The Ceres Seahawks' varsity youth football team has reeled off five straight wins since losing 52-20 to the Oakdale Stampede on Sept. 17.

The Seahawks secured the Central-California American Football Conference's No. 3 playoff seed by virtue of their 62-0 throttling of the winless Merced Cougars Saturday at Golden Valley High School.

"Overall, we played well and it was nice to see players step up into new roles," Ceres head coach Joe Borba said. "That's big in the coming weeks as we attempt to progress through the playoffs."

Ceres improved to 7-2 on the year and 5-1 in conference play.

Merced dropped to 0-9 and 0-6.

Ceres' defense forced five turnovers.

Michael Leon totaled six tackles and returned two fumbles for touchdowns.

Phillip Martinez collected seven tackles.

Konor Bailey registered four tackles and forced two fumbles.

The Seahawks piled up 367 yards on the ground.

Isaiah Hidalgo rushed for 47 yards and two touchdowns while filling in at quarterback for Phoenix Jackson, who was sidelined with a leg injury.

Amare Padilla ran for 97 yards and one TD on four carries.

Leon, Jaden Merchant and Tyrell Williams scored on runs of 70, 68 and 45 yards.

Michael caught one pass for 24 yards.

He also made all seven of his point-after kicks.

Ceres suited up just 15 players for the game due to multiple injuries.

"Everyone played multiple sports and they had fun being on the field," Borba said.

The Seahawks will wrap up the Cen-Cal regular season against the Central Valley 49ers (0-9, 0-6) this Saturday at Ceres High.

The Seahawks will travel to Oakdale to face the second-seeded Stampede (8-1, 5-1) in the opening round of the playoffs on Nov. 5.

Both games will get underway at 7 p.m.