Three local high school football teams opened their seasons with losses Friday, Aug. 24.

West and Tracy now go on the road, while Millennium will have its home opener Saturday, Sept. 1, at West High.

Kimball High opens its season Friday, Aug. 31, at Patterson High.

Beyer 27, West 21

It took the first half of West’s first game for the Wolf Pack football team to really get into the new season during their opening game Friday, Aug. 24.

By the end of the game, the Wolf Pack varsity had picked up its speed and intensity, but a strong second half at Steve Lopez Stadium wasn’t enough to overcome visiting Beyer High of Modesto, which won the game, 27-21.

Beyer held a 27-7 lead at halftime, scoring twice on passes from Jacob Bringhurst to Maury Moore in the first quarter and taking a 21-0 lead in the second on Aden Ruiz’s nine-yard run.

West had only 45 yards of total offense in the first half and got on the scoreboard with one minute, 51 seconds remaining in the second quarter when defensive back Kenny Silva picked off a pass and ran it back 65 yards for a touchdown.

Beyer scored once more on a 48-yard pass from Bringhurst to Ruiz to make it a 27-7 game at the half, but the West’s defense went on to hold Beyer scoreless in the second half.

“We played a lot harder and faster in the second half,” said West High fullback and linebacker D.J. Villasenor.

Villasenor ran for 44 of West’s 106 rushing yards, most of them in the second half.

“A little more time on the clock, and it would have been something different,” he said.

Wolf Pack quarterback Bobby Landrum got most of his 109 passing yards — including six passes for 52 yards to Gabe Miller — in the second half, which included an 88-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, finishing with Landrum’s 1-yard pass to Scott Romo.

The Wolf Pack scored again with 1:03 left on Villasenor’s Seven-yard run. Jackson Nott went 3-for-3 on point-after kicks.

Coach Matt Loggins attributed Beyer’s early lead to sloppy play on the West’s part.

“We were committing penalties, turning the ball over, not executing well. So I think we executed a lot better in the second half,” Loggins said.

Landrum added that the team eventually dialed in on the plays that the Pack knew would work.

“We started executing in the second half and started moving the ball,” Landrum said. “We went to our passing game and that started working in the fourth quarter.”

West travels to Brentwood on Friday, Aug. 31, to play Liberty High of the Bay Valley League. The Lions lost their two top rushers from last year to graduation and relied almost exclusively on their passing game in the their 20-8 loss to Livermore last week.

Sierra 32, Tracy 26 Tracy High’s varsity

football team held a 20-10 lead over the Sierra Timberwolves early in the third quarter of Friday’s game in Manteca, but the Timberwolves came back with three touchdowns in second half, capping the comeback in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass.

“We saw our weaknesses, and we made some mistakes,” Tracy coach Matt Shrout said, adding that turnovers and penalties cost the Bulldogs in the second half.

The Bulldogs’ defense also missed its tackles to allow the Timberwolves complete scoring drives.

Bruce Russell ran for 176 yards on 19 carries. His two touchdowns in the first quarter included a 72-yard run to the end zone. Eric Hawkins also scored on a five-yard pass from quarterback Luke Hanna in the third quarter, and Jason Nelson scored on a two-yard run in the fourth. Tommy Langley made two point-after kicks.

In all the Bulldogs had 410 yards of total offense with 354 yards rushing, including 86 yards on the ground and 56 yards passing for Hanna.

The Bulldogs travel to Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove on Friday, Aug. 31, to face the Wildcats of Franklin High.

Franklin, which placed third in the Delta Valley League last year and got as far as the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs, won its first game of the season last week 38-28 over Thousand Oaks High. The Wildcats logged 245 yards rushing and 179 yards passing.

Woodland Christian 42, Millennium 13

The Millennium Falcons got off to a slow start in their first game of the season as the Woodland Christian Cardinal jumped out to a 34-6 lead in the first half of Friday night’s game in Woodland.

The Falcons found some success on the ground, with Demauriea Williams running for 52 yards which include a 34-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Izaiah Williams ran for 29 yards, including a five-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Gavin Compton ran for 35 yards. Giacomo Oliveri was the Falcons’ leading defender with 13 tackles.

“We just started slow and needed to adjust the speed of our game,” assistant coach Drew Reyes said. “We’ll take it as a learning experience and (will) get ready for next week.”

The Falcons have their first home game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1, against Amador High of Sutter Creek at West High’s Steve Lopez Stadium. Amador will play its first game of the season. The two teams also faced off against each other in Week 1 of the 2011 season last year, with Millennium winning it 28-12.

• Contact Bob Brownne at 830-4227 or brownne@tracypress.com.