The long drive and playing a day game did not bother Dakarai Charles on Saturday as he threw for three touchdowns to lead Manteca to a resounding 55-0 non-league road win over North Monterey County-Castroville.

Charles had touchdown passes of 15 yards to Jacob Tolbert, 25 yards to Jake Menasco and 60 yards to Damon Lynch.

“I was very happy with the improvement from Week 1 to Week 2,” Buffaloes coach Eric 

Reis said. “We threw the ball well this game and played good special teams. They had a bad snap on a field goal in the second quarter which helped us keep the shut out.

“We ran our short yardage game much better this week. It was a long drive and our kids handled that adversity and the day game very well.”

Eli Willis scored on runs of 4 and 6 yards, Darrion Kitson from 25 yards out and Cameron Beamon on a 4-yard run. The stingy Manteca defense got in on the act when Ronald Tijero returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.

Sophomores

Sierra 31, Ceres 6

Damon Durante was in on four touchdowns for the Sierra sophomores on Friday in a 31-6 non-league road win against Central Valley-Ceres at Ceres High School.

Durante had touchdown runs of 20, 60 and 70 yards along with hauling in a touchdown pass from Caden Worth. Stephen Soevy anchored the Timberwolves offensive line that had an outstanding game.

Worth, Duran, J.P. Peterson, Jordan Black and Mathew Gomez played well for the Sierra defense.

Lathrop 14, Liberty 

Ranch-Galt 8

Michael Ramos ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns Thursday for the Spartans in a non-league road win at Galt high school.

Ramos scored on a 55-yard run in the second period to put Lathrop ahead 6-0. Trailing 7-6 in the fourth period Ramos reeled off a 49-yard touchdown run for what proved to be the eventual game winner. 

The Spartans held the Hawks to 14 yards on the ground with Liberty Ranch’s lone touchdown coming on a broken-coverage pass in the second quarter.