LOS BANOS -- Depray Celestine caught Los Banos by surprise last year.
Celestine was a blur of green and yellow as he scored three long touchdowns to help Tracy defeat LB in a 55-48 shootout.
Celestine scored on an 85-yard kickoff return, a 67-yard run and a 57-yard reception.
Los Banos Enterprise - KIM YANCEY/Los Banos Enterprise
Los Banos quarterback Erik Martin tries to avoid a tackle during last season's loss at Tracy. The two teams meet again tonight in Los Banos.
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9/11 Anniversary
For the first time since the 2001 attacks, the anniversary of 9/11 falls on a Friday. A few local schools have planned a special tribute around their home football games. Each fan that walks through gates at Dos Palos will receive a small American flag. A short pregame rememberance also is planned. Dos Palos hosts Kingsburg. Chowchilla choir director Allan Spencer will lead a halftime musical performance that will include a rendition of "America the Beautiful." Chowchilla welcomes Coalinga. |
"He killed us last year," Los Banos coach Dennis Stubbs said. "The guy is just lightning fast.
"Last year they ran 'toss' a couple times and it looked like we had him. The next thing you know, he was in the end zone.
"Last year we didn't know about him. He caught us off guard."
Neither Celestine nor Tracy will sneak up on Los Banos tonight at Loftin Stadium in a matchup of playoff teams from a year ago.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
"They are one of the legit teams in the section," Stubbs said. "You have St. Mary's, Lincoln and now Tracy up there.
"It wasn't good scheduling on my part. We scrimmaged them my first year here and I didn't realize they had so many sophomores.
"They've got 10 of their 11 defensive starters back."
Los Banos (1-0) didn't look too bad itself during a 37-8 drubbing of Fresno High last week.
Quarterback Erik Martin passed for 204 yards and four touchdowns, and running back Darron Brown tallied 110 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Still, Stubbs doesn't want to see another shootout tonight.
"We have some potential to strike quick with our receivers, running back and quarterback," Stubbs said. "But obviously we want to control the ball a little bit.
"I don't think it's in our best interest to get into a shootout like last year. One of the things I like about our team is we're not one dimensional. We can play many different ways."
Los Banos won't be the only area team to have its hands full tonight.
Atwater will host Fresno Bullard (1-0), which is coming off of an impressive 41-0 win over Merced.
"Bullard's a good team," Atwater coach Bob Valladao said. "It didn't look like Merced could get into any type of rhythm.
"We knew what Bullard had coming back after playing them last year. They have some top-rated linebackers. We know what to expect."
Like LB, Atwater hopes to control the ball and the clock.
"The bottom line is we have to be able to put some drives together," Valladao said. "We have to keep our defense off the field.
"If we can put some drives together, we'll give ourselves a better chance just like in any other game."
Golden Valley (1-0) equalled its win total from last year with a 44-37 win over North Monterey County last week.
GV will head to Downey tonight.
Other games this week include: Le Grand at Central Valley, Hilmar at Denair, Coalinga at Chowchilla, Kingsburg at Dos Palos, Bret Harte at Livingston, Ripon Christian at Delhi, Gustine at Riverbank and Stone Ridge Christian at Fresno Christian.
Buhach Colony (1-0) will host Enochs on Saturday night at Atwater High.
Shawn Jansen is a Sun-Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 385-2462 or via e-mail at sjansen@mercedsun-star.com.
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