TURLOCK HIGH BULLDOGS

Lessons from the past forge Turlock’s future

BY JOE CORTEZ

Five times a week for the past eight months, every time Turlock High football players entered the team’s weight room, they were greeted by the same three numbers, connected by a hyphen, scrawled on the white board. 41-0.

That’s the score by which perennial Sac-Joaquin Section powerhouse Rocklin defeated the Bulldogs in the 2021 season opener.

Head coach James Peterson would rather his team not forget.

“It reminds the guys that we need to work,” said Peterson, entering his 14th season as the Bulldogs head coach. “Rocklin plays at a level we strive to be at, and we’ve used last year as motivation for our home opener in the 2022 season.”

It isn’t the fact that Turlock lost the game badly that Peterson wants his players to recall. He wants them to remember that calamity is just one bad practice away. And that challenges, no matter how big, must be faced boldly.

Peterson just as easily could have chosen to put other numerical reminders on the white board, such as 38-14 or 25. Those were the scores by which the Bulldogs lost to Downey and Gregori in Central California Athletic League matchups last year — their first CCAL losses since the loop’s inception in 2018.

“That’s all we’ve been talking about,” said Peterson. “We want to get it right this year.”

Peterson also believes, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the program is once again running smoothly.

The COVID-shortened 2020 season affected offseason preparations for the 2021 campaign, according to Peterson, and the program is just now getting back into rhythm.

“We played a group of core guys last that we thought were owed a season,” said Peterson.

While teams in other districts, with differing COVID protocols, were better able to navigate the system, Peterson admits struggling to find a balance.

“There were some lingering issues last year,” he said. “We had too many reps outside of the weight room and we couldn’t get our spring ball going. Things just kind of bottlenecked.”

Defending CCAL champion Downey took a different approach in 2020. Head coach Jeremy Plaa promoted nearly half his junior varsity squad and gave them valuable varsity experience. That seasoning paid off last year in the Oct. 8 showdown with Turlock.

Downey will have 17 three-year varsity players on its roster this fall. Of those, 15 started last year as juniors. Turlock, meanwhile, brings back 11 starters.

In the Journal’s 2022 CCAL coaches poll, the Bulldogs narrowly edged the Knights for the top spot, though each team garnered three first-place votes.

Turlock and Downey will square off on Oct. 7 at Joe Debely Stadium in a game that, in all likelihood, will determine the CCAL champion.

The Bulldogs offense will have a new look this year as 2015 and 2016 Central California Conference (Turlock’s former league) MVP Danny Velasquez returns to his alma mater as offensive coordinator. He’ll borrow concepts from his time at Modesto Junior College, when he played in Rusty Stivers’ exciting NASCAR Offense.

“It’s really a simple offense,” said Velasquez. “People don’t really understand how simple it is.”

Simplicity is probably a good thing for a quarterback coming off a year lost to injury.

Cole Gilbert is back for his final season in blue and gold, fully healthy after suffering a knee injury in 2021. His top target will be a big one: 6-foot, 5-inch junior Andrew Johnson, the brother of former Bulldog Everett Johnson, now playing on Cal’s offensive line.

Also returning is senior running back J.T. Foreman, who rushed for a teamleading 1,211 yards and 10 touchdowns in ’21.

Defensively, Turlock appears to be in good shape with defensive backs Alex Velasquez and Logan Bankson, linebackers Joshua Weatherbee and Martin Bertao, and linemen Nolan Ashbaugh and Logan Durkee all back for their senior campaign, which gets under way on Friday at home against the aforementioned Rocklin. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Regardless of the outcome, Peterson is confident his team come out ready to play.

“We play hard-nosed, old-school football here,” said Peterson. “I take a lot of pride in that.”

Aug. 19 vs Rocklin Aug. 26 @ Clovis West Sept. 2 vs Central Sept. 9 @ Manteca Sept. 16 @ Clayton Valley Charter Sep. 23 Bye Sept. 30 @ Pitman Oct. 7 vs Downey Oct. 14 @ Modesto Oct. 21 vs Enochs Oct. 28 vs Gregori

2021 CCAL standings

Team Overall League

1. Downey 9-2 5-0 2. Gregori 6-5 4-1 3. Turlock 4-7 3-2 4. Pitman 3-6 2-3 5. Enochs 5-5 1-4 6. Modesto 2-8 0-5

Velasquez returns to coach at alma mater

BY JOE CORTEZ

Danny Velasquez looks like he could suit up and play football.

Right now.

At 6 feet even and 200 pounds, the heavily muscled 2017 Turlock graduate is actually lighter than when he won back-to-back league MVPs as the Bulldogs quarterback.

But now that he’s a coach — Velasquez will serve as the team’s offensive coordinator this season — he doesn’t quite look the part.

Following an early-August practice under the scorching Valley heat, a player leaving the field yelled something to the new coach.

What did he say?

“He said I need to go eat some donuts and work on my ‘coach body,’” chuckled Velasquez.

After graduating from Turlock, Velasquez accepted an offer to play football at Portland State. When things didn’t work out in Oregon, he returned and played a season for Rusty Stivers at Modesto Junior College.

From there, he walked on at Fresno State before transferring to Southwest Minnesota State. The move, however, cost Velasquez a year of eligibility and he decided to call it a career and head home to Turlock.

Shortly thereafter, he got an offer from Peterson.

“I’ve always known that I wanted to be a coach,” said Velasquez. “Even back when I was in high school.”

Velasquez will use concepts learned while piloting Stivers’ NASCAR offense, an exciting, up-tempo system that lights up scoreboards

“I love Rusty,” said Velasquez. “He’s been a big role model.

“When Pete offered me the job and I was debating what to do with the offense, I thought, ‘Why not run Rusty’s?’ There’s not a lot of plays, there’s not a lot of formations. It’s a really simple offense. People don’t really understand how simple it is.”

His old coach thinks he’s up to the task.

“Just like when he was a player,” Stivers said, “he’ll be a smooth operator.”

To run the offense effectively, players have to be able to put the pedal to floor in the fourth quarter when the other team is out of gas. In short, Turlock players will have to be in peak physical condition.

Just like their offensive coordinator. 0 Logan Bankson Sr. RB/DB 1 Owen Miller Jr. MLB 2 Alex Velasquez Sr. CB 3 Kael McBay Sr. RB/DB 4 Peter Mello Sr. WR/DB 5 J.T. Foreman Sr. RB/DB 6 Vincent Gonzales Jr. QB 7 Cole Hendrix Sr. OLB 8 Cole Gilbert Sr. QB 9 Isaiah Bertalotto Jr. DB 10 Andrew Johnson Jr. WR/DB 11 Jeremiah Bertalotto Jr. WR/DB 12 Gage Pritt Sr. WR/DB 13 Adrian Sandoval Jr. CB 14 Carter Crivelli Jr. WR/DB 15 Hunter Kincaid Jr. WR 16 Kyle Parker Sr. DB 18 Jackson Mendonca Jr. TE/DE 20 Matthew Meneses Jr. WR/CB 21 Joshua Weatherbee Sr. TE/OLB 23 Eden Britten Jr. WR/DB 24 Tarell Johnson Jr. RB/DE 25 Dhiraj Singh Jr. C 29 Cesar Perez Jr. MLB 30 Gavin Parker Jr. WR/CB 33 Devon Lambert Jr. MLB 34 Elijah Watson Jr. OLB/TE 35 Dru Kimura Jr. OLB 44 Jeremy Garcia Sr. RB/OLB 45 Martin Bertao Sr. MLB 52 Logan Durkee Jr. OL/DL 68 Luke Perkins Jr. DE 70 Juan Pablo Nevarez Jr. OL/DE 72 Jason Rose Sr. OL/DL 73 Nolan Ashbaugh Sr. OL/DL 74 Nelson Lozano Jr. OL/DL 75 D.J. Curtice Sr. OL/DL 76 Chase Hendrix Sr. OL 77 Gavin Martinez Jr. OL/DL 78 Kristian Guerrero Jr. OL/DL 85 Zachary Macklin Sr. OL/DL 90 Phoenix Nunez-Bradshaw Sr. DE