It’s revenge week for the three schools in town, as East Union and Manteca and Sierra take their acts on the road Friday night.
Sierra, seeking its first 3-0 start since 2016, looks to avenge two of its losses from a year ago. Pacheco (1-0) of Los Banos once again provides the Timberwolves a good measure of how far they’ve come in head coach Chris Johnson’s third season.
In their 2018 Week 2 encounter, Pacheco had its way in a 36-14 win as Sierra continued to get acquainted with the newly-installed triple-option offense. The Panthers went on to go 8-2 in the regular season and earn a three-way share of the Western Athletic Conference crown.
The two tangled again in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs as eighth-seeded Pacheco got to host a postseason game for the first time at Veterans Memorial Stadium, but it was a different Timberwolves team that it saw just two months prior.
“People were probably thinking that we weren’t going to do all that well since they had already beaten us,” senior lineman/linebacker Holden Fishburn said during a preseason interview. “We were up by two touchdowns at halftime and everyone in the locker room was ecstatic, knowing that we can beat this team. They realized they had to play.”
It was an epic first postseason win for Pacheco, which battled back for a thrilling 34-33 victory after trailing 21-7 at halftime. The Panthers were eliminated by top-seeded Rio Linda 77-63 the following week, and Rio Linda wound up winning the CIF State Division V-AA championship.
“That game motivated me a lot in the offseason,” junior running back Kimoni Stanley said. He rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns in the contest. “We could have beaten them, and the fact that we were right there in the end only to lose hurt us as a team. But looking back, we went 5-6 after winning two games (in 2017), so we made progress. I feel like we can do a lot better.”
So far, so good for Stanley and the rest of the tenacious T’wolves, who steamrolled their first two opponents — Modesto Christian and Central Valley — in preparation for the anticipated rematch. Stanley is coming off a 286-yard, six-touchdown performance.
Pacheco should be refreshed from its bye week after opening with a 36-0 blowout win at El Capitan. It was the debut for Jeremy Siemiller, who replaced eight-year head coach David Snapp.
The Panthers graduated several of their stars from the 2018 team, namely quarterback Marcus Ordunez, the All-WAC Offensive Player of the Year, All-WAC Offensive Lineman of the Year Manvir Lally and standout running back Julian Moran.
Siemiller has kept the veer offense intact, and it was a committee of backs — four different players had seven carries each as the Panthers ground out 202 yards on the ground — that did the damage at El Capitan.
A closer look at other Week 2 matchups:
East Union at Bear Creek: The Lancers (1-1) ride north to Stockton after punishing WAC tri-champ Mountain House on the road, 59-0.
They’ll certainly want to atone for their tough-to-swallow 2018 loss to Bear Creek (0-2), which scored 22 unanswered points in the second half to sneak out of Dino Cunial Field with a 36-34 win. The Bruins are familiar with that kind of defeat — last week, Tokay rallied for a wild 56-55 win in a 34-point comeback.
Like EU, Bear Creek has a new set of budding stars led by second-year junior RB/MLB Brian Adams.
Manteca at Granada: Manteca (1-1) dropped another heartbreaker to Downey, 54-48 in overtime, last week and intends to prevent back-to-back losses in Weeks 1-2 for the second straight season.
Granada traveled from Livermore and came away with an impressive 35-14 win during its 9-3 campaign. The Matadors graduated their top offensive playmakers in receiver Malini Ti’a and running back Zack Macintire but return quarterback J.J. Knight, who threw for four TDs and ran for the other in last season’s showdown. They’re coming off opposite ends of shutouts, losing to Lincoln 35-0 before trouncing Newark Memorial, 49-0.
Franklin at Weston Ranch: Count the Cougars (0-1) in on this revenge theme.
Last year, their only win — a 41-19 drubbing — came at the expense of Franklin, but they forfeited the game for using an illegal player. That ended up as the lone win of the season for the Yellowjackets.
They meet again with both squads seeking their first win of the season. Franklin (0-2) was dispatched by Linden and Grace Davis in lopsided affairs. Weston Ranch, fresh off its bye, has been rarin’ to go for this home opener on its newly-renovated field.
Ripon at Central Valley: After beginning the season with two landslide victories over Weston Ranch and Sonora at home, Ripon (2-0) begins a stretch of four straight road games this Friday in Ceres.
The Hawks were hammered by Sierra a week ago and it gets no easier against a team they lost to last year, 42-7. The Central Valley attack does return some experienced athletes, such as quarterback Andrew Hernandez and second-year junior running back Isaiah Hidalgo, but was shut out by Sierra for 2 ½ quarters.
Summerville at Ripon Christian: The Knights (1-1) welcome the Bears (1-1) from the Mother Lode League after they split their previous two meetings against each other.
Summerville has been locked in two closely-contested games, first falling to Mariposa 30-24 and prevailing at Galt, 24-21. Second-year junior quarterback Jaden Brocchini and leading rusher Nicholas Veach return.
Ripon Christian rumbled for a 42-3 get-right win at Stone Ridge Christian last week following a disappointing 20-19 loss to Grace Davis.
