The Turlock High School varsity football team hosted the state of Nevada’s sixth-ranked team Friday night, and while on paper Reno High School seemed to be the favorite to win, reality proved to be much different on the field as the Bulldogs dominated the Huskies en route to a 48-21 victory.

In their first home game of the season, the Bulldogs earned their first win of the season after last week’s loss to Freedom High School — a game that saw Turlock lose by just one touchdown after giving up eight turnovers. After working hard in practice, the team came into Week 2 ready to turn things around.

“That was our goal all week: to fix mistakes, improve, try to get better in all phases of the game and we did it,” head coach James Peterson said. “I told them to take care of the football and execute, and that’s just what they did.”

The Bulldogs got things started quickly on their first possession after forcing a Reno punt, scoring on a three-play drive down the field that began with quarterback Jonah Kosakiewicz connecting with wide receiver Holden Baldwin for a 26-yard completion and ended with running back Anthony Frias rushing 29 yards into the endzone.

Kosakiewicz put on a show during the last home opener of his high school career, with 316 total yards on the night and three touchdowns — a seven-yard run of his own in the first quarter and two 61-yard scoring passes to both Baldwin and tight end Cameran Sherwood.

“Jonah’s our leader on offense and he’s a spark plug for the team, so when he plays well, our team plays well and that’s what you saw tonight,” Peterson said.

“I give all my credit to the lineman. They held the pocket all night, no sacks tonight,” Kosakiewicz said, also giving credit to his wide array of talented targets. “The boys…they’re all playmakers. It’s hard for teams to defend everybody we’ve got because they all can catch, they all can run and they’re all just threats on the field.”

Reno, playing in their first game of the season, only scored once in the first half as a result of a 14-play drive down the field led by multiple players in the quarterback position. The drive ended with a six-yard pass from Reno quarterback Kyle Fermoile to wide receiver Adam Barbieri and was the last time the Huskies would score until the fourth quarter, where they were able to put two more touchdowns on the board.

“What I’ve seen out of them is that they’re a better football team than this,” Peterson said of the Huskies, who were the undefeated champions of their league last year. “I think they were probably a little bit like us last week during our first game of the season…sometimes you’ve got to go through a game like that.”

Other standout plays for the Bulldogs included two touchdowns from Lucas Curtis, who finished the game with 99 total yards, and a one-yard run into the end zone for Anthony Frias near the end of the fourth quarter.

Next week, Turlock will host the Tracy High School Bulldogs at home at 7 p.m. Kosakiewicz is looking forward to the “Battle of the Bone,” he said.

“I lost to them last year so it will be a big game for us,” Kosakiewicz said. “We’re going to carry this momentum into next week and work hard at practice, then do what we can do.”