Many people didn’t quite know what to expect from this year’s Turlock High School varsity football team, especially offensively. One of the several key skill players they had lost to graduation this past summer was their starting quarterback, Vincent Gonzales.
But freshman Scout Silva wants the Bulldog faithful to know that things are under control.
Despite losing their season-opener 41-28 on Friday night to a mighty Rocklin team, Silva provided a handful of highlight-reel plays that kept his team within striking distance of the defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 champions throughout the night. In fact, the Bulldogs found themselves leading by a 21-14 score at halftime.
It began with Silva leading the Bulldogs on an 11-play, 72-yard opening drive that ended in a 1-yard quarterback sneak for the touchdown. After a quick answer from the Thunder, Silva again marched his team down the field for a 65-yard scoring drive that was capped off with a 30-yard touchdown connection to senior Jeremiah Stine. Right before the half, he delivered a strike to Junior Silva for an 11-yard score. He added another 1-yard sneak midway through the third quarter.
In total, the 5-foot-8 gunslinger completed 20 of 29 for 237 yards, ran for another 62 on 11 carries and cashed in on four touchdowns.
“He’s fun to watch. He proved to everybody why he's the number one guy right now,” said Turlock head coach James Peterson. “I think he's earned it in offseason and here in the summertime, just putting in the work and getting after it.”
Aside from the disappointment that came with not being able to pull out the victory, Silva was satisfied with the way he performed and how the offense was able to set the tone early, while vowing to be better moving forward.
“We usually defer the ball (to start the game), but I wanted the ball. Coach Pete told me to defer, but we ended up losing the toss anyway and getting the ball and we came out and punched it in. That's what I expected. That's what I wanted to happen.
“I came out here with a lot of confidence,” Silva said. “And I felt we should have come out with the victory. We just had a few mistakes that held us back, but we'll get better.”
Those mistakes were in the form of a pair of turnovers. The first came midway through the second quarter when a handoff was dropped. The other missed opportunity was when Silva couldn’t connect with a receiver on a fourth-and-4 with 5 minutes to play in the third quarter. The Thunder scored six plays later to take a 28-21 lead. Five of their six plays were runs.
The Bulldogs struggled to stop the Thunder ball carriers out of the backfield all night, surrendering a combined 159 yards on the night. Their ground-and-pound, run-heavy offense helped them score on six of their eight offensive possessions. The only times they didn’t convert was a turnover on downs in the first quarter and when time expired in the first half.
“Eventually we're going to have to stop the run,” Peterson said. “We had a problem with that, especially late in the second half. We just have to clean that up. But those guys earned it. They bring a lot of hats to the line, they bring fullbacks through the hole, so it’s tough on a defense. They earned the win tonight.”
While the Bulldogs became occupied with the run defense, Rocklin’s junior quarterback, Reeve Slone, was able to capitalize by completing 11 of just 16 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Slone has an offer to play collegiately at Utah State.
Next up on Turlock’s schedule is a trip to Tracy High next week when the Battle of the Bone rivalry is renewed.
The schools — both nicknamed the Bulldogs — will meet for the first time since 2019. They faced off eight times during the previous decade and split the series 4-4, though two of Tracy’s wins came in the postseason. Tracy is coming off a 47-6 win over West High (Tracy) on Friday.
“We have some dogs on our team,” Silva added. “With all those guys around me, we're going to have a great season this year.”
