season football, and though everyone in the eight-team bracket gets a bye the first week of the postseason, entering the playoffs with a key victory is important.
Ripon’s talented junior class got its first taste of varsity TVL play this year under first-year head coach Cole Williams and it was a learning experience for them all. Because they play in such a strong league and have met the four-win threshold, Ripon is the current six seed in Division VI heading into the last week of the regular season.
Ripon gains its yards in the run game thanks to five players who have rushed for at least 100 yards and two touchdowns. Nine total Ripon players have scored at least one touchdown this season, bringing the team total to 33 scores on the ground during the 2025 campaign.
Running back Kael Rangel and quarterback Andrew Shaw lead the way. Rangel is the team’s rushing yards leader (568) and adds eight touchdowns. Shaw leads the team with two 100-plus-yard rushing games and has a team-high 10 touchdowns. The pair are tied with a team-high 84 carries. Defensively, three players have an interception and two have forced a fumble.
