Ceres High’s varsity football team has battles brewing at two key positions.

Head coach Matt Chachere and his staff will evaluate quarterbacks and running backs during Friday night’s scrimmage versus visiting Hughson.

“Our final checkmark is seeing how they do against outside competition,” he said.

Senior Matt Aveytia and sophomores Bryce Piatt and Roberto Tiscareno will log playing time at quarterback against the Huskies.

Aveytia is a newcomer.

Piatt and Tiscareno suited up for the frosh-soph team a year ago.

“It’s an open competition,” Chachere said. “It will be good to see how they react under pressure. I want to see what type of poise they have.”

“The quarterback that earns the trust of the team will get the spot,” second-year receiver Fernando Sosa said.

Aveytia, seniors Montrell Block and Josh Dominguez, and junior Nick Angulo will split carries at running back.

“All of them can do different things well,” Chachere said.

Ceres High will play host to Hughson at 7 p.m.

The Bulldogs struggled to a 1-9 record and finished in fifth place in the revamped Western Athletic Conference (1-5) in 2018.

The Huskies went 5-6, qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-VI playoffs and took third in the Trans Valley League (2-4).

“It’s almost like a rivalry because of the proximity of the two schools,” Chachere said. “It’s a really good test for us. Our first goal is to see how prepared we are. The second one is player evaluation. We want our players to execute the plays we practiced the past few weeks.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” third-year lineman Elias Saldana said. “We finally get to go against a real team. We’re not scrimmaging against ourselves. It doesn’t count but it means something. Can everyone complete their assignments? That’s what we want to do.”

“I feel like we’re ready to compete,” Sosa said. “It’s not going to be easy for them. We’re going to put up a fight. We have a lot of good players that are capable of doing so much.”