Welcome home: Blue Crew, deejay turn Downey football games into party

Jeremy Plaa doesn’t mind the loud music, hundreds of high school kids walking across his lawn or the persistent ringing in his ears.

The Downey football coach is a fan of the party atmosphere the school has created for its home games at Chuck Hughes Stadium. His team feeds off the energy of the Blue Crew – Downey’s super fans – and looks forward to another rockin’-and-rollin’ affair Friday against Lincoln of Stockton.

“I know our student body shows up for all our home games,” Plaa said. “We have an entire section for the Blue Crew. We bring a deejay to enhance the environment, and it makes the high school experience fun.

“Against Pitman, my ear was ringing the next day because I had my headset turned all the way up because the Blue Crew and deejay were so loud. But you know what, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”

The Knights return home after two weeks on the road, where they won wild shootouts over McNair and Tokay to improve to 3-0.

Downey has evolved quickly after a disheartening showing against Monterey Trail in its final preseason scrimmage. Back then, Plaa worried about the maturity of his junior class, a decorated group that has not experienced a loss.

Today, he applauds their growth and resolve.

Junior Brett Neves has completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 788 yards and nine touchdowns, and Malcome Green ranks among the Stanislaus District’s leaders in total yards. Green has rushed for 375 yards with two 100-yard games; he also has 14 receptions for 178 yards and three scores.

Junior safety Alex Velasquez is averaging 11.7 tackles per game.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that the maturity is better than I expected it to be,” Plaa said. “That was my big concern going into the Pitman week (Downey’s season-opening opponent). We were dealing with a few juniors that were battling big egos from going undefeated the last two years. Going on the road, you face a different type of adversity. We played two good teams, scored a bunch of points and the defense played better than it shows.”

Lincoln hopes to crash the party.

The Trojans blanked Stagg 29-0 in their opener but have been beaten decidedly in their past two outings by Pitman (21-0) and Elk Grove (41-14). Downey raced past Pitman 30-14 in its opener.

The Trojans feature quarterbacks Colby Dickson and Aaron Thomas while running back Ronald Walker has ample size on the line to run behind.

“I know they’re hungry,” Plaa said.

Sonora (2-1) at Ripon (1-2) – The Bee’s top small-school teams battle it out at Stouffer Field. The No. 2 Indians have yet to put together four good quarters and struggled mightily in a 24-13 loss to Lathrop last week in their home opener.

The top-ranked Wildcats have won two straight games and showed their mental fortitude in a 36-35 victory at Hilmar last week. Sophomore Kane Rodgers pulled Sonora within 35-34 with a 40-yard run with about two minutes left. Quarterback Sam Page dived across with the two-point conversion to seal the victory.

The game was supposed to be played at Dunlavy Field, but falling ash and poor air quality forced school officials to move the game to Hilmar. As a result, the Wildcats will have played their first five games – vs. Oakdale, Lodi, Hilmar, Ripon and next week’s Mother Lode League opener at Argonaut – on the road.

Gregori (3-0) at East Union (2-0) – Gregori coach Jason McCoy and East Union’s Willie Herrera are former teammates at Modesto Junior College, and there’s a healthy respect between the two rooted in family and faith. But on Friday, the gloves come off.

The upstart Lancers are looking for their first victory against a playoff-caliber opponent under Herrera and have taken aim at the Jaguars, the coaches’ pick to win the Modesto Metro Conference title. The Jaguars are built like the heavyweights in the Valley Oak League, so a victory would tell Herrera how far his program has come.

Gregori can feel the heat. The Jaguars gave an uneven performance last week in a 28-14 victory over El Capitan, a program with one win in two varsity seasons.

“We want to continuously get better,” McCoy said. “We left points off the scoreboard and haven’t finished some drives. Defensively, we’ve given up big plays that we have to get better at. As a head coach, I’ll take full responsibility for that in making sure we do get better in those areas.”

Johansen (0-2) at Ceres (0-3) – Is this the week the Vikings and coach Grant Genasci get off the schneid? Johansen has lost 33 of its past 34 games, including 22 in a row, but last week opened some eyes in a 42-30 loss to East Union. The Vikings outscored the Lancers 24-13 over the final two quarters, responding to Genasci’s challenge at halftime.

While the Vikings’ stock is rising, Ceres has stumbled following a promising summer. The Bulldogs have losses to three potential playoff teams: Modesto (42-21), Gregori (35-20) and Hughson (50-27). With junior quarterback Chris Lubinsky at the controls, Ceres’ spread offense is as potent as any in the Stanislaus District. Stopping teams has been the back-breaker for the ’Dogs, who will try to contain a Vikings attack that had four scorers last week: Robert Williams, Donald Williams, Davante Brown and Mateo Gordon.

Modesto (2-1) at Turlock (1-1) – The Bulldogs opened the season with a running-clock victory over Enochs. Now comes an MMC team of a higher regard. Turlock and Modesto will meet for the 117th time at Joe Debely Stadium.

The Panthers edged Turlock 33-28 last fall to snap the Bulldogs’ four-game win streak in the series. Turlock leads the all-time series 72-40-4. Modesto quarterback Max McCabe has developed a rhythm with wide receiver Kendall McNair but hasn’t faced a pass rusher like Turlock’s Mustafa Noel-Johnson.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Welcome home: Blue Crew, deejay turn Downey football games into party."