Thunder quarterback ready for another shot at former team. Abrams wants redemption.

Clay Abrams called last year’s loss to Turlock High one of the toughest losses he’s ever suffered. The Buhach Colony quarterback knew he’d have to hear it from his Bulldog buddies.

Abrams grew up in Turlock, playing with most of the Turlock players his whole life. He attended Turlock High his freshman and sophomore years before transferring to Buhach Colony just after his sophomore year ended.

“I wanted to win that game so bad,” Abrams said. “All my buddies could say they beat me and I couldn’t say it back to them.”

On Friday night, Abrams get his shot at redemption as Buhach Colony (2-2) opens up Central California Conference play against Turlock (2-2) at Dave Honey Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

“It’s an awesome opportunity,” Abrams said. “Turlock is the former CCC champions. It adds a little more to it for me that I’m playing against friends I’ve played with my whole life. I’ve been looking forward to this for a whole year since we lost last time.”

Abrams thinks the second time around won’t be as personal. He admits he had a tough time controlling his emotions during last year’s game. He’s got a lot of friends on Turlock, including Dustin Grein and Mark Flores. The three of them were called up to the junior varsity team as freshmen and the trio stuck together that season.

“It was different,” Abrams said. “I’ve played my whole life with all of thos guys and suddenly I’m not on their team. I had been practicing with them just a couple months before.”

Abrams transition to Buhach Colony has been smooth. He won the starting quarterback job midway through last season. Now a year later, he’s more comfortable with the offense and the coaches are more comfortable with him.

“He’s more of a leader this year,” said Buhach Colony coach Kevin Navarra. “He has a better understanding of the offense itself after a year under his belt. He understands what we’re trying to do and us now having a year with him, we’re trying to use his athleticism more in the offense. We’ve always felt he’s similar to Joe Marquez our quarterback from a couple years ago. He has that type of athleticism.

“One of the things that stands out about Clay is his maturity and intelligence. He understands the game. He reads plays well.”

The Thunder offense is averaging more than 37 points per game. Abrams is able to keep teams from focusing entirely on the run with his ability to make big plays through the air. He threw two touchdowns last week in a 37-30 win over Pacheco.

“The number one concern is Clay Abrams,” Turlock coach James Peterson said. “I’m a defensive guy so I watch their offense. I know Clay well because he was at Turlock his freshman and sophomore year. He’s a champion. It’s his senior year. I know he wants to get the ‘W’ against us.

“He’s a smart, intelligent kid. He throws a decent ball and he’s got weapons to throw it to. He has the ability to scramble and extend drives.”

For Abrams, there was a learning curve with the Thunder offense. His role as quarterback is much different than it was in the Turlock offense.

“Just getting used to not having the ball in my hand so much,” Abrams said. “Coming from a spread offense and the read-option where I had the option to have the ball in my hands on every play. In this offense I had to learn to become more of a leader as a quarterback.”

The move to Atwater has also forced Abrams to grow up off the field. It forced him to make knew friends and break out of his shell.

“When I was at Turlock the majority of the people knew me,” Abrams said. “Coming here, I didn’t know a lot of people. It forced me to talk more and be more social. I think that was good for me. It’s something I’m still working on. It helped that everybody here was super nice and welcoming.”

Nice and welcoming wouldn’t be the way to describe the physical Turlock defense. Matching the Bulldogs size and strength is going to be a challenge for Abrams and the Thunder offense.

However, Abrams likes what he’s seen from his team the last two weeks with wins over Clovis North and Pacheco.

“I think if we stick to what we’ve been doing it’ll be a good game,” Abrams said. “If our offense can keep scoring and our defense can make a couple adjustments we’ll be fine.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Thunder quarterback ready for another shot at former team. Abrams wants redemption.."