HILMAR HIGH YELLOWJACKETS

Special season in store for Hilmar as it celebrates 100 years of football

BY JOE CORTEZ

The 2022 season will be a special one for Hilmar High School’s football program.

It’s the school’s 100th season playing football in the small, farming community, and before each home game the team plans to honor a group of players and coaches from a specific era.

“It’s going to be really neat,” said Yellowjackets’ head coach and Hilmar alum Frank Marques. “I’m super excited.”

But let’s get real for a moment, shall we?

What really gets Marques excited, what really will make it a special season for Hilmar … is a ninth Sac-Joaquin Section championship banner. That would be the fifth title on Marques’ résumé and break a tie with Jerry Van Lengen, who won four consecutive Division IV titles from 1986 to 1989 after losing finals in 1984 and 1985 (Van Lengen and his crew from the 1980s are slated to be honored before one of Hilmar’s home games).

Blue championship banners are how Hilmar measures excitement. And the Yellowjackets, who have reached four straight section titles games (not counting the 2020 COVID season when there were no playoffs), look to have another contender.

After winning back-to-back banners in 2017 and 2018, Hilmar came up short in 2019 and 2021, falling to Trans-Valley League rival Escalon each time.

Both the Cougars and Yellowjackets, who finished 1-2 in the TVL coaches poll, respectively, and Ripon, all have won state titles during that stretch. Throw in a Hughson team on the come and you see why it’ll be hard enough to win a league crown, let alone a section or state championship.

Still, that’s the goal on Lander Avenue.

“I think if we stay healthy, we’re going to be fun to watch,” said Marques, who has five starters returning on offensive and six on defense. Among those is senior wide receiver Derek Taylor, a 6-5, 210-pounder whose sure hands are drawing looks from Division I scouts. Six-foot-3, 205-pound senior Jerardo Ponce also will be a threat for Hilmar.

Getting them the ball will be Hudson Azevedo, a 5-10, 170-pound senior who was injured during summer practices in 2021.

“I’m 100 percent right now,” said Azevedo, who sported a knee brace through summer practices. “This thing is just for precaution.”

Marques likes his quarterback’s skills, but he likes the intangibles perhaps even more.

“He’s the leader of the club,” Marques said of his signal caller. “Off the field as well as on. He has a real toughness about him.”

Now in his 20th season as head coach, Marques has the Hilmar program humming like no other: averaging nine wins per season over his career with four straight trips to the section final. a junior varsity team riding a 34-game win streak dating back to 2018 and a coaching staff comprised entirely of former teammates or players of the head coach (with one exception, but even that coach has taught at Hilmar for 30-plus years).

Additionally, Hilmar has bulked up its preseason schedule, with an eye toward being a sharper club come November.

The Yellowjackets open Friday at McSweeney Field against Patterson. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Hilmar will host Los Banos on Aug. 26 before traveling to take on Sonora a week later. After that, it’s off to Salinas for a contest on Sept. 10 against perennial Central Coast parochial powerhouse Palma. Kickoff for that Saturday tilt is scheduled for 2 p.m.

“This team is getting dialed in,” said Marques, who has guided the Yellowjackets to a Belichickian 10 section final appearances in 19 seasons. “I think we’re ahead of schedule. It’s exciting.”

Remember: In Hilmar, exciting means sections championships.

Aug. 19 vs Patterson Aug. 26 vs Los Banos Sept. 2 @ Sonora Sept. 10 @ Palma (Salinas) Sept. 16 @ Livingston Sep. 23 vs Ripon Sept. 30 vs Escalon Oct. 7 Bye Oct. 14 @ Hughson Oct. 21 @ Modesto Christian Oct. 28 vs Riverbank

2021 TVL standings

Team Overall League

1. Escalon 9-1 6-0 2. Ripon 6-4 4-2 3. Hilmar 8-2 4-2 4. Livingston 6-4 3-3 5. Hughson 7-3 3-3 6. Modesto Chr. 1-7 1-5 7. Riverbank 0-9 0-6

BY JOE CORTEZ

Hudson Azevedo sits on the bottom row of aluminum bleachers, nestled in the shade of a nearby tree, watching his Hilmar High teammates practice in the unforgiving summer sun.

Hey, it’s one of the perks of being a quarterback: always in demand by the media.

He eats it up, too. Most high school athletes are uncertain how to carry themselves during interviews, unsure what to say or how to act.

Not Azevedo. He’s got a bit of Joe Namath in him.

For you kids reading, we’ll save you a trip to Wikipedia. Joe Namath was the quarterback of the New York Jets in the swingin’ ‘60s. He earned the nickname “Broadway Joe” with his lavish lifestyle, movie-star good looks, and cocksure attitude on the field. In 1969, when the Baltimore Colts were favored to win Super Bowl III by 17 points, Namath famously guaranteed that the Jets would win.

And he delivered.

Azevedo has all that Namath-ness, and doesn’t mind being the underdog.

He grew up with older brothers Carter (Class of 2018) and Aidan (Class of 2020). Carter won a Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship his senior year, while Aidan won two section banners (in three trips to the finals) and earned a state title in 2018. A cousin, Christian Azevedo, was part of Hilmar’s 2008 section championship squad.

Hudson probably thinks it’s his birth right to win with the Yellowjackets.

“He’ll never catch me,” says Aidan Azevedo, revealing some of the competitive juices that fueled the Azevedos’ backyard games as youngsters. “I won two section titles and a state title. … it’s his turn now.”

Hudson was always eager to compete with his brothers. It didn’t matter that he was smaller.

“We used to give Huddy a hard time growing up,” says Carter. “We definitely teamed up on him a few times playing football, basketball, wrestling, whatever. It definitely developed that competitive fire. And we didn’t let him win, either. Huddy didn’t do a lot of winning growing up.”

He hasn’t done a lot of winning at Hilmar High, either. But that’s only because he hasn’t played.

Which brings us to another thing he shares with Namath.

Like Broadway Joe, Azevedo tore his left anterior cruciate ligament on just the second day of practice in pads, causing him to miss the entire 2021 season. This on the heels of the truncated COVID season in 2020.

Would Azevedo have been the difference in a 20-13 loss to Escalon in last year’s section final? We’ll never know the answer, but Azevedo isn’t concerned about what might have been. He’s only interested in what lies ahead … and that’s probably another postseason showdown with Escalon.

The teams will meet in the regular season on Sept. 30 in Hilmar.

“It really, really hurt standing on the sideline and watching last year,” says the 5-foot-9, 170-pound quarterback. “I’m just excited to play again.”

The injury did afford Azevedo time in the weight room, and he packed on muscle to his frame.

“He could probably kick my butt now,” admits Aidan. “He’s the hardest worker of the three of us. He won’t miss a day in the gym.

“Carter and I were outside-threat receivers. Huddy likes contact. He’s a dual-threat type of quarterback, for sure. I think it’ll show on the field, all the hard work he’s put in.”

Unlike Namath, Azevedo won’t guarantee anything about the upcoming season. He just smiles that sly smile of his and says, “I’m 100 percent. I haven’t lost anything.” 1 Luke Cox Sr. WR/DB 2 Hudson Azevedo Sr. QB/S 3 Elias Agueda Sr. WR/DB 4 Jax Jarvis Sr. WR/DB 5 Logan Cardoso Jr. RB/LB 6 Bradley Morris Sr. QB/DB 8 Noah Gonzales Sr. WR/LB 9 Emanuel Palafox Sr. WR/DB 10 Dylan Couto Sr. WR/DB 11 Jason Lundquist Jr. WR/DB 12 Devin Colston Jr. QB/LB 13 Jerardo Ponce Sr. WR/LB 14 Luis Vargas Sr. RB/S 15 Jack Inderbitzen Jr. WB/DE 16 McKade Jensen Sr. K/RB/LB 17 Jax Branco Sr. RB/LB 18 Jason Muniz Jr. WR/DB 19 Daylen Paul Jr. WR/DB 20 Ezra Duenas Sr. WR/DB 21 Spencer Azevedo Jr. WB/DB 23 Derek Taylor Sr. WR/DE 24 Caden Wood Jr. WR/DB 25 Noel Lopez Sr. WR/DB 28 Arath Solorio Sr. WR/DB 29 Kade Dompeling Jr. WR/DB 32 Hayden Huff Sr. WR/DB 44 Mason Sisneros Jr. RB/LB 50 Aiden Souto Jr. OL/DL 52 Dylan Baballe Sr. OL/DL 53 Bruce Vasquez Sr. OL/DL 54 Dakota Maynard Jr. OL/DL 55 Landon Gomes Sr. OL/DL 57 Jacob Flanery Sr. OL/DL 59 Alex Cardenas Jr. OL/DL 60 Isaac Agueda Sr. OL/DL 61 Cody Bray Jr. OL/DL 63 Nicholas Borba Sr. OL/DL 64 Jackson Takhar Jr. OL/DL 65 Saul Hernandez Sr. OL/DL 66 Jeremy Travers Jr. OL/DL 68 Caden Peterson Sr. OL/DL 73 Brandon Freitas Sr. OL/DL 74 Jaden Strickler Jr. OL/DL 77 Logan Machado Jr. OL/DL

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SEASON 10 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FROM THE FIELD TO YOUR SCREEN

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