News and notes from the first week of football

A wild first week of high school football included a last-second loss for Los Banos on a field goal and an overtime victory for Stone Ridge Christian.

Overall, our local teams had a rough week, going 5-8. Two of the games were matchups of area teams.

The best Week 0 win had to go to Stone Ridge Christian, which defeated El Capitan 40-34 in overtime. The Knights had reason to celebrate against a much bigger school.

“It was huge,” Stone Ridge Christian coach Art DeJager said. “It just boosted our kids’ confidence beating a school with 1,200 students. Knowing we were outsized, outgunned, outnumbered and outmatched in a lot of ways physically, our guys won with the hearts they have.”

The Knights stuck with their power running game. Stone Ridge Christian rushed for 436 yards, led by sophomore Shane Casillas’ 225.

“We don’t have a lot of options in our playbook,” DeJager said. “We stuck with the basics and kept it simple. We did what we do, and we took care of business. When you play the kind of football we do, you have to be patient and play four quarters of football.”

No punters allowed

Golden Valley and Clovis East didn’t punt in their meeting.

The Timberwolves scored on every possession but one that ended in an interception in a 56-30 win. The Cougars didn’t score on three possessions.

“It was a track meet, an absolute track meet,” Cougars coach Dennis Stubbs said.

The teams combined for 162 plays. Golden Valley totaled more than 500 yards, including more than 200 rushing yards by Isaiah Montanez, who scored on runs of 15 and 69 yards.

Special teams not so special

Expect some changes for Los Banos’ special teams. The Tigers had a punt and two extra-point attempts blocked and a bad snap on a punt that resulted in a safety in their 42-39 loss to Madera.

“That’s 20 something points that we gave up on special teams that Madera took advantage of,” Los Banos coach Dustin Caropreso said. “It proves that we have to be solid in all three phases of the game. We were solid on offense and solid on defense. Our special teams were not solid.”

The Tigers’ defense was stout. Madera started seven drives at or inside the Los Banos 30-yard line, and the Tigers held the Coyotes to three field goals.

Caropreso said he doesn’t expect to spend more time on special teams this week, but different players likely will be on the units.

“We spend a lot of time on special teams already,” Caropreso said. “Personnel-wise, we’ll probably change some stuff. We didn’t have some of our better players out there, and that loss falls on us as coaches and not on the kids’ shoulders.”

Tall order for Atwater

Atwater visits three-time defending state champion Central Catholic on Friday, and the Raiders have extra incentive.

Central Catholic coach Roger Canepa seeks his 200th career win. Canepa, who has had stops in Sonora and Calaveras during his 22-year career, is downplaying the milestone.

“I’ll be honest – I didn’t even know when I had 100 wins,” Canepa told The Modesto Bee. “I didn’t get into coaching for a certain number of wins. I like winning, but when I first started, I didn’t say I want to win 100 games or 200 games. I’ve never been one to say I want this many wins or that many championships.

“You just try to be the best you can be.”

Canepa had the luxury of scouting Atwater the last two weeks during the Falcons’ scrimmage against Livingston and Friday’s win over Central Valley.

Unsettling finish

The Lincoln-Stagg game was stopped at halftime amid disorder with visiting Lincoln declared a 29-0 winner.

According to The Record of Stockton, fans raced to the exits because of rumors ranging from nearby gunshots to someone holding a gun and someone chasing people with a stick.

“Initially, there were a couple of guys over (on the Stagg side) who looked like they were having an issue,” Stagg principal Andre Phillips told The Record. “Next thing I knew, I see people running this way and jumping fences, so I still don’t know what happened.”

Merced plays at Lincoln on Oct. 2.

This story was originally published August 30, 2015 at 3:52 PM with the headline "News and notes from the first week of football."