Dropping the Western Athletic Conference finale may have dashed the Spartans’ hopes of reaching the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. They ended the regular season on a three-game skid.
Jeremiah Estante (7 of 15 passing, 66 yards, touchdown, two interceptions; 10 carries, 58 yards) scored on a 34-yard run in the first quarter to put the Spartans (3-3, 5-4) ahead, 7-0. That score would hold for the rest of the half until the Mustangs (5-2, 5-4) took the lead for good at 8-7 in the third quarter.
Estante completed a 13-yard pass to Luis Hernandez (three receptions, 27 yards) with eight minutes left in the game to draw Lathrop within 16-13. Roman Giordano gained 80 yards on 17 carries for Lathrop and Jeremiah Green had two receptions for 26 yards.
Ripon Christian 28, Delhi 20
Brady Grondz gave Ripon Christian (4-2, 7-3 overall) some breathing room in the Southern Athletic League finale with a 31-yard touchdown run with 2:07 left in the contest.
Delhi (2-5, 4-5) earlier threatened to tie it at 21-21 following Angel Ramirez’s 7-yard TD jaunt but had the ensuing point-after kick blocked.
Special teams were big all game for the Knights, who opened scoring 4 minutes into the contests with a 30-yard return by Jay Hoekstra after Alex Sonke blocked a punt. Sonke also finished the game with a team-high nine tackles and recovered a fumble.
Grondz finished with two TD runs and rushed six times for 52 yards — all in the second half. Grant Sonke added 70 yards on 12 carries and converted on all four of his point-after attempts. Trey Fasani completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Micah De Jong in the closing seconds of the second period, giving RC a 14-6 lead.
Zach Brouwer and De Jong contributed six tackles on defense.
Central Catholic 55, Sierra 0
The Timberwolves (1-6, 1-9 overall) could not get on track against the Valley Oak league champions.
“Joey Obrachta ran the ball well for us,” Sierra coach Chris Johnson said. “But we just couldn’t get anything going.
“We are just overmatched against a team like that.”
WATER POLO
Ripon 19, Kimball 12
Donovan Armstrong scored six goals and made five steals to lead the Indian to victory in the VOL finale.
McKeane Beier (two steals) added four goals and Ben Svoboda (two steals) and Owen Curtis added three goals apiece. Ben Rodgers (three steals) made seven saves and Teo West (goal) added three steals.
Ripon finished 9-1 in league play and tied for first with Oakdale but thanks to winning a coin toss will be the No. 1 seed from the VOL for the playoffs.
