A week removed from watching Pitman spoil its new stadium opening with a 29-14 win, Central Valley’s football team sought to do the same thing during its road trip to El Capitan.

The Hawks accomplished their goal by beating the Gauchos 41-20 in front of a large crowd Friday evening in Merced.

Pregame festivities during El Capitan’s first-ever game at its completed athletic stadium included a helicopter flyover and fireworks show.

“It (losing at home) put some anger into us,” Central Valley junior quarterback Junior Gomez said. “We really wanted to win this week. It was a must-win game for El Cap. There was no type of pressure on us. They had the pressure. We took advantage of the situation.”

The Hawks improved to 1-1 on the season.

The Gauchos dropped to 0-2 overall.

“We knew we were better than we played during week one,” Gomez said. “We showed that against El Cap. We regained our momentum.”

Central Valley generated a season-high 400 yards of total offense versus El Capitan.

Gomez completed 10 of 14 passes for 185 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Julian Perez totaled 68 yards and one touchdown on three receptions.

Adrian De La Hoya caught one pass for 24 yards and one touchdown.

Julian Gonzalez had 42 yards on two catches.

Led by Jeremiah Moreno, Elizjha Casteel and Ivan Quezada, the Hawks piled up 215 rushing yards on 37 carries.

Moreno ran for 79 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries.

Casteel had 23 yards and one touchdown on eight carries.

Quezada added 92 yards on 12 carries.

“We were much more balanced this week,” said Gomez, who had six pass attempts against Pitman.

Victor Altamirano led Central Valley’s defense with six tackles and half a sack.

Jordan Avila tallied five tackles and one forced fumble.

Kaleb Mendoza had three tackles and one sack.

Antonio Louis had three tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Terrance Wethington had two tackles and one interception.

Central Valley recovered two onside kicks and tallied three straight touchdowns while building a 26-14 lead in the first half.

“Once we got rolling, there was no stopping us,” Gomez said.

Idle this week, the Hawks will return to the field on Sept. 17. Central Valley will face Modesto High (0-2 as of Tuesday) at Johansen High School. The contest will begin at 7 p.m.

Dawgs return to field

Ceres High’s football team will resume its season at home this Friday against McNair with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.

Idle on Sept. 4, the Bulldogs (0-1) had an extra week to prepare for the Eagles (1-0).

Ceres High edged McNair 28-22 on the road last fall.

“We always believe we have a chance to win if we work hard enough,” Bulldogs’ senior quarterback/defensive back Anthony Santillan said.

Ceres High will look to bounce back after opening the season with a 44-7 loss at Sac-Joaquin Section powerhouse Hughson.

“We saw some good things,” Bulldogs’ head coach Debin Cowell said “But we also saw some things we need to fix. We’ll get better.”