Ceres High varsity girls golf head coach Randy Cerny didn't express any displeasure after the Bulldogs posted a team score of 424 en route to a runner-up finish at the Western Athletic Conference Mid-Season Tournament on Thursday in Atwater.

Three-time WAC regular season champion Central Catholic won the team title.

The Raiders bested the Bulldogs by 35 strokes at Rancho Del Rey.

"I'm not disappointed at all," Cerny said. "We were a strong second. There was no one else near us."

Livingston (483), Patterson (494), Pacheco (506), Los Banos (524) and Central Valley (556) placed third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

Raider Lexi Abbate surprised everyone in the field by earning low-medalist honors with a 92.

Ceres High's Caitlin Pfaff and Erica Hogner, and Central Catholic's Emily Raspo and Courtney Kim finished in a four-way tie for second place. They posted identical scores of 97.

Bulldog teammates Abigail Nou and Brittany Turnbow shot 111 and 119, respectively.

Emily Lehman rounded out CC's scorecard with a 103.

"We were hoping to give Central Catholic a run for its money," Cerny said. "They have more experience. Their players play year-round. That's what it takes."

BOYS SOCCER
Head coach Omar Leon and the members of Central Valley High School's varsity boys soccer team enjoyed the bus ride home from Patterson.

The Hawks seized control early and held on for a 4-2 victory over the Tigers on Thursday.

"Patterson is always competitive," said Leon, whose team ranks second in the state and 13th in the nation according to MaxPreps. "It could have gone either way. They played really well and created opportunities. We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game."

The Hawks improved to 13-1-0 on the year and 2-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Tigers dropped to 9-1-0 and 1-1 in the WAC standings.

Central Valley compiled an 0-1-1 record against Patterson in league play last year. The two teams shared the WAC title.

Hawk striker Omar Orozco scored three goals versus the Tigers and increased his state-leading total to 22.

Jose Martin had one goal.

Daniel Hernandez, Anthony Calvo, Jairo Ramos and Ozzie Ramos all contributed one assist each.

Alex Vazquez made three saves at goalkeeper.

"I liked today's performance," Leon said. "The kids played at a very high level."

Orozco had two goals and Martin scored once as the Hawks raced out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 35 minutes at Patterson Community Stadium.

The Tigers cut the deficit to 3-2 late in the first half.

"We lost concentration for five minutes," Leon said.

Orozco increased Central Valley's lead to 4-2 when he scored his 22nd goal of the season two minutes into the second half.

Central Valley set a program record for goals in a game during its 15-1 victory against Los Banos on Sept. 17 in Ceres.

"It's not a soccer score," Leon said. "It happens sometimes. We finished what we created."

Orozco, Ozzie Ramos and Juan Medrano led the way with three goals and one assist apiece.

Hernandez, Calvo and Alfredo Bravo all had one goal and one assist.

Zachary Adams, Jorge Bustos and Cesar Bravo collected one goal each.

Jairo Ramos had one assist.

Vazquez made three saves.

Los Banos elected to stop the game 10 minutes early.

"I pulled a lot of the starters in the second half," Leon said. "Everybody got to play."

Central Valley, which sat in a tie for first place in the WAC standings with crosstown-rival Ceres High as of Monday, plays at Livingston (Tuesday) and Pacheco (Thursday) this week.

"We need to stay focused and be consistent," Leon said. "We're not thinking about Ceres High right now."

WATER POLO
A large crowd turned out for the Western Athletic Conference Jamboree on Sept. 7 at Los Banos' Pacheco High School. The preseason, round-robin scrimmage featured teams from Ceres High, Los Banos, Pacheco, Livingston and Central Catholic.

"It was a great event," Bulldogs' varsity boys team head coach Tracy Bull said. "Everybody loved it. We plan to do this every year. It's a great opportunity for the kids. Everybody got a lot of minutes. That was a goal."

Ceres High's boys had a great deal of success against Central Catholic, Livingston and Pacheco, and battled Los Banos.

"It was great competition," Bull said. "The talent level is similar between us and Los Banos. I still like our chances to repeat as WAC champions. We won't take any team lightly. We want to be the flagship sport of the school in the fall."

The Bulldogs competed without senior standout Terry Brogdon, who had to attend his brother's wedding.

"I was nervous going down there," Bull said. "I went home very happy. They exceeded my expectations. Offensively, we'll do a lot more when we have Terry."

Ethan Campbell and Erik Weststeyn filled in for Brogdon on defense and offense, respectively.
"They did a lot of stuff Terry does for us," Bull said.
Zachary Jones, the reigning WAC MVP, led Ceres High in scoring.

Each match consisted of two, 10-minute halves with a running clock.

Ceres High's girls had mixed success while competing against Pacheco, Los Banos, Livingston and Central Catholic.

Bulldog players Emily Chapman, Julia Pata, Katie Rose, Maya Narvaez, Ashley Schmidt, Annie Connors, Kyndal Chapman, Jasmine Moore and Jacklyn Lamb all earned praise from head coach Stephen Dias.

"I just wanted to see how our team played together in game situations," he said. "I saw a lot of good stuff. What does this year hold? Based on the scrimmage, it looks pretty good. I think the girls will rise to the challenge. They got to keep pushing."

CROSS COUNTRY
Ceres High's varsity girls and boys cross country teams finished 11th and 19th, respectively, while competing at Bret Harte's Frogtown Invitational on Saturday.

Lisette Carretero was the top finisher on Ceres High's girls squad, which had a team score of 280.

Carretero placed 17th. She completed the 3-mile race in 22 minutes, 6 seconds.

Heidi Flores (27:13), Toni Garcia (28:11), Jackie Gonzalez (29:31), Jennifer Zamora (31:02), Selena Becerra (31:11) and Irene Gradilla (31:21) took 80th, 90th, 100th, 107th, 108th and 109th, respectively.

Ceres High's boys posted a team score of 456.

Manuel Baez led the way, finishing 79th overall (20:27).

Jesus Velasquez (20:47), Jacob Edwards (21:01), Gabriel Roman (21:35), Matthew Thornberry (22:54) and Heath Adrian (23:57) placed 87th, 89th, 104th, 121st and 135th, respectively.