Football roundup: Velasquez pushes Turlock past Atwater

The Atwater football team got a first-hand look Friday night at why Danny Velasquez’s name is in the Central California Conference MVP conversation.

The Turlock junior struck for big first-half touchdown runs of 55 and 58 yards and added an 8-yard TD run in the fourth to help seal the Bulldogs’ 30-7 victory over Atwater at Falcon Field.

A big first quarter proved the difference. Velasquez opened the scoring with a long TD run, and an intentional grounding call in the end zone gave Turlock (6-1, 3-0 CCC) a safety and a 9-0 lead. Peyton Dunseth then found Landon Curtis for a 28-yard touchdown pass to make it 16-0 after one.

Turlock went into the break with a 23-0 lead, but Atwater (1-7, 0-3 CCC) kept things interesting with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Frank Cocio to Juan Bautista in the third quarter. Despite holding the Bulldogs to their third-lowest point total of the season, the Falcons couldn’t muster anymore offense.

The Bulldogs’ win, coupled with Merced’s victory, sets up a battle of unbeatens Friday night at Veterans Stadium with the CCC title up for grabs.

Gustine 47, Mariposa 12 in Gustine – The Redskins’ march toward a Southern League title and possible perfect regular season cleared another major hurdle with a rout of Mariposa.

Six Gustine (8-0, 5-0 SL) players rushed for touchdowns with Brandon LaBry scoring two.

Orestimba 60, Le Grand 20 in Newman – Things looked good for the Bulldogs early with Rigo Mares passing for a touchdown and hauling in another in the opening quarter.

Mares finished with three total touchdowns in the game, but the Le Grand (1-7, 1-4 SL) offense couldn’t keep pace with the Warriors, getting outscored 26-0 after the break.

Patterson 60, Pacheco 42 in Patterson – Two touchdown runs from Chris Munoz and Cody Allred helped the Panthers (4-5, 3-2 WAC) keep things closer than many predicted, but Pacheco had no answer for Michael Lawson.

The Tigers’ star rushed for four touchdowns, kicked a field goal and took a kick return 85 yards for a score.

Los Banos 53, Livingston 7 in Los Banos – Adam Herrera threw touchdown passes to Dillon Bryan, Will Bowman and Kevin Spencer, rushed for a score and returned a kickoff for a score to lock up a playoff spot for the Tigers (6-2, 3-1 WAC).

Eddie Avila caught a touchdown pass for the Wolves’ score.

Delhi 40, Waterford 3 in Waterford – Alecxis Miranda and Jesse Flores each rushed for three touchdowns as Delhi (5-3, 2-3 SL) improved its chances of a playoff spot.

Dos Palos 38, Tranquility 6 in Dos Palos – Two Andrew Walker touchdown runs helped the Broncos take a commanding 31-0 lead into the break in an easy home win over Tranquility.

Dos Palos (4-4, 3-0 WSL) has won three straight and sits alone in first place with two games to play.

Chowchilla 41, Yosemite 12 in Oakhurst – Anthony Stewart rushed for a season-high 202 yards on just seven carries, breaking touchdown runs of 85, 53 and five yards in a drubbing of Yosemite.

Ronnie Reyes had 113 rushing yards and two scores for the Redskins (6-2, 2-1 NSL).

Stone Ridge Christian 49, Rite of Passage 0 in Atwater – The Knights (7-1, 3-0) moved a step closer to their first CCAA title, posting their sixth straight shutout.

Stone Ridge last gave up points in the fourth quarter against Ripon Christian in Week 1.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 1:40 AM with the headline "Football roundup: Velasquez pushes Turlock past Atwater."