TURLOCK AT TRACY
VALIANT COMEBACK BY TRACY FALLS JUST SHORT
Varsity 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL
Turlock Bulldogs 10 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 24
Tracy Bulldogs 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 19
890 varsity and halftime photos here
Tracy could just not fire on all cylinders for three quarters of this game. Part of it was miscues on both sides of the ball, but you also had to give credit to Turlock for locking down the Tracy offense on many drives. Trailing 24-0 early in the 4th quarter, and with some of the Tracy fans heading to the parking lot to start their Labor Day Weekend, Tracy finally found some magic and put on a show in the 4th quarter to almost flip the game and have one of the greatest victories in recent memory.
The comeback started with 8:56 left in the game at the Turlock 39, when Juan Godoy bought some time on a fake pitch left and rolled right to find Jager Lea wide open downfield for a 39 yard score. The extra point was blocked and Tracy trailed 24-6.
With defense preventing any further Turlock scoring Tracy started their next drive from their own 3 with about 6 minutes left. The Dogs fought their way down the field with a mix of run and pass highlighted by a 49 yard pass from Godoy to Elijah Castanon down to the 20 yard line. With 2:58 left, Gutierrez took a pitch from 3 yards out and scored. The conversion was short and Tracy was still down 24-12.
Gutierrez then showed he had a foot like Shemmy our kicker from last year and executed a slow rolling onside kick that he recovered at the Turlock 35. A short pass to David Goularte got Tracy to the 19 yard line. Godoy then found Gutierrez along the Tracy sidelines and Elijah sprinted to the pylon to make it 24-18. The extra point by Giovanni Martinez was good closing the gap to 24-19.
If it wasn't already exciting enough, Gutierrez attempted another onside kick with 2:20 left that was recovered by the Bulldogs again sending the Tracy fans into a frenzy. The Turlock defense was able at this point to quickly thwart the final Tracy comeback and extinguish the Tracy celebration.
Scoring Recap:
Q1 - 3:44 - Starting at the 2 yard line, Godoy scrambles behind the line of scrimmage but Turlock records a safety to go up 2-0.
With :34 remaining, Turlock delivers on a 10 yard touchdown pass. 2 point conversion good. Turlock up10-0.
Q2 - 9:25 interception near mid field by Turlock sets up a 40 yard passing touchdown on the next play. Turlock 17 - Tracy 0.
Q3 - No scoring
Q4 - Early in the 4th quarter with 11:40 remaining in the game Turlock goes up 24 - 0 on a 1 yard run.
8:56 - 39 yard touchdown pass from Godoy to Lea. Turlock 24 - Tracy 6. Point after blocked.
2:58 - Gutierrez 3 yard run. 24-12 as the 2 point conversion came up short.
2:56 - Onside kick recovered by Gutierrez (the kicker) recovered at the 35 of Turlock.
2:20 - Touchdown pass from Godoy to Gutierrez. Extra point by Giovanni Martinez good 24-19.
2:20 - Onside kick recovered by Tracy.
1:08 - Turlock defense holds on 4th down. Turnover on downs. Turlock 24-Tracy 19.
Coaches comments: "We battled one of the top ten teams in the Section tonight. We were undisciplined in the first half on offense and defense. I felt like our guys were too tense to start the game and we were not executing what we practice routinely. We challenged them to dig deep and not get rolled by their opponent in the 2nd half. It was not a pleasant halftime speech but our guys responded. Their heart grew a lot in the 2nd half of this game and that was really good for us. We are building and growing every single week."
Regional Scores
St. Mary's 27 - Central Catholic 14
Pleasant Grove 41 - Lodi 0
Lincoln 45 - Freedom 12
East Union 28 - Kimball 14
Lathrop 27 - Mountain House 12
VARSITY GAME 1
DOGS RETAIN THE TROPHY
Friday, August 23, 2024
Varsity 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL
Tracy Bulldogs 7 | 26 | 7 | 7 | 47
West Wolf Pack 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6
1,500 game photos (including halftime cheer/dance) are uploading here
Highlight video coming much later this weekend
Elijah Gutierrez would score three touchdowns in the first half gaining 154 yards to lead the Bulldogs to a festive opening of their 2024 season. David Goularte, Malachi Bartholomew, Emilliano Chavez, and Derek Bogetti would also find the end zone in the 29th playing of the Crosstown Classic. Junior Juan Godoy in his first varsity starting assignment was 4-11 throwing for 127 yards.
The defense was led by Lucky Tupouata who pressured West all evening and ended his night with three tackles for a loss. Gutierrez played great on both sides of the ball also delivering several defensive blows. Maxwell Moore collected a fumble late in the game. The 47-6 win gave Tracy their 13th win in a row over West and the 19th win in the 29 games played.
Scoring:
Q1 - 99 percent of the first quarter was played to a 0-0 tie as each side were burdened with penalties that killed promising drives. At one point Tracy had gotten down to the West 20 but were pushed way back due to miscues. After several exchanges in possession, Tracy got on the board with 16 seconds left when Elijah Gutierrez caught a Juan Godoy pass coming out of the backfield at the Tracy 45, and then bolted 55 yards up the Tracy sidelines for the games first score. The point after by Scott Paterson made it 7-0.
Q2 - Quickly in the 2nd quarter at 9:59, Gutierrez struck gold again on another short pass reception from Godoy. Gutierrez would run about 40 yards down the Tracy sidelines to put the Bulldogs up 14-0 on the point after by Paterson.
At the 6:10 mark, David Goularte joined the party with an 18 yard touchdown reception. The point after was wide left. 20-0. The scoring drive was aided by a nice pass reception for 18 yards by Elijah Castanon getting the ball down to the West 18.
4:15 Tracy brought massive pressure to Wolf Pack quarterback Sean Wilson who had to force a throw that was intercepted by Arman Sandhu.
3:59 - Gutierrez scored his 3rd touchdown of the half on a strong rush up the middle in heavy traffic for 8 yards to get over the goal line. The point after was blocked putting Tracy up 26-0.
Immediately after the Gutierrez score, Malachi Bartholomew made a heads up play on a short kickoff that was not played aggressively by West allowing Tracy to have the ball at the West 30. Derek Bogetti would immediately score with a nice 31 yard run starting up the middle then breaking left to make it 33-0 with 3:31 left in the half. This would finish off the scoring for the first half.
Q3 - Tracy looked to score early in the 2nd half but their pass to the end zone was intercepted.
9:05 - At the 19 of West Maxwell Moore recovered a fumble to get the ball right back.
8:21 Emilliano Chavez would score on a 19 yard touchdown pass from Brian Lindt to make it 40-0.
Q4 - 9:58 - Bartholomew would score on a 32 yard sprint early in the 4th quarter to put Tracy up 47-0.
West would execute a 12 yard touchdown pass with time expiring to get six on the board.
Cheers to Bulldog Nation who showed up in force on a cool summer night to cheer on their Bulldogs. It was a fun environment over at West High and now Tracy will get their chance to play at home next Friday vs Turlock.
Tracy Press coverage at this link
Regional Scores From Friday:
Rocklin defeated Turlock 41-28
Lodi defeated Tokay 13-0
Grant defeated Edison 28-7
Downey defeated Lincoln 34-28
McNair defeated Mountain House 42-20