Sixteen seasons. 651 players. 170 games. And now, 100 wins.

On Friday night at Downey High School, Turlock High head football coach James Peterson reached the century mark in all-time wins as his Bulldogs defeated the Panthers of Modesto High by a 42-0 score in the 126th meeting between the two historic programs.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Peterson said. “It just doesn’t feel like I’ve been here that long, you know? I’m still having fun, I still love coaching these guys. They’re relentless. I just love being a Bulldog coach.”

Winning was far from common when Peterson took over as head coach in 2009, when his team went 0-10. 

“I always think about how far we’ve come since then. We could have only dreamed of playing the teams that we’ve played and being in the spot that we’ve been in year after year,” he added.

Peterson’s all-time coaching record is now 100-70. He is third winningest coach in Turlock history behind Joe Debely (117) and Les Ratzlaff (106).

Modesto, the Bulldogs’ oldest rival, has struggled in recent seasons. They entered Friday’s contest with a 3-5 record and quickly fell behind. 

At halftime, the Bulldogs built a 35-0 lead, all scores courtesy of quarterback Scout Silva. He kicked things off with a quarterback sneak. They went up by three scores after he connected with Landyn Fitzgerald on a pair of touchdown throws. Junior Silva made it a 28-0 game when he ran in a toss not long before Silva found Dayne Hart in the end zone to make it 35-0. The score remained the same until late in the fourth quarter when Jeremiah Stine picked up a fumble and ran it 99 yards to the house.

It was Turlock's ninth straight win over the Panthers, and it extended their all-time lead in the series to 82-40-4.

The ‘Dogs improved to 6-3 on the season and to 4-0 in the Central California Athletic League, needing just a win against 2-7 Enochs next week on Senior Night at Joe Debely Stadium to officially clinch the conference crown.

— Josh Backus of the Turlock QB Club contributed to this report.