Roundup: Le Grand tops El Capitan in a game stopped early due to poor air quality
The Le Grand High football team scored three touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half to erase a six-point deficit as the Bulldogs defeated El Capitan 27-6 on Friday night in a game that was stopped midway through the third quarter due to poor air quality at Merced College’s Don Odishoo Field.
Bulldogs quarterback Julian Bucio threw three touchdown passes and Ronnie Ramirez scored twice, hauling in a touchdown pass and returning an interception for a pick-six.
“I wanted to keep playing,” Ramirez said. “I felt I had a couple more picks in me.”
The game was stopped with 8 minutes, 58 seconds left in the third quarter.
Obviously, everyone involved would have rather played all four quarters. However, given that many teams in Merced County and Stanislaus County didn’t get to play due to the poor air quality caused by wildfires, the coaches and players were happy just to get on the field.
The Merced-Gregori game across town never started and was eventually postponed due to poor air quality caused by the multiple fires in Northern California.
“Absolutely we’d like to finish, but there are a lot of teams who didn’t get to play three quarters tonight,” said Le Grand coach Aaron Martinez, whose team improved to 1-1. “We’ll take it for sure.”
El Capitan struck first with a long pass connection from quarterback Carter Haugen to receiver Ceasar Manzo to take a 6-0 lead in the second quarter.
The lead held up until the Bulldogs’ late-half explosion, which included the two scores from Ramirez.
Bucio connected on a 35-yard touchdown pass with Carlos Castaneda and a 48-yard strike with Ramirez. Ramirez then returned an interception 55 yards for a score to give the Bulldogs a 21-6 lead at the half.
“Ronnie pulled double duty tonight because he also followed around their best receiver,” Martinez said. “He had a big game.”
Bucio added a 35-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Lopez in the third quarter.
“(Bucio) is really coming along,” Martinez said. “He’s a great leader. The kids follow him.”
Both teams didn’t find out until after 4 p.m. that they would play the game on Friday.
“It’s been a wild week,” said El Capitan coach Randall Bartley, whose team dropped to 0-2. “We had a number of kids out with the flu this week. Thankfully they tested negative for COVID. We had to cancel our JV game and then we had to sit and wait to see if we’d kickoff tonight.
“I’m happy we played. These kids need as much normalcy in the world.”
Madera South 8, Golden Valley 6 — The Stallions kicked a 35-yard field goal with three minutes left to edge the Cougars in a defensive battle.
The Cougars’ (0-2) only score came on a 58-yard touchdown run by senior Jabari Phillips. The senior running back has scored all five touchdowns for Golden Valley through the first two games.
Clovis East 34, Atwater 0 — This game was stopped after halftime due to the poor air quality.
The Falcons dropped to 0-2 as they had a difficult time slowing down the Clovis East offense.
“We had a tough time sustaining drives,” said Atwater coach Seneca Ybarra. “We fumbled the ball, we muffed a punt, we had a hard time holding onto the ball.”
Dos Palos 21, Kerman 7 — Broncos quarterback Trent Calvert rushed for three touchdowns and 139 yards as the Broncos improved to 2-0 this season.
Lemoore 47, Chowchilla 6 — The Tribe dropped to 0-2 on the season. Chowchilla travels to Golden Valley next week.
Merced, Gregori postponed — The start of the game was delayed before eventually being postponed due to the poor air quality. The two teams will attempt to reschedule for Monday night at Veterans Stadium.
Livingston, Livermore postponed — The game was rescheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m.
Buhach Colony, Tracy canceled
Hilmar, Los Banos postponed — Hilmar will travel to Los Banos on Monday night.
Central Valley at Pacheco postponed — The two teams will attempt to play on Saturday night if the air quality improves.
