David Snapp wasn’t surprised by the slow start.

His Pacheco High School football team hadn’t had a good week of practice, and Livingston was going to be fired up in front of a capacity homecoming crowd.

The Wolves struck for two first-quarter touchdown passes from Eduardo Mendoza, twice taking the lead. The Panthers answered each time and eventually settled in.

Pacheco struck back with an aerial game of its own, as Aric Barton tossed a career-high three touchdown passes in a 50-20 victory.

The win set up a showdown this Friday in Los Banos between the last two unbeaten teams with Central Valley (6-1, 2-0 Western Athletic Conference) coming to Veterans Stadium.

“We let them play for a little bit early in the first quarter,” Snapp said. “We had a sloppy week of practice and then just kind of sleep-walked through the first quarter. Livingston has a couple nice players, but we just wore them down with our depth. It’s hard for them to keep up for four quarters.”

Pacheco (4-3, 2-0 WAC) hit the Wolves (1-6, 0-2) with numerous big plays.

Barton connected with Carl Schofield for two TDs, including an 87-yarder. Barton added a touchdown pass to Marcus Ordunez to close the victory. Tk Teneng broke an 81-yard run for a score and Cody Allred ran one in from 78 yards out.

“We’d talked a little bit during the week about maybe throwing it more, but really it was more how the game went,” Snapp said. “They were run-blitzing us and stacking the middle, so we adjusted to what they were giving us. We weren’t sharp offensively by any stretch, but we did what we had to to get the win.”

Hilmar 44, Hughson 7 in Hilmar – Klay Farris caught three touchdown passes from Chase Kindberg as the Yellowjackets (6-1, 2-0 Trans-Valley League) led 30-7 at halftime. Farris caught touchdown passes of 22, 59 and 65 yards.

Gustine 21, Ripon Christian 20 in Ripon – The Reds stopped the Knights on a 2-point conversion attempt at the end of the game to preserve the victory. Anthony Smyth and Oliver Perez each scored rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to give Gustine (4-3, 3-1 Southern League) a 21-7 lead.

Ripon Christian’s Willem Hoekstra scored on a 2-yard run to pull the Knights within 21-20, but a failed pass attempt on the two-point conversion ended the game.

Gustine overcame five interceptions.

Delhi 57, Le Grand 7 in Delhi – Fabian Garcia scored three touchdowns for the Hawks, who became the first team in school history to start the season 7-0. Delhi also improved to 4-0 in the SL.

Mariposa 28, Waterford 0 in Waterford – Grizzlies quarterback Colton Weidner ran for two touchdowns, and the defense shut down the Wildcats. Josh Land and Warren Shelly had touchdown runs for Mariposa (2-5, 1-3 SL).

Stone Ridge Christian 48, Riverbank 10 in Atwater – The Knights remained one of two unbeaten teams in the area with a victory over the Bruins. Shane Casillas scored his first touchdown since returning from a leg injury.

Washington Union-Fresno 23, Chowchilla 21 in Easton – The Redskins’ comeback bid fell short. First-half turnovers had Chowchilla (6-1, 1-1 North Sequoia League) staring at a 23-0 deficit in the first half. The Redskins cut the lead to 23-7 before halftime and pulled to within 23-21 with 1:25 left, but a 2-point conversion attempt failed. Chowchilla committed five turnovers.

Dos Palos 35, Coalinga 14 in Coalinga – The Broncos snapped a four-game losing streak with a big win on the road. Dos Palos evened its NSL record at 1-1 and improved to 3-4 overall.

Chance Benadum scored twice in the victory, including a pick six.