Ceres High’s Brandon Moring and Clinton Goblirsch have been named the Ceres Courier’s co-Head Coaches of the Year for the spring sports season.
Ceres High’s baseball program returned to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs following a two-year absence under Goblirsch’s guidance.
Ceres High’s boys tennis program compiled a winning record and just missed securing a postseason berth despite competing with an inexperienced lineup.
“I’m proud of this group,” Moring said. “I can’t be any happier. It was a season of improvement.”
A year removed from not fielding a boys tennis team due to a lack of interest, Ceres High posted a 7-5 record en route to a fourth-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
“We were by far the most improved team in league,” Moring said. “The kids started to have fun when they started having success.”
The Bulldogs topped the Grace Davis Spartans, Johansen Vikings and Lathrop Spartans twice during the WAC season. Ceres High split with the third-place Los Banos Tigers. The Bulldogs avenged a 9-0 loss with a 5-4 victory.
“For us to finish the way we did was a positive,” Moring said. “This team improved a lot.”
Ceres High competed shorthanded at the beginning of the season because of a lack of numbers.
The Bulldogs forfeited No. 3 doubles the entire year.
“Our very first match we forfeited No. 1, 2 and 3 doubles,” Moring said.
Ceres High had just one player on its roster the first week of practice.
“Me and Manuel Calderon practiced five days in a row by ourselves,” Moring said. “Then soccer ended and we got the rest of the guys.”
Ceres High’s revamped roster featured 11 players, including Calderon, Eduardo Ramirez, Noah Zamora, Isaiah Gudino, Serjio Gonzalez, Ian Saldana, Daniel Gonzales, Nicholas Diaz, Nathan Barajas, Gilbert Zamora III and Fabian Torres.
Calderon, Ramirez, Gudino, Gonzalez, Noah Zamora and Gilbert Zamora III contributed at singles.
Barajas, Gonzales, Saldana and Torres logged playing time at doubles.
Ceres High’s baseball team managed to secure a berth to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-III playoffs despite dropping its first nine games.
“We didn’t get the wins (early in the season) but it pushed us to work harder,” Bulldogs’ senior pitcher/first baseman Noel Anaya said.
Led by Anaya, Hudson, Isac Cordova, Josh Prestridge, Jorge Gonzalez and Xavier Pompa, the Bulldogs posted a 13-16 overall record, finished third in the WAC standings with a 9-5 mark and placed first at the Art McRae Tournament.
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised,” Anaya stated while talking about his team’s success. “We believed we could make it to playoffs and we did it.”