NEWMAN, Calif. – Anyone who has watched Orestimba High football games this season has noticed that the bulk of the scoring has been done in the air.
But the Warriors used the ground game in a crucial Trans-Valley League game against the Ripon Christian High squad at Warrior Stadium on Friday. That led to Orestimba (3-3 in the TVL, 6-3 overall) posting a 21-17 win over the Knights in the meeting of former Southern Athletic League rivals. This game was also the Warriors’ last home game of the regular season.
“It’s a huge win,” said Orestimba head coach Aaron Souza, who also picked up his 100th career win. “It’s a rivalry for us, going back to the Southern League. I think we just did a great job in moving the ball, distributing it equally, run and pass.”
Orestimba had suffered back-to-back league losses to Hughson the week prior, and at Hilmar two weeks earlier.
The Warriors also recognized their 20 seniors on the squad as part of Senior Night.
Ripon Christian scored its first touchdown in the first quarter on a 21-yard pass for a 7-0 lead, the Warriors tied the game at 7-all when running back Nick Cuevas scored on an 8-yard run. The extra-point kick was good.
Both teams scored plenty in the second quarter.
The Knights took a 10-7 lead when Aaron Van Hofwegen booted a 25-yard field goal.
Then the Warriors responded when quarterback Jacob Valenzuela threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dylan McCauley. Along with the extra point, Orestimba took the lead for the first time in the game at 14-10.
Ripon Christian took its halftime lead in the same quarter when Mason Tameling threw a 33-yard pass to Josh Miller. The extra point was also good.
Ripon Christian (1-4 in the TVL, 4-5) lead 17-14 at halftime.
Then Orestimba scored what would be the go-ahead and winning touchdown to start the third quarter, taking the opening kickoff and ending the offensive drive when running back Allen Garcia crossed the plane on a 3-yard run.
“It was a good drive,” Souza said. “It was a drive that we needed to come out (and score). We just did a good job of running right down the field.”
Souza was pleased with the performance of Garcia in carrying the rock in the contest. Garcia had 99 yards on 17 carries.
“He knew it was a big night being Senior Night,” said Souza of Garcia. “He did a great job on both sides of the ball (Garcia had seven tackles from his linebacker’s spot.) He’s a very powerful north-south runner, and he had some good runs for us.”
The Warriors were inside the Knights’ territory twice after scoring the go-ahead touchdown. One of the opportunities came off an RC turnover, but Orestimba was unable to convert.
Another scoring chance for the Warriors came with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter when they reached the RC 4-yard line. But a penalty pushed Orestimba back and opted for a 25-yard field goal that was wide to the left of the goal post.
“There was two opportunities in the second half where we could have really started putting things away,” Souza said.
The Knights reached the Warriors’ territory with four minutes left in the game. But RC turned the ball over on downs.
After Orestimba went four-and-out on the following drive, RC got the ball back. However, the Warriors’ defense pushed the Knights’ offense back into negative yards, going four and out and turning the ball again.
Valenzuela had a good night in passing for the Warriors, as he completed 12 of 18 passes for 275 yards.
Devon Bell had 5 receptions for 120 yards. McCauley followed with also 5 receptions for 62 yards and touchdown.
On the ground, Cuevas had 12 carries for 52 yards.
Moving over to defense, Cuevas, at his linebacker spot, had 13 tackles in the game. Defensive back Donovan Torres followed at eight. Linebacker Colby Cabral and defensive back Mateo Navarro had six each.
TVL finale
Orestimba closes out the TVL and regular season this Friday, playing at Escalon (3-2 in the TVL, 4-5). The Cougars posted a 23-14 win over Ripon (1-4 in the TVL, 3-6) on Friday.
“The name Escalon resonates around this area, this Valley and Northern California for playing good, gritty high-level high school football,” Souza said of the Cougars. “(Escalon head coach) Andrew Beam does a great job with that program.”
The last time Orestimba played at Escalon was in 2012, when the Warriors were part of the TVL from 2010 to 2014. Escalon posted a 56-28 win.
Playoffs
This Sunday, the Sac-Joaquin Section will release the playoff brackets for all seven divisions.
Orestimba is projected to play in the Division VI bracket.
The section will post the brackets on its website – www.cifsjs.org.
Mike Bush is a multimedia journalist in the Sacramento area resident who was born and raised in the Stanislaus and Merced County areas. Follow him on X/Twitter @MikeBMultimedia.
