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Falcons 21, Hawks 14
Omar Mendoza rushed
Omar Mendoza rushed for 67 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries in Central Valley’s 21-14 loss at Atwater in football on Friday.

Central Valley’s football team suffered another  narrow loss in Central California Conference play.

The Atwater Falcons won the defensive battle, 21-14, versus the visiting Hawks on Friday at Dave Honey Stadium.

“We had the right mindset,” Central Valley senior linebacker Alexis Becerra said. “We were focused. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. I think we should have won the game. We did the best we could.”

The Hawks’ losing streak has reached five games.

Central Valley (3-5, 0-4) dropped into a tie for last place in the Central California Conference standings with El Capitan (0-8, 0-4).

Atwater (2-7 and 2-3) remained in fifth place.

The Hawks have been outscored 124-62 in league play.

Two of Central Valley’s four league losses have been decided by seven points or less.

The Hawks lost to Atwater and Buhach Colony by a combined 13 points.

“We don’t have a lot of depth because of injuries,” Becerra said. “We had to move people to different positions. We just have to work harder and push ourselves more at practices.”

Hawk quarterback Yoshi Trujillo finished 6 for 13 for 77 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.

All-purpose player Roberto Tiscareno’s lone pass attempt produced a 10-yard touchdown.

He caught one pass for 32 yards.

He made 10 tackles.

Omar Mendoza carried the ball 14 times for 67 yards and one touchdown.

Elijah DeLeon added 92 yards rushing on nine carries.

Amari O’Bryant had two catches for 37 yards and one touchdown.

Ruben Valenzuela led the way on defense with a team-high 12 tackles.

Becerra totaled 10 tackles.

Alejandro Hernandez tallied five tackles and one sack.

Central Valley led 14-13 at the break.

Mendoza scored on a 6-yard run in the first quarter and Tiscareno tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to O’Bryant in the second quarter.

The Falcons shut out the Hawks 8-0 during the second half. Atwater scored the go-ahead TD on a 3-yard run with 8:32 to play.

Central Valley will play host to Merced (5-3, 3-1) this Friday. Kickoff slated for 7 p.m. at CUSD Stadium.


GIRLS GOLF

Unable to field a full lineup due to a lack of depth, Ceres High’s girls golf program dropped its final two matches of the Western Athletic Conference cluster season via forfeit this past week in Chowchilla.

The Bulldogs lost to Pacheco and Mountain House on Oct. 12 at Pheasant Run.

“I just hate giving free ones away,” head coach Ron Edwards said. “We could have beat Pacheco with one more (individual) score. It would have been close.”

The Bulldogs didn’t have enough players to post a team score. Ceres High had just four players in uniform.

Cassydi Wright and Allison Lewis did not compete against Pacheco and Mountain House due to other commitments.

“It was planned,” Edwards said. “There’s nothing you can do about that. Their schooling has to come first no matter what. It’s more important than everything else.” 

Alysabeth Marquez, Brooke Trio, Hailey Tsurui and Briana Tsurui posted individual scores for the Bulldogs.

Marquez led Ceres High with an 8-over-par 45.

Brooke and Hailey both shot 62.

Briana carded a 65.

Ceres High compiled a 6-8 record on its way to a fifth-place finish during the 2021 WAC cluster season.

Mountain House (14-0), Beyer (12-2), Lathrop (10-4) and Pacheco (8-6) took first, second, third and fourth, respectively.

The Bulldogs finished ahead of Los Banos (4-10), Grace Davis (0-14) and Johansen (0-14).

Ceres High lost by forfeit for the first time this year last week.

“The girls did a fantastic job,” Edwards said. “It was a 100 percent turnaround in the way they played. Some of the girls couldn’t get the ball off the ground at the beginning of the year. Our goal was to finish .500. It just didn’t happen. Everybody got better.”


GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Ceres High’s girls volleyball team is struggling to find consistency during the Western Athletic Conference season.

The Bulldogs showed flashes of competitiveness in losing by identical scores of 3-1 to Los Banos and Pacheco this past week.

Ceres High fell to 1-9 in the WAC standings.

The Bulldogs lost, 25-19, 25-7, 22-25, 25-9, to the host Los Banos Tigers on Oct. 13.

Jamie Olvera tallied 13 digs and three aces in defeat.

Jazmyne Arendt added nine digs and four kills.

Jada Harris collected seven kills and seven blocks.

Pacheco defeated Ceres High, 25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19, on Oct. 11 at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium

Olvera had a career-high 29 digs and three aces.

Maryn Curry had 27 assists, eight digs, four kills, one block and one ace.

Abby Prado had 14 kills, nine digs and one ace.

Harris had eight kills, three blocks, two digs and two aces.

Central Valley’s girls volleyball team dropped to 0-9 in the Central California Conference following its 3-0 (25-6, 25-13, 25-7) setback at El Capitan on Oct. 12 in Merced.