Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt.

In the case of Ripon Christian and Orestimba’s football programs, their epic battles in their time together as Southern Athletic League counterparts has cultivated a mutual respect.

They’ll get reacquainted this Friday for the last time as SAL members, only this time for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII-A championship.

The winner takes on the Division VII-B champion — Woodland Christian (10-0) or Stone Ridge Christian (9-1) — next week for a NorCal Bowl berth. Ripon Christian defeated Woodland Christian last year for the Division VII crown.

Orestimba (9-3) travels to Ripon Christian (11-1) for the second time this season. On Sept. 22, the Knights rolled to a 42-12 win with each team missing a standout player. RC coach Phil Grams predicted after that game that the two would soon meet again.

Next year, both Ripon Christian and Orestimba are getting bumped up from Division VII and moving into the loaded Trans-Valley League.

"(Orestimba coach) Aaron Souza does a great job over there,” Grams said. “He and I are friends as well as competitors. We hugged after the last time we played and we both knew right there and then we’d be playing again and here we go.”

The Warriors have not lost since then, stomping past seven straight opponents. They routed another SAL foe in the semifinals, rolling to 49-14 win over Le Grand behind running back Juan Esquivez’s 460 yards and five touchdowns on 27 carries.

According to MaxPreps, Esquivez leads the Section in rushing yards (2,227), points scored (258) and touchdowns (43). He’s likely seeking redemption after having his least productive game of the season at Ripon Christian, which held him to 84 yards, most of it in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach, on 16 rushes.

“Esquivez is a great running back,” Grams said of the 5-foot-9, 190-pound senior. “We had a couple shoestring tackles that would have probably changed the ball game if he got loose on them. It could be different this time.”

One big difference for both teams is the return of two important seniors, quarterback Alex Millan (shoulder) for Orestimba and all-league linebacker Dustin Hoekstra (elbow) for Ripon Christian.

Junior Jacob Valenzuela (55-of-95 passing, 838 yards, 14 TDs, one interception; four rushing TDs) filled in admirably in place of Millan (35-52, 524 yards, four TDs, four INTs), who featured in three of Orestimba’s last three games. Ripon Christian expects to see a different offense with both quarterbacks available.

“Millan is a good passer, he showed that as a junior and before he got hurt this year,” Grams said. “I imagine they’ll look to be more balanced (on Friday), because they’ve been able to grind the ball against teams. They have a package with both (Millan and Valenzuela) in the backfield with Esquivez, and it’s interesting to see what they do out of that and it only makes them tougher.

“With Millan that makes them more of a balanced threat, but (Valenzuela) is a hard tackle and a gifted athlete who is going to be a good quarterback. I’m sure they want to keep him involved in the ball game.”

Esquivez is also one of Orestimba’s top defensive players (72 tackles, 14 for losses, 3.0 sacks, three fumble recoveries) along with 6-2, 215-pound lineman Nicolas Cuevas (79 tackles, 17 for losses, 5.0 sacks), Devon Bell (44 tackles, 15 for losses, 8.5 sacks) and defensive back Jacob Mar (44 tackles, four interceptions).

The reigning champion Knights have also been rolling going into the final. They’ve won 11 straight since their 63-41 zero-week loss to Central Section power Central Valley Christian, outscoring opponents 542-26 while shutting out nine of them.

“We have a great group of 13 seniors,” Grams said. “We came together during COVID when I got my start with Ripon Christian and they were freshmen. We’ve been through a lot of stuff together, and they’ve matured so much as young men

“They’re still motivated. They want to take what we did last season and do even better.”