High School Football: A wrapup of all the Stanislaus District games

Calaveras 38, Modesto Christian 25 in Salida – Setting aside thoughts of the massive fire bearing down on its town, the Calaveras High football team pulled off an improbable victory on Friday night.

Withstanding a second-half rally by Modesto Christian, the Redskins came down the hill to earn the victory.

Dylan Byrd had four touchdown passes and Anthony Giangregorio had a game-clinching 59-yard scoring run late in the fourth quarter for Calaveras.

The Redskins came to Salida on Friday as the Butte fire was raging out of control, scorching 65,000 acres of Amador and Calaveras counties, according to Cal Fire. By Saturday morning it was 10 percentcontained. An evacuation center opened about a half-mile from the school in San Andreas.

“For those guys to be going through what they’re going through …,” MC coach Mike Parsons marveled. “I give them all the credit. They’ve been through a lot.”

The Redskins took an 18-6 lead into intermission thanks to a Giangregorio 26-yard scoring run and two touchdown passes by Byrd.

The Crusaders, coming off a season-opening loss to Capital Christian, sat a couple of players in the first half for disciplinary reasons.

In the second half, Chris Brown rushed for 173 yards with scoring runs from 63, 48 and 55 yards.

However, between those scores, Byrd connected twice with Trevor Ramirez from 21 and 9 yards, the latter giving Calaveras a 30-19 lead.

“They run a fly offense, and they got us fooled on some of those pass plays,” Parsons said.

Brown tallied his last touchdown to get MC to within five, but Giangregorio clinched the victory with his long run with just under four minutes to go.

“We’re trying to build character,” said Parsons about the first-half discipline. “If we got all of our guys on the field and doing the right thing, we’re a good football team.

“We have three weeks to get ready for the (Trans-Valley League).”

Downey 51, Tokay 40 at Lodi – Malcome Green rushed for 197 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown on the old fumblerooski play as the Knights remained unbeaten. Quarterback Brett Neves had another big performance, passing for 240 yards and three touchdowns. After a pair of big road victories against McNair (Stockton) and Tokay, Downey returns home Friday to take on Lincoln (Stockton). It marks the first of five straight weeks the Knights will play at Chuck Hughes Stadium, though they will be on the visitor’s sideline for an Oct. 2 game against Modesto.

Big Valley Christian 43, Valley Christian 6 at BVC – Lions quarterback Noah Magana completed nine of 15 passes for 136 yards and two scores. Sophomore Alec Butler hauled in six passes for 97 yards and a pair of TDs. BVC held a slim 8-6 lead after the first quarter, then erupted for 28 points in the second.

Napa 21, Pitman 14 at Turlock – The Pride drove to Napa’s 3-yard line late the in game but an interception in the end zone allowed the Indians to escape with a win in a rematch of last year’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff opener, won by Napa 39-14. Pitman running back Blake McBay finished with 111 yards on 13 carries.

East Union 42, Johansen 30 at Dan Gonsalves Stadium – The Vikings, who have now lost 22 straight games, fell behind 29-6 and then made things a bit more interesting, outscoring the Lancers 24-13 in the second half.

Manteca 42, Enochs 6 at Chuck Hughes Stadium – The Eagles have given up 40-plus in all three of their losses in 2015, the third consecutive season that they’ve started the year at least 0-3.

Merced 18, Edison 6 at Merced – Bears running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. carried 33 times for 182 yards and two scores. The win ended Edison’s four-game winning streak over the Bears. After Edison trimmed the lead to 11-6 with 8:47 to play, the Bears answered with the game’s definitive drive, going 77 yards in 12 plays. Gilliam carried the ball eight times on the drive, finishing it and the game with a 1-yard plunge up the middle. “We practiced all week knowing that we wanted to come out and pound the ball,” Gilliam said. “That last drive was huge for us.

Central Valley 33, Franklin 12 at Stockton – Bobby Nieto returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown late in the first half to put the Hawks ahead for good, then hauled in an 18-yard TD pass from Reuben Rodriguez to start the second half as CV won its first game of the season. The Hawks’ Julian Gutierrez picked up a blocked field-goal attempt and returned it for the game’s first score.

Hughson 50, Ceres 27 at Ceres – The Huskies were scored upon for the first time this season, but they still delivered an emphatic victory over the Bulldogs, who have yet to win this season.

Clovis 28, Atwater 0 at Atwater – The Falcons (1-2) were shut out for the second straight week after playing a section title contender for the second game in a row. Clovis quarterback Sean Keunzinger completed 14 of 21 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Three of the touchdown strikes went to receiver Coltin Velasquez, who hauled in five receptions for 170 yards.

Chavez 46, Pacheco 43 at Stockton – The Panthers lost a shootout to fall to 1-2. Pacheco running back Deontae Smith scored on a 53-yard pass and touchdown runs of 11 and 6 yards. Pacheco recovered a fumble with 50 seconds left in the game, but missed a game-tying field goal attempt from 40 yards as time expired.

Sonora 36, Hilmar 35 at Hilmar – The Yellowjackets fell short despite some big plays for their offense. Cody Rentfro broke free for touchdown runs of 86 and 60 yards. Alex Chavez hauled in touchdown catches from Daniel Texeira of 80 and 57 yards. Hilmar’s other score came on an 80-yard run by Josh Jennings in the third quarter. Sonora (2-1) cut the lead to 35-34 in the fourth quarter after a 40-yard touchdown run by Kane Rogers with about 2 minutes left in the game. Sam Page then ran in the two-point conversion that was the difference in the win. The game was moved from Sonora to Hilmar because of the Butte fire and poor air quality in the foothills.

Delhi 69, Riverbank 15 at Riverbank – The Hawks improved to 2-0 with a rout of the Bruins. Delhi (2-0) has opened the season with a 104 points in its first two games after only scoring 199 points all of last season.

Gustine 49, Millennium 0 at Gustine – The Redskins recorded tyheir first shutout since a 12-0 win over Livingston on Nov. 7, 2008 . Quarterback Sebastian Figueroa threw three touchdowns and Robert Zaragoza rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries.

Livingston 42, Le Grand 27 at Livingston – Eduardo Mendoza scored three touchdowns in the second half as the Wolves scored 36 consecutive points to erase a 15-point halftime deficit.

Golden Valley 30, Livermore 20 at Livermore – Quarterback Armando Muzquiz came up big, connecting with Cadrian McDaniel for an 80-yard touchdown pass to give the Cougars a 10-0 lead with 5:16 left in the first half. The junior quarterback also threw a 46-yard scoring strike to Brandon Reyes with 15 seconds left in the third quarter to give Golden Valley a 16-13 lead, as the Cougars snapped a string of 15 consecutive losses.

Sierra 20, Lodi 7 at Lodi – Timberwolves quarterback Mark Vicente threw a pair of 47-yard touchdowns, one to Timmy Brown and the other to Jimmy Galindo. Meanwhile, Sierra’s defense recorded nine sacks, four of them by defensive lineman Andrew Guevara. Mark Paule Jr., a 2,000-yard rusher in 2014, had 74 yards on 21 carries.

Ripon Christian 37, Linden16 at Ripon – Trailing 13-7 in the second quarter, RC’s Travis Zuidervaart (12-of-16, 176 yards) hit Jonah Lewis on a 74-yard TD connection and then put the team ahead to stay when he scrambled in 9 yards out. He later ran for another touchdown. The Knights’ Derek Dotinga (11 carries, 109 yards) scored on TD runs of 2, 64 and 45 yards.

Bradshaw Christian 57, Summerville 56 (2OT) at Sacramento – The Pride dominated the action in the first half, but didn’t score in the second half until tying the game with a TD with less than 2 minutes to play.

Orestimba 27, Firebaugh 0 at Newman – Warriors quarterback Joe Sheldon carried the ball seven times for 140 yards and a score, while Austin Martins had 100 total yards from offense (74 rushing, 16 receiving) and 12 tackles, with two interceptions and a sack, on defense.

Denair 41, Brookside Christian 12 at Denair – The Coyotes scored 27 unanswered points in the first quarter and overwhelmed the Knights to give first-year head coach Anthony Armas his first victory.

Woodland Christian 54, Turlock Christian 16 at Woodland – The Eagles’ Dominic Zendejas rushed for 268 yards and two scores on 31 carries, but it was nearly enough against the Cardinals.

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 6:25 AM with the headline "High School Football: A wrapup of all the Stanislaus District games."