Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the game you’ve all been waiting for … Turlock vs. Central Catholic.
Turlock High blitzed an overmatched Laguna Creek team, 48-12, on Friday during the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 playoffs.
The sixth-seeded Bulldogs (8-3) will travel to David Patton Field next Friday to take on the No. 3 Raiders (7-3), a matchup that’s been talked about for years.
Central Catholic, with an enrollment of about 420 students, has won more championship banners (20) than any program in Sac-Joaquin Section history. But for much of its 59-year history, the Raiders were considered nothing more than a small-school powerhouse.
Beginning in 2012, Central Catholic rolled off four consecutive state championships and began scheduling preseason dates against large-school powerhouses such as De La Salle (Concord), St. John Bosco (Bellflower), and Serra (San Mateo) — teams with national profiles. And because of their postseason success, the Raiders were gradually promoted to Division 1 — where Turlock, with an enrollment of about 2,600 students, has toiled for decades.
Bulldogs coach James Peterson even took a page out of Central Catholic’s book and began stacking up tough preseason foes to help better prepare his squad for the rigors of postseason play. Peterson even took part in preseason scrimmages with the Raiders.
“This was the first year in a while that we didn’t scrimmage them,” said CC’s Roger Canepa, the section’s all-time winningest coach with 290 wins. “They’re a good football team. Defensively they run to the ball and, offensively, they can run and pass. Once you get this far, everybody’s good, so you’ve just got to be ready to play. It should be a good game.”
Against Laguna Creek (5-6), Turlock quickly took control of the game when Jeremiah Stine capped six-play, 54-yard drive with a 3-yard burst into the end zone, making it 6-0 two minutes into the contest.
The Bulldogs made it 13-0 when speedy Junior Silva hauled in an 86-yard touchdown pass from Scout Silva on the last play of the first quarter, making the score 13-0.
With about 8 minutes remaining in the first half, Laguna Creek was forced to punt, but Ryan Eddy booted the ball into the back of his own lineman. The ball landed in the hands of senior Colten Mauksch, who returned the ball 60 yards for a score that made it 20-0.
Silva and Silva hooked up again in the final minute of the first half — this time from 27 yards out — to make it 27-0 at the break.
On Laguna Creek’s first drive off the second half, Turlock’s Dominick Luna’s 60-yard interception return to make it 34-0.
It was one of six Cardinals turnovers on the night.
“That’s what we’re going to have to do next week,” said Peterson of the turnovers. “We’re going to have to create chaos. We know we’re the underdog going in, but we’re ready for the challenge.”
