NEWMAN, Calif – A journey that started inside the weight room and ended in 11 months.
The Orestimba High football team begun the preparation for the 2024 season in which it would be returning to the Trans-Valley League for all sports. The Warriors were members of the league from 2010 to 2014, then returned to the Southern Athletic League from 2014 until last spring. The Sac-Joaquin Section realigned Orestimba and Ripon Christian, which was also in the SAL, into the TVL in the spring of 2023.
The Warriors finished their season with a 7-5 overall record, including a 2-4 mark in the TVL.
“I saw a team that was very dedicated,” said Orestimba football head coach Aaron Souza about seeing the team assemble in the weight room in January. “I saw a group of guys that were hungry.”
The transition to the TVL, which is considered the toughest small-school football league in California for many years, meant harder workouts in preparing for the new league. Souza was happy that this year’s Warriors were up for the new challenge.
“A phenomenal attendance,” said Souza of the Warriors’ off-season workouts from January to the summer. “A phenomenal work ethic.”
As the weeks and months passed, like most high school football teams, there are ups and downs. The Warriors experienced more of the former and less of the latter.
“Football is a long journey,” Souza said. “Team building takes months upon months. It’s in different phases.”
Then came the Warriors’ four non-league games against Westside rival Gustine, Johansen of Modesto, Lick of San Jose and Modesto Christian.
The latter two foes are different stories.
Orestimba scheduled Lick High of San Jose at the last second. That was because the Warriors were scheduled to play LeGrand, but the section slapped the Bulldogs with a three-game suspension after physical altercations with Tranquility during a scrimmage in mid-August.
Then Orestimba and the rest of the TVL were dealt with a hit in the stomach in early September. Modesto Christian, a member of the TVL for football only but in the SAL for all sports except basketball in which it plays in the Tri-City Athletic League that is Division I, decided not to play its league games due to low roster numbers. The Crusaders only suited up 13 players against Orestimba, which recorded a 50-0 win to start the season at 4-0.
Modesto Christian is planning to continue playing an independent schedule for the 2025 season.
A look at the Orestimba playing in the TVL and its two playoff games will be in next week’s edition of the Westside Connect.
Mike Bush is a multimedia journalist in the Sacramento area who was born and raised in the Stanislaus and Merced County areas. Follow him on X/Twitter: @MikeBMultimedia.
