Atwater High defeats El Capitan. Showdown for CCC title against Merced looms in two weeks
It’s been 26 years since the Atwater High football team won a Central California Conference championship.
The Falcons appear to be headed for an opportunity to end that drought when they face Merced in two weeks.
The two rivals have proven to be the class of the conference this season as they both improved to 2-0 in CCC play on Friday night.
Falcons senior running back Jeremiah De La Rosa rushed for 126 yards and a career-high four touchdowns in a 42-24 victory over El Capitan at Merced College’s Stadium ‘76.
Meanwhile, the Merced High homecoming fireworks show could be seen from the stadium as the Bears routed Los Banos 45-7 across town.
With only two weeks until the CCC showdown in the Santa Fe Bowl, it’s hard for players and coaches not to look ahead.
“I’m just excited to even be in that arena,” said Atwater coach Seneca Ybarra, who team improved to 6-1 overall. “That’s what we want. We want to play big games that matter. That’s been something that we’ve been striving for as a program, play games that matter. Merced always plays games that matter.”
The Falcons took care of business against the Gauchos, mainly pounding the ball on the ground.
Atwater set the tone on the opening drive, running the ball nine consecutive times for a 71-yard drive capped by a De La Rosa 6-yard touchdown run that gave the Falcons a 7-0 lead.
Ybarra says the coaching staff likes the way the offensive line has been playing.
“It’s old school, you know, four yards and a cloud of dust,” Ybarra said. “You don’t have to get fancy. Why ask our quarterback to throw into small windows if we can get 8 or 10 yards a carry.”
The Gauchos (4-3, 1-1 CCC) answered with a 43-yard touchdown run by Lorenzo Peters in the second quarter that tied the game 7-7.
Peters was coming off a 304-yard, three-touchdown performance against Los Banos last week that set a school rushing record.
De La Rosa took the matchup against the Gauchos as a challenge and an opportunity to showcase what he could do.
“I hear a lot about their running back (Peters) so it gave me a little bit of fire to play as good as I can,” said De La Rosa, who has now scored 11 rushing touchdowns on the season. “It felt good tonight.”
De La Rosa followed with touchdown runs of 17, 8 and 1 yards to propel the Falcons to a 28-7 lead with 7:04 left in the third quarter.
Sylas Austin hauled in an 11-yard touchdown catch from James Bell and Seneca Ybarra II added a 60-yard touchdown run for the Falcons’ other two scores.
Elias Ruiz scored two touchdowns on the ground for El Capitan in the second half.
De La Rosa says the focus will be on next week’s game against Golden Valley, but admits the looming matchup against Merced will be in the back of his mind.
“It’s pretty hard not to look ahead,” De La Rosa said. “I actually think about it all the time, but I just keep working. It would be super exciting, especially because we’re at home. We haven’t won a title since 1998 so it would be a really big thing for our school.”
This story was originally published October 11, 2024 at 11:38 PM.
