CCAL football preview: Downey, other schools replace quarterbacks but encouraged by talent
In 2022, 14 Stanislaus District teams qualified for the playoffs. Five local teams won league championships, three won section titles and a pair played in the last football games of the season, taking home state championships. Now, every team’s record is the same, 0-0. Each team hopes to sit atop its league after 10 games, practice on Thanksgiving leading into a section championship game and eventually be crowned a state champion.
For the next two weeks, The Bee will preview each league heading into the new season. Coverage will include notes and information on each Stanislaus District team, coach quotes and a look at team practices.
Downey, Turlock and Gregori all made the 2022 Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs in the section’s top two divisions. The Bulldogs had the most postseason success of any CCAL team, producing the best season the program has had in more than 20 years after earning a spot in the Division I semifinals. Along the way, they upset St. Mary’s which was looking to run the table with a 10-0 overall record entering the first-round matchup.
Downey, which completed its own perfect regular season, fell in the first round and Gregori made the playoffs despite falling to the league’s top two teams in its final two regular season games.
Every team in the CCAL enters 2023 with a new starting quarterback. Some will promote last year’s varsity backups while others bring up a new starter from their 2022 junior varsity squad. Despite having to replace their signal callers, a number of coaches are encouraged by the returners they have on offensive and defensive lines and at skill positions. Downey, Turlock and Gregori are looking to claim the league’s top three spots for the third straight season while Enochs, Pitman and Modesto hope to throw their names into the playoff picture.
2022 CCAL Standings
Team (Overall Record, League Record)
Downey (10-1, 5-0)
Turlock (8-5, 4-1)
Gregori (4-7, 3-2)
Enochs (4-6, 2-3)
Pitman (2-8, 1-4)
Modesto (2-8,0-5)
A look at the reigning league champion
Richard Williams, Conner Stoddard, Gabe Hernandez and about half of Downey’s starters from the past two seasons all graduated in 2023, which leaves room for a lot of new players to fill key roles for the Knights during the 2023 season. Receiver Joseph Ramirez, who made the switch from quarterback before last season, 2023 sack leader Derrick Kirkendall and defensive lineman Jack Hinchey are a few of the returners whom head coach Jeremy Plaa has relied on to provide leadership during preseason workouts.
“We had 22 starters, I want to say we lost at least 12 to 14 total,” Plaa said. “Last year, we had at least 12 of the 22 starters that were three-year starters that started from their sophomore year on. A lot of them were coaches on the field.
“It’s nice to see (the returners’) comfort level out here. They know what we’re doing, they’re helping out the younger guys, they’re leaders by showing others how to do it and coaching up teammates and helping them come along.”
The Knights are following up a historic 2022 campaign in which they went a perfect 10-0 during the regular season and earned a No. 3 seed and first-round bye in the Division II section playoffs. They know what last year brought, but they are leaving the past behind.
“We have this fresh, new team,” Plaa said. “In fact, I don’t think our coaching staff or our players have talked about last year. They’re totally focused on right now.
“The goal is the same as always. Our big goal is to win Game 1 against Lincoln-Stockton. Then, we’ll look at the rest of the preseason and try to win at least three out of those next four, then we’ll try to be ready for league.”
Plaa is encouraged by the improvement of the offensive line and the strength of the team’s defensive line.
“Not only do we have talented starters, but we have really talented depth. Our second-string guys are going to be able to get a lot of playing time, too,” Plaa said. “They’re big and really fast for a D-Line and they’re making our O-Line better every day in practice.”
Behind the offensive line is junior Carson Lamb, who replaces Stoddard, a former three-year starter, as the Knights’ starting quarterback. While he admittedly was surprised by the speed at the varsity level, Plaa says Lamb’s intelligence and athletic ability have helped him make strides in his first varsity camp.
“In comparison to Conner, Carson is faster, but Conner’s experience and leadership was very strong. That’s where Carson is going to show the most improvement over this next year. He’s very accurate and knows when to make the right decisions, it’s just a matter of getting him those reps.”
CCAL Notes
Gregori pushing for third straight postseason
The Jaguars have a large number of returners who coach Lamar Wallace is confident will make an impact to help the team improve after finishing 4-7 overall and 3-2 among league foes in 2022. Last season, they started league play 3-0 — a 36-30 win in the CCAL opener over Enochs, 48-11 win over Modesto and another nail-biting 28-21 over Pitman — before falling to the top two teams, Downey and Turlock.
“My message every year is to focus on what you can control,” Wallace said. “We have them set team goals and individual goals and our goal every year is to win our league. If we want to be league champions, we have to practice and work like champions.”
The Jaguars advanced to the Division II section playoffs in 2022 but could not make it out of the first round, falling to Jesuit of Carmichael 38-10.
For the second season in a row, Gregori will have a new quarterback. This summer, there was an open competition between Conner Bailey — the varsity backup to Grant Veneman as a junior in 2022 — and Emmanuel Vasquez, a rising junior. Bailey won the starting job and will look to improve on his 29 completions, 431 yards and six touchdowns in six games during his junior campaign.
“He’s one of the leaders on our team and he’s a guy that works hard,” Wallace said, “and he’s a guy that wants to win and is willing to do what it takes.”
Also returning are a pair of first-team all-CCAL honorees in leading rusher Michael Marsden, who ran for over 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns in eight games as a junior, and center Ethan Lowell. Trey Webb produced 220 yards and four receiving touchdowns last season and returns at receiver.
Possibly the most intriguing player on the Jaguars roster is receiver and defensive back Reggieon Foster. As a sophomore, he caught 19 passes for 411 yards and seven touchdowns and made plays on special teams as a kick returner but suffered a knee injury before his junior season that forced him to miss the entire 2022 campaign.
The Jaguars also have a talented incoming junior class that Wallace believes is tight-knit and can go a long way in bringing the team together and helping it remain among the top three teams in the CCAL.
“There’s that brotherhood that’s there that we didn’t have to foster.” Wallace said.
Pitman looking to pivot
The Pride enter 2023 needing to replace guys who were not only great athletes but great locker room teammates as well. CCAL Outstanding Offensive Back/Receiver, Special Teams Player of the Year and Second Team All-League defensive back Joey Stout, All-CCAL Second Team receiver Dylan Freeman and quarterback Drew Walker all graduated.
“Those three brought leadership,” coach Eric Reza said. “They were all seniors, they understood how to practice, they understood how you were supposed to work and how to prepare. … That’s what I’m striving for with these kids. Every rep has to be 100% whether you’re doing it right or wrong.”
In their hopes of jumping from the bottom of the CCAL to the top, the Pride will rely on quarterback Andrew Azevedo, returning running back/linebacker Matthew Burciaga, junior receiver David Garcia and multiple returners on the line.
Pitman also made additions to the coaching staff that Reza is hoping can provide a positive spark into the program. The goal heading into the summer was to prepare the team to be faster and more physical this year.
It starts with the addition of new coaches. Matt Vasconcellos, brother of wrestling head coach Adam Vasconcellos, is the team’s new strength and conditioning coach. Class of 2017 offensive lineman Chris Martinez is back after playing at San Diego State and Arizona State to coach the linemen. And Reza’s son, Eric Reza Jr., joins the staff as a coordinator.
“We have some good pieces on our coaching staff that I feel are going to take us to the next level hopefully sooner rather than later.” Reza Sr. said.
The Pride’s head coach also enlisted the help of coaches from the other successful programs on campus. He got advice from volleyball, wrestling and baseball coaches on setting high expectations when building programs that are built for long-term success.
“I’m not too proud and say my way is the only way. … This off-season I looked around at our volleyball team and our baseball team and they’re always contending, so I talked to those coaches and asked what they do,” Reza Sr. said. “I’m trying to pick their brain as to how they are changing their culture and how they are getting players to buy in.”
Enochs “confident,” experienced and “fast”
The 2022 season was one Tracey Traub believes everyone can learn from. The Eagles played in two overtime games last year, the first two Traub has coached in during his career, and lost both. They fell in a 54-51 nonleague shootout against Buhach Colony and lost a costly 36-30 game to Gregori. After making the postseason in 2021, the Eagles failed to qualify last season.
“Both of them, we had momentum and teams came back and tied it up, so we lost momentum going into overtime,” Traub said. “As coaches, we did not have the experience with overtime across the board. … Next time, we’ll have more experience and we’ll be more prepared for it.
“I told our guys last year, had we not lost two overtime games, nobody would have questioned whether we were in the playoffs.”
All summer, Traub and the Enochs coaching staff let their players know what they expect this year: Play confident and fast.
“They are much more confident … and when you’re more confident, you play a lot faster,” Traub said. “And I think they’re hungry. We missed the playoffs (last year) in the last week of the season.”
Traub believes this team has one of the most talented junior/senior classes he has seen at Enochs in a while. Among them is returner Aiden Muhammad, who recorded over 1,300 yards, 13 rushing touchdowns and was awarded All-CCAL Second Team honors last season. They also bring back their top three receivers in Marley Okoro, Skyler McCauley and Joshua Terry. Logan Edwards enters his senior campaign looking to be a four-year varsity starter. He was converted from a lineman to running back last season, rushing for 219 yards and a touchdown.
Junior Joshua Sharp, who started on the line as a sophomore, returns, and receiver/running back Eric Myles is a speedster who was one of the league’s top 100-meter runners in track as a sophomore last season.
Turlock hopes to turn Cinderella run into section title
Turlock was the Cinderella story of the 2022 Sac-Joaquin Section postseason. The Bulldogs (8-5, 4-1 CCAL) finished second in the league behind Downey and earned a No. 7 seed in the section’s Division I playoffs. After beating No. 10 Edison on at home, they traveled to top seed and then-unbeaten St. Mary’s, where they staged the upset of the decade, winning a 51-50 shootout to advance to the semifinals for the first time in more than 20 years.
“The decibels of the stadium that night, it was the loudest high school football games I’ve ever been a part of, and I’ve been doing this since 2003,” said Turlock coach James Peterson. “It was a really cool experience to be a part of and all the kids played their butts off. It really was great.”
This year, they’re looking for similar success with a lot of those players returning.
“I think that it’s great that we did that because a lot of these guys are coming back.” Peterson said.
While they lost a large amount of offensive production with the graduation of CCAL First-Team quarterback Cole Gilbert and leading rusher and league offensive MVP J.T. Foreman II, the Bulldogs bring back their entire offensive line that got “really good reps” and experience in the team’s deep playoff push. Quarterback Vincent Gonzalez, Gilbert’s backup last season, looks to take charge of the offense this year. He is a shifty, dual-threat quarterback who can sling it and thrives in the intermediate pass game.
“I want someone back there that can move the chains consistently and I feel like he can be that guy.” Peterson said.
Last year, Peterson recognized that Turlock thrived at the skill positions. When Gilbert, Foreman, Peter Mello and Josh Weatherbee started rolling, the team could put up points with the best in the section. This year’s team has a different makeup led by lineman Logan Durkee.
“What I see our team being is more scrappy. More in the trenches, executing three and a half (or) four yards a down is fine for me,” he said. “We’ve worked with those guys in the weight room and our message has been to work hard and the hard work pays off.”
Modesto changing it up on offense
Eli McCabe and Heston Blom put up big numbers during their time in the CCAL, but their graduation could open up a different part of Modesto’s offense.
“We feel really good about the juniors that we’re getting and the seniors that we have now,” said Panthers coach Dylan Miller. It’s going to be a bit of a different look offensively. We’re going to be more of a run the ball outfit. We feel we’ve got backs that are going to be impact players and quarterbacks that are skilled in different ways than Eli.”
Modesto could have its most athletic team in recent years given the increased number of multi-sport athletes who will be on the field this season. While some of the new faces to the Panthers roster might not be “household names” yet, Miller says the staff is “excited about the level of talent that we have out here right now.”
Gabriel Rodriguez and Nolan Watson are two players who can have a big impact on the defensive line, and junior Gabriel Cortez had a great off-season working with the offensive and defensive lines.
Running back/linebackers Melea “MJ” Uili and Vanntheesouk Dam are a pair of playmakers the Panthers will look to for production on both sides of the ball. Uili returns after scoring a touchdown in nine games last season. He also competed in track for the first time in the spring and had success throwing shot put. Dam will also get carries as the Panthers look to work in a two-man rushing attack.
“Those two guys are going to be the engine of our success this year on both sides of the ball,” Miller said. “They’re fantastic athletes, they’ve got their head on straight in the classroom. And so we’re super happy to let them eat when we start playing.”
An encouraging sign for the future of the program is the resurgence of the freshman team. Modesto has all three levels in Miller’s first year as head coach, but for the past few seasons went with a JV/frosh team. That had its benefits, but nothing beats having three levels of football.
“Having a third level right now with the freshmen and seeing the way they’ve been embraced by the sophomores and the varsity and the way we’re working together as a program has been a point of pride,” Miller said. “We have a lot of talented kids so it’s hopefully an indicator of where things are going.”
