Central Valley’s upset-minded football team challenged first-place Lathrop in the early going of last week’s Western Athletic Conference game.
The Spartans pulled away for a 34-7 victory while spoiling the Hawks’ Senior Night on Friday at CUSD Stadium.
“The scoreboard doesn’t show it,” Central Valley head coach Derrick Goblirsch said. “But we competed all night against the best team in our league. Hopefully, the momentum carries over to next week (against Ceres High).”
“That’s probably the best game we’ve played since Pitman, even though we lost,” Hawks’ third-year lineman Aiden Prudhel stated. “Something felt different. The energy from the parents and student section in the stands motivated us.”
Last-place Central Valley dropped to 1-8 overall and 0-6 in the WAC standings.
First-place Lathrop improved to 8-1 and 6-0.
The Spartans handed the Hawks their eighth-straight loss.
“We didn’t meet the goals we had,” said Goblirsch, whose team’s roster size dropped from 51 to 36 players during the course of the season. “We’ve dealt with a lot of things throughout the year that affected our play on the field. It’s not all injuries.”
“The effort has been there all season,” Prudhel stated. “Miscues and missed opportunities killed us all year.”
“We had such high expectations,” all-purpose player Edgar Peralta added.
A total of 15 Hawk senior players were recognized before their final home game this past week, including Prudhel, Peralta, Pahulu Anitelea, Xavier Banta, Antonio Burgos, Alejandro Cardenas, Nicholas Dominguez, Jayden Farias, Andre Flores, Benjamin Gill, Anthony Hill, Adrian Hinojosa, Matthew Holmes, Andrue Olivas and Inderpreet Sangha.
“It was a mix of sadness and excitement,” Prudhel said. “I was emotional running out the tunnel. I started to tear up thinking about this being one of the last times playing football with my friends.”
“I feel bad that they didn’t get the success they expected,” Goblirsch stated.
Central Valley competed shorthanded against Lathrop as six starters were in street clothes, including three seniors.
“That might be why the effort was up,” Goblirsch said. “Other guys finally got their opportunity. It was fun to watch.”
“We prepared as well as we could,” Prudhel said. “We had a lot of changes during the week. The guys that replaced them (injured players) did extremely well.”
Peralta completed 8 of 15 passes for 117 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions while filling in at quarterback for sophomore Dominic Delatorre, who was sidelined with a concussion.
He exited the previous week’s game at halftime.
“Being Senior Night, it was special for Edgar,” Goblirsch said. “He stepped up and played pretty well. The guys rallied behind him. I’m very proud of his effort.”
“Being able to play quarterback on Senior Night was pretty fun,” said Peralta, who’s contributed at QB, receiver and safety this year. “It was a big change for me. I could have done better at some points of the game. Overall, I thought I did well.”
“I thought Edgar did amazing,” Prudhel said.
When asked if Delatorre would be cleared to play against Ceres High this week, Goblirsch said: “I’m not sure. We’ll see what they (doctors) say.”
Peralta could start at quarterback for the second week in a row.
“He’s played a little bit of everything for us,” Goblirsch said. “He’s a great athlete.”
The Hawks had 209 yards of total offense versus the Spartans, including 92 rushing on 32 attempts.
Erick Mendoza carried the ball 13 times for 37 yards.
Emmanuel Luna totaled 21 yards on five carries.
Sebastian Maldonado finished with 16 yards on five carries.
Caden Mendonca led Central Valley’s receiving corps with 85 yards on four receptions.
Freshman Alejandro Valencia converted his lone point-after kick.
The Hawks had a host of contributors on defense.
Anitelea and Cesar Pimentel both made 12 tackles.
Gill, Luna, Massimo Catalano and Jayden Gonzalez had 10, eight, five and six tackles, respectively.
Central Valley trailed 21-0 at halftime versus Lathrop.
The Hawks had an opportunity to score on their first possession of the game.
Central Valley’s drive stalled at Lathrop’s 2-yard line.
The Spartans stuffed the Hawks’ rush attempt on fourth down.
“We couldn’t punch it in,” Goblirsch said. “I thought we played Lathrop pretty tough. The outcome is not what we wanted. But the effort was there. I was very pleased.”
