Ceres High’s girls flag football team continued its run of success against Central Valley last week. The Bulldogs improved their all-time, head-to-head record versus the Hawks to 3-0 with a 43-20 victory on Senior Night at CUSD Stadium on Oct. 23.

“Those wins are always extra special because we’re crosstown-rivals,” Ceres High head coach Curtis Hulstine said. 

“I love the crosstown rivalry,” Central Valley leader Tony Cordova said. “It makes it better we’re in the same league now. The whole community comes to watch the games.”

The Bulldogs improved to 13-8 overall and finished third in the Western Athletic Conference with a 10-4 mark.

The Hawks went 8-13 and placed fourth in the WAC standings (7-7).

Ceres High qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-II playoffs.

“They’re going to continue to get better,” Hulstine said. “So are we. We plan on continuing that winning tradition.”

“We’re happy with the end results,” Cordova said. “The girls fought hard to get to where we’re at. Our team is extremely young. We’re losing one starter on offense and two on defense (to graduation). We have a bright future. We have a foundation.”

Bulldogs seniors Kylie Bond, Emily Esparza, America Lara, Alexa Rocha, Joselin Ruiz, Illiana Saldana, Alyssa Santillanes, Maddie Schultz, Hailey Tsurui and Nehemiah Valenzuela were recognized before competing at home for the final time.

“It was a really special night for those girls,” said Hulstine . “It was a big honor to coach them. It’s very sad to see them go. I’m super proud of what they’ve been able to do for the program.”

Schultz totaled 347 yards and six touchdowns while starring at quarterback against Central Valley.

“She’s been the anchor of the team,” Hulstine said. “The girls rely on her a lot.”

Mariah Renteria led Ceres High’s receiving corps with 56 yards and two touchdowns.

Lilly Staggs had 86 yards and one touchdown.

Sovannary Carter had 63 yards and one touchdown.

Savannah Leifried had 54 yards and one touchdown.

Hawk freshman quarterback Addisyn Prudhel passed for 174 yards and two touchdowns. She also rushed for 28 yards on five carries.

Airieana Martinez led Central Valley’s receiving corps with 66 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions.

Freshman Ayleen Apreza caught four passes for 51 yards and one touchdown and ran for 59 yards and one TD on two carries.

Brianna Espinoza totaled 23 yards on two catches.

Central Valley’s Tarnjot Kaur collected three tackles, one interception and two pass deflections on defense.

Sophia Alvarez had two tackles and three pass deflections.

Mia Mendoza had one tackle and two pass deflections.

Giana Breshears had two tackles and one pass deflection.

Alicia Espinoza had four tackles.

The Hawks battled the Bulldogs for two-plus quarters for the second time this season.

Central Valley pulled away for a 36-12 victory over host Central Valley on Sept. 30.

The Bulldogs held a slim 20-14 lead at halftime during the second meeting.

“I was really happy with the poise and determination the girls had in the first half,” commented Cordova. “We pretty much executed what we worked on. We were moving the ball on offense. Defense was locking them down. There were a lot of batted balls. The second half, they exploited our defense. They got big-chunk plays. That’s what experienced teams do. We didn’t score like we needed to.”

“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Hulstine stated. “We communicated better. We played very well as a team. That showed on the scoreboard.”

Ceres High won its final four games of the regular season en route to claiming the No. 13 seed for the Division-II playoffs.

The new-look Bulldogs managed to qualify for the postseason despite dropping six of their first 10 games.

“It shows how resilient this team is,” Hulstine said. “We had some challenges at the beginning of the season. With the addition of new players, they just had to figure out how to play together as a team.”

Central Valley bounced back in a big way this fall.

The Hawks struggled to a 3-20 overall record and finished in seventh place in the Central California Conference standings with a 2-12 mark in 2023.

Central Valley will lose 15 players to graduation, including Ceredil Beltran, Kalaieda Bernal, Bella Contreras, Brianna Espinoza, Angelica Hernandez, Destiny Herrera, Tarnjot Kaur, Katelyn Lopez, Lucero Macial, Mia Mendoza, Navjeet Pattar, Rylee Randez, Kelly Robles, Lily Schmidt and Eliana Tamayo.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Cordova. “We’re excited they’re graduating and moving on to bigger and better things. But it’s sad too because we’ve coached some of the girls since they were freshmen. They made such an impact on the team with their maturity. They helped us so much.”

The Hawks will try to close the competitive gap versus the Bulldogs next fall.

“All of these kids know each other,” Cordova said. “To be able to compete against each other in a positive fashion is fun. There’s no animosity. Of course, both of us want to win.”