Atwater loses close one to Central Valley. Le Grand finishes game with 10 healthy players.

Atwater and Central Valley pounded each other all night with the Hawks winning a 12-9 slugfest to open the season at Ceres High.

Carlos Rodriguez hauled in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Miguel Jimenez midway through the second quarter to give the Hawks a 6-2 lead. Atwater had opened the scoring with a safety when Nick Maravilla recorded a sack in the end zone in the first quarter.

Central Valley extended the lead to 12-2 on a 44-yard touchdown run by Estevan Barragan with 8:59 left in the third quarter.

The Falcons closed the third quarter with a 21-yard touchdown run by sophomore Charles Jackson to cut the lead to 12-9.

The Hawks were able to hold off Atwater in the fourth quarter.

“Our guys played hard,” Falcons first-year coach Seneca Ybarra said. “We came across a really, really physical team. Our guys were up to the task. We just came up short. I’m proud of our effort.”

The game was a lot closer than the 43-6 loss the Falcons suffered last season.

Ybarra says he can see a difference from last year to this season.

“I could see some fire in our guys,” Ybarra said. “We still have a ways to go. We played a lot of our big guys both ways and you can tell they were gassed. That hurt us. We haven’t been in a competitive football game in a while. It was a good experience for our younger guys.”

Gregori 37, Golden Valley 0 in Modesto – Bad snaps, fumbles and poor field position by the Cougars helped the Jaguars run away with this one early.

Mason Medrano scored on a 16-yard touchdown run to give Gregori a 9-0 lead in the first quarter. The Cougars fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Gabe Sanchez hauled in a 15-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 15-0 near the end of the first quarter.

A bad snap on a punt set up the Jaguars in great field position early in the second quarter and Josh Nelson scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to give Gregori a 23-0 lead.

Calaveras 44, El Capitan 24 in San Andreas – Gauchos quarterback Kevin Reid was sacked in the end zone for a safety on the second play of the game. The night only got worse for El Capitan as Calaveras jumped out to a 30-0 lead. Calaveras racked up 340 rushing yards.

Adrien Moreno returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown for the Gauchos.

Los Banos 34, Madera 19 in Madera – Tigers quarterback Anthony Caballero accounted for three touchdowns as Los Banos pulled away from the Coyotes.

Caballero completed 16-of-25 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball 18 times for 108 yards and another score.

Running back Antonio Lopez also did the heavy lifting for LB with 34 carries as he finished with 164 yards and two touchdowns.

Pacheco 35, Madera South 14 in Los Banos – The Panthers fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and finished with 35 unanswered points. Brothers Aric and Shane Barton led the way for the Pacheco offense. Shane Barton threw the go-ahead touchdown pass to Jacob Levario in the third quarter.

Delhi 31, Livingston 28 in Delhi – A 47-yard touchdown run by Damian Rivera highlighted a 25-point first half by the Hawks as they took a 5-point lead into intermission and held on for the win. Audel Lopez had an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for the Wolves.

Hilmar 21, Beyer 14 in Salida – The Yellowjackets battled from behind, outscoring the Patriots 14-0 in the second half to pull out the win.

Yosemite 25, Le Grand 0 in Le Grand – What started as a festive occasion as Le Grand High celebrated its refurbished stadium, ended on precariously as the Bulldogs finished the game with just 10 healthy players.

The Bulldogs started the game with 16 players suited up and lost six to injuries. Le Grand played the final 15 minutes of the game with just 10 players.

Stone Ridge Christian 37, Fresno Christian 8 in Atwater – The Knights handed new coach Mark Gutierrez a win in his first game as they jumped out to a 31-0 lead.

Dos Palos 21, Sierra Pacific 12 in Dos Palos – Maximas Gaona, Brandon Doucette and Jonathan Hernandez all scored touchdowns as the Broncos opened the season with a win.

Roosevelt 33, Chowchilla 14 in Fresno – The Roughriders broke open the game in the second half, outscoring the Tribe 20 to 7 to pick up the victory.

This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 2:33 AM with the headline "Atwater loses close one to Central Valley. Le Grand finishes game with 10 healthy players.."