New-look Modesto rolls past Ceres in season opener

There was a lot of talk going into the new season about Modesto High’s departures from last year’s team.

The Panthers lost 18 starters, including their star quarterback. And last month the Panthers surprisingly saw their head coach leave when Rich Alkire decided to move away to be with his ailing mother.

But maybe with all Modesto lost, it might have found something, too. The Panthers are a pretty good football team, even without all that.

Modesto showed that on Friday night in a 42-21 win over Ceres at Johsen High’s Dan Gonsalves Stadium. And it wasn’t lost on head coach Don Wallace.

“I told the guys it’s your time to step up,” said Wallace, the school’s athletic directer who decided to fill in for Alkire on short notice. “Other than some mistakes, I thought we played pretty well. We just need to clean those up.”

Plenty of guys stepped up to make plays Friday night and it should be a sign to the rest of the Modesto Metro Conference that the Panthers – coming off two straight postseason appearances – aren’t going to go away easily.

Senior quaterback Max McCabe, who backed up star QB Nate Phillips last season, made his first varsity start and performed well, passing for two touchdowns and rushing for another.

“This is his time to shine,” Wallace said of McCabe. “He’s not athletic like Tiki Tonga or Nate Phillips (the Panthers’ starters during the last two playoff runs), but he’s a good athlete and a smart athlete.”

Running back Reggie Wilbon showed flashes of brilliance, running for 82 yards and two TDs (a 17-yarder and a 14-yarder). And senior Kendall McNair, who was a key part of the success of the 2014 squad, had a big night, rushing for 80 yards and a TD and catching two passes for 55 yards.

The Panthers are also big on both lines and play good, aggressive defense. Not much has changed in that regard compared to last year’s team.

Ceres, meanwhile, showed off new starting quarterback Chris Lubinsky and he certainly looked the part – tall, athletic and with an accurate arm. The 6-foot-3 junior passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns. But the Bulldogs committed way too many penalties and couldn’t keep the offense going after a fast start.

The Bulldogs scored two of their TDs on big plays, an 85-yard kickoff return by Seth Gibson and an 80-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Chris Lubinksy to Austin Stiles.

The turning point of the game came at the end of the second quarter, with Lubinksy driving Ceres for the tying score. But Lubinksy underthrew an open receiver and Modesto’s Zayn Largent intercepted his pass around his own 10-yard line. Largent ran down the sideline looking for a “pick six” but fumbled. Modesto recovered at Ceres’ 11-yard line.

McCabe hit Cameron Cruce on an 11-yard TD pass with 7 seconds left in the half and Ceres was down 28-14 and it seemed to take the air out of the Bulldogs.

Ceres coach Bret Durossette said Lubinsky’s interception was just a bad throw.

The Bulldogs lost shifty runner Johnni Smith-Willis to a concussion in the third quarter. He will likely be out for next week’s game against Gregori.

Modesto plays at Stagg next Friday.

Wallace, who coached the Panthers’ basketball team for 13 seasons, is 1-0 as a head football coach.

He said he was “shocked” when Alkire told him he had decided to leave.

“I was coming home from Lake Tahoe getting ready to coach girls golf,” he said. “I decided it would be best to just take over and keep this staff together.”

Wallace allowed his staff to call the plays, then stepped in when he wanted to call timeout or run out the clock.

He called himself a “game manager.”

“Basketball is easy,” Wallace said. “You just need jerseys, a few balls and a med kit. There’s a lot more to worry about in football. I didn’t sleep (Thursday night).”

Friday’s victory should help him rest a little easier.

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 12:09 AM with the headline "New-look Modesto rolls past Ceres in season opener."