Warren overcomes nerves in Merced’s football win over Gregori

Dhameer Warren had never been this nervous before a game. The Merced High sophomore was making his first start at quarterback on Friday night against Gregori.

“I threw up twice before the game,” Warren said. “I’ve never thrown up before a game.”

The nerves disappeared early after Warren broke free for a 68-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. Warren was solid in his debut as he completed 4-of-6 passes for 115 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown pass to fellow sophomore Xavier Stewart in the third quarter. Warren also rushed for 106 yards on nine carries as the Bears overcame six turnovers in 31-14 win over the Jaguars (1-1) at Veterans Stadium.

“I didn’t have any ceiling of expectations for Dhameer or any limit of expectations either,” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt, whose team improved to 1-1. “I just told him to go out and have fun. This is a great opportunity for him. He’s going to have some highs and lows, but he’s going to be great. I have no doubt about that. It’s just going to come first on the ground and then through the air.”

Warren was thrust into a starters role when it was announced earlier this week senior Jake Foss was out for the season after tearing the labrum in his throwing shoulder last week in a the Bears’ 26-21 loss to Del Campo.

Warren, who was brought up originally to play defensive back and receiver, was moved to quarterback. The sophomore had a rough week preparing for his first start.

“Monday was my first practice at quarterback and I was terrible,” Warren said. “I couldn’t do anything right. Tuesday was the same thing. By Wednesday, I couldn’t even read. It was like my brain was breaking down. But Thursday I started to feel more confident.”

It helps that Warren has plenty of talent around him.

The Bears had to overcome their own mistakes, which included five lost fumbles and one interception.

Ulonzo Gilliam helped do the heavy lifting as he rushed for 192 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries. Gilliam extended Merced’s lead to 12-0 in the second quarter when he exploded for a 74-yard touchdown run.

He also delivered the knockout blow in the fourth quarter with a 49-yard touchdown run that gave the Bears a 31-14 lead. with 4:55 left in the game.

“A good team like Merced, you have to capitalize when you get your opportunities,” said Gregori coach Jason McCoy. “We didn’t get it done. We scheduled them because we wanted to see speed like that. We don’t get speed like that in the (Modesto Metro Conference). I mean there is speed , but not like that.”

The Jaguars had a tough time slowed down the Merced pass rush, especially Bears defensive end John Becerra, who sacked Jaguars quarterback Bobby Avina four times and was in the Gregori backfield all night. Merced finished with seven sacks as a team.

“(Becerra) is a monster,” McCoy said. “He’s an absolute ball player. We seen it on film last week against Del Campo. You just can’t block him.”

Trailing 18-0, the Jaguars fought back and had momentum on their side after Avina found Adrian Leal for a 22-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Less than a minute later, senior linebacker Zach Miller scooped up a Merced fumble and ran 17 yards for a touchdown to cut the Bears’ lead to 18-14 with 10:23 left in the game.

Then the Jaguars kicked the ball to Merced’s Paul Scoggins.

“That kid is a big-time player on kickoff returns,” McCoy said. “I had a premonition that something was going to happen. I should have called a timeout.”

McCoy didn’t and Scoggins returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards up the Merced sideline to seize momentum for the Bears and extend the lead to 24-14 with 10:12 remaining.

“I could have taken it outside earlier, but I was too worried I wouldn’t get outside because I was cramping up,” Scoggins said. “So I made a move and made everyone shift left and then I cut right. (Gilliam) gave me the best block ever and I got to the outside.

“We had a lot of mistakes tonight and I was worried. I needed to make a play for my team. We needed to get the momentum back and I had to do something to pump us back up.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2016 at 1:03 AM with the headline "Warren overcomes nerves in Merced’s football win over Gregori."