Central Valley High School’s football team experienced a roller coaster of emotions during last week’s game against Buhach Colony.

Focused on the challenge in front of them, the members of Ceres High’s football team fell short in their upset bid against first-place Johansen.

Shorthanded Central Valley blew a 19-point lead before rallying for a 47-40 win against the Thunder in Central California Conference play Friday evening in Atwater.

Central Valley, which notched its fourth consecutive victory, also spoiled Buhach Colony’s homecoming.

“It’s the first road game we’ve won in two years,” Hawks’ head coach Derrick Goblirsch said. “I’m really proud of the effort.”

Central Valley improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Central California Conference standings.

Buhach Colony dropped to 0-7 and 0-3.

“They’ve shown a lot of resiliency and composure,” Goblirsch said. “They’ve continued to work hard and get better and better. Those have been our keys to be successful.”

“Everybody knows what they’re supposed to do,” Hawks’ all-purpose player Amir Drakeford said. “We got the right mentality. We’ve all been putting the work in. We’ve been preparing since summer.”

Central Valley managed to beat Buhach Colony despite competing with a revamped lineup and committing four turnovers.

“Overall, it was a full team effort,” Goblirsch said. “We were leaning on a bunch of guys to do things. They were willing to change their roles because we needed it.”

Starting quarterback Mario Gonzalez missed his second straight game with a knee injury.

Backup QB Darrius Jackson was sidelined with a shoulder injury sustained during the previous week’s game.

Lineman Joshua Ludwig (knee) was inactive for the third week in a row.

“We’re taking it one game at a time right now with everything that’s going on,” Goblirsch said. “It’s been a growing process.”

“I’m actually really surprised,” Drakeford said. “I thought it was going to be the end of our season because we had so many injuries.”

Drakeford, Isaac Garcia, Marcus Nichols and Edgar Peralta all logged playing time at quarterback versus Buhach Colony.

Drakeford rushed for a career-high 172 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries.

Garcia, who was promoted from junior varsity to contribute at safety on defense, completed 3 of 4 passes for 100 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Nichols completed 3 of 7 passes for 73 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Peralta completed 2 of 3 passes for 11 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.

“We ended up using four different guys back there throughout the game,” Goblirsch said. “The each did something different well.”

Joey Zuniga gained 115 yards and scored one touchdown on 15 carries.

Anthony Ramirez caught five passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Josiah Sandoval returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.

Brian Rochin made all five of his point-after kicks.

Garcia led Central Valley’s defense with nine tackles, one interception and one forced fumble.

Cesar Pimentel had nine tackles.

Nichols and Pahulu Anitelea both had six tackles.

Down 40-33, Central Valley reeled off 14 unanswered points to win the game.

Garcia tossed a 57-yard touchdown pass to Ramirez and Drakeford scored on an 11-yard run.

“Our offense played really well considering the circumstances,” Goblirsch said. “We moved the ball on them all night. It was a lot of fun to watch.”

Buhach Colony turned the ball over on downs inside Central Valley’s 20-yard line with 1:36 left in regulation.

The Hawks will face host Golden Valley Hawks (4-2, 1-1) this Friday at 7 p.m.

Vikings 10, Bulldogs 3

Johansen escaped with a 10-3 victory over the host Bulldogs Friday evening at CUSD Stadium.

“We came in very focused and went after them,” Ceres High head coach Brett Johnson said. “It was a battle from start to finish. I’m proud of our kids.”

“We were confident going into the game even though they only had one loss,” Bulldogs’ starting quarterback Donovan Osuna added. “I think our team did really well. We would have won if we did a couple more things right.”

Ceres High dropped to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the WAC standings.

Johansen improved to 5-1 and 3-0.

“Obviously, we’d love to have a better record,” Johnson said. “But we have a lot of youth. We’re seeing growth. The kids are improving.”

“We’re a good team,” Osuna added. “I wouldn’t say we’re headed in the wrong direction.”

The Bulldogs outgained the Vikings, 227-217, in offensive yardage.

Osuna and Brayden Clark split playing time at QB.

Osuna threw for 95 yards with no touchdowns and one interception while completing 9 of 20 pass attempts during the first half. He rushed for 19 yards on three carries.

Clark completed 3 of 7 passes.

“We were just trying to find a spark,” Johnson said. “They both work really hard at practice. They’re good kids.”

Senior Manny Mendoza caught five passes for 65 yards.

Chris King caught two passes for 28 yards.

Reis Smith caught three passes for 26 yards.

Jayden Singh caught one pass for 14 yards and ran for 14 yards on one carry.

Isaac Vizcarra gained 29 yards on 10 carries.

Ernie Miranda finished with 25 yards on six carries.

Kicker Gilbert Nuno accounted for Ceres High’s three points as he booted a 22-yard field goal during the second half.

“We outgained them,” Johnson said. “We had opportunities to score. We moved the ball from the 10-yard line to the 10-yard line. We just couldn’t get it into the end zone.”

The Vikings piled up 202 yards on the ground.

Jairus Vasquez ran for 100 yards on 19 carries.

Tek Garcia was limited to just 67 rushing yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Garcia, one of the state’s top running backs, averaged 219.6 rushing yards and scored seven TDs through the Vikings’ first five games.

“Our game plan was to stop him (Garcia) and we did,” Johnson said. “Our defense stepped up.”

Bulldog junior Manny Mendoza collected a team-high 13 tackles.

Nikahli Garcia had 11 tackles.

Ben Leota had eight tackles and one forced fumble.

The Bulldogs proved a lot of doubters wrong by challenging the Vikings.

“Honestly, we should have won,” Osuna added. “We had all the chances in the world. We just didn’t get the job done.”

Ceres High will travel to Los Banos this Friday to face Pacheco (1-5, 0-3).

Kickoff slated for 7 p.m.