The Tracy Buccaneers swept their National Youth Football League division championship games, winning on all four levels Saturday in Modesto. All four levels will now play in the season finale bowl games Saturday in Lodi.
The Tracy Raiders and Tracy Cougars novice teams met in a rematch of the Delta Youth Football League regular season finale — and the novice Raiders are the only DYFL team left standing, after the varsity and JV Raiders also lost.
Tracy BuccaneersVarsity
Bucs 21, Weston Ranch Ravens 14
The varsity Buccaneers finished their regular season at 7-1 after losing their first game, and will advance to the Super Bowl for the first time in their history.
The win Saturday was their first game in three weeks, after two byes in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Kickoff for the Super Bowl is at 8 p.m. at the Grape Bowl in Lodi.
No information other than the score of Saturday’s game was available.
Junior varsity
Bucs 12, Los Banos 49ers 6
Despite a team only half the size of Tracy’s, the Los Banos 49ers held tough against the undefeated Tracy Buccaneers, holders of a 10-0 record after their conference championship-clinching win.
“It was raining — a miserable mess,” Tracy coach Bruce Russell said. “We just pounded the ball tackle-to-tackle and went at them physically. We wore them down — that’s how we took the game.”
Jonny Rojas scored both touchdowns for Tracy, but Jeremy Montoya’s block of a 49er two-point conversion try might have been the key play. Aaron Gozum and DeAndre Ligon were also key defensive contributors.
On Saturday, Tracy will face Brentwood’s undefeated Delta Patriots Silver. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Lodi.
Rookies
Bucs 32, Weston Ranch Ravens 0
The Rookie Buccaneers recorded their second-straight playoff shutout and advanced to their second consecutive Super Bowl. Eric Hawkins and Victor Escoto led the offensive line in opening holes for Luke Pulliam and Karsten Lee, who gained 68 yards on eight carries and 89 yards on 16 carries respectively. Pulliam scored twice, and quarterback Shane Nelson tossed two touchdown passes to Josh Brakkee. He also recorded a 33-yard touchdown run.
The Ravens fumbled three times, recorded only two first downs, and were held to net minus-2 yards of offense. That killer defense was led by Gabe Miller, Anthony Nunez, Austin Coakley, Mirro Bidanian, Albert Landeros and David Jenkins.
The Rookies will defend their 2005 Super Bowl title at 4 p.m. Saturday in Lodi.
Starts
Bucs 13, Modesto Raiders 0
The Starts will defend their Friendship Bowl title Saturday in Lodi after a team defensive effort stymied the Modesto Raiders. The coaches singled out the offensive line — led by Omar Corral, Chandlyr Metal, Jake Dunniway, Tomas Landeros, Clayton Borges, Garren Harris, Marquise Cunningham and Matthew Nunes — as instrumental in opening holes for Isaiah Floyd and Brandon Russell to score touchdowns.
Jake Alvarado threw a key first-down completion to Sal Jacquez, and Russell led the defense with two sacks. An Isaiah Downes interception sealed the deal.
The coaches also praised defense from Justin Mills, Jake Avarado, Myles Cunningham, J.J. Jones, Kumani McGee, Andrew Maroulas, Andre Fetui, Nick Violante and Issac Vasquez.
Tracy Raiders
Tracy Raiders 14, Tracy Cougars 6 (Novice)
After a scoreless first half, the Tracy Raiders went up 7-0 in the third quarter with a 9-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Butcher to Michael Brown, and Kahlil Peebles ran in the extra point. The Cougars responded with a long kickoff return, but the extra point failed, and the Cougars trailed 7-6.
The Raider offense then set off on a clock-cleaning 73-yard drive, eating up seven minutes and 30 seconds. Peebles finished it off with a 6-yard run, behind blocking from Cole Link, Nikolis Martinez, Chase Barding, Ricardo Hutchinson, Abdullah Alami, Derritt Scarver, Michael Brown, Dylan Davis and Adrien Hunter.
No information from the Tracy Cougars was available.
JV
No information was available for the JV Raiders’ loss o Saturday.
Varsity
Modesto 49ers 18, Tracy Raiders 8
Despite only returning five players from last year’s championship team, and featuring 75 percent new players according to coach Vada Franklin, the varsity Raiders were only trailing the Modesto 49ers, who beat Tracy, 24-12, earlier in the year, by 12-6 with five minutes left to go in the fourth quarter.
Devon Hartenstein ran for 75 yards on eight caries, and Yassir Ali ran eight times for 67 yards. Jesse Miller caught a 5-yard pass from Casey Wichman for the team’s only touchdown.
The touchdown came after Tracy marched down to the half-yard line and were stopped, and Modesto went on a clock-cleaning 100-yard touchdown drive to respond. Tracy scored on the next drive, but Modesto held the ball and the Raiders had no time to respond.
“The team went a lot further than we thought,” said Tracy coach Vada Franklin, whose team closed out the year at 7-4. “We had 75 percent first-timers — the fact we made the playoffs was really impressive.”
The team will compete in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving.
