MODESTO — There will be no third consecutive undefeated Central California Athletic League campaign for the Turlock High football program, as they fell to rival Downey by a 29-26 score on Friday night at Chuck Hughes Stadium.

In a battle of unbeatens in conference play with postseason position at stake, the Knights (6-3) held off a late Bulldog rally to improve to 4-0 with a week left in the regular season.

Friday’s results guarantee the Knights a spot in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff bracket under this year’s new format, as they will take on an Enochs team that dropped to 2-7 overall and to 1-3 against conference opponents following a 31-24 loss to Pitman on Friday.

The Bulldogs dropped to 4-5 on year and to 3-1 in the CCAL.

Even with a win against Modesto next week at Joe Debely Stadium paired with an improbable Enochs upset, the Knights hold the tiebreaker for a berth in the eight-team bracket, and there is no other team in the league that can mathematically mount the standings, as all Pitman, Gregori, Enochs and Modesto each have two or more losses.

The only chance Turlock would have to be in the bracket is if they are ranked as a top-eight team in D-I by MaxPreps computer rankings, which is also unlikely since they were the No. 8 team prior to Friday’s loss, meaning they’d likely play a bowl game in two weeks.

“No matter what, our standard doesn't change as a football team,” said Turlock head coach James Peterson of his team’s path forward. “We're going to come out there and we're going to prepare for Modesto just like we prepared for Downey today, and we'll see what happens at the end of the day.”

Trailing 29-19, the Bulldogs made it a one-possession game midway through the fourth quarter when senior Kaleb Guinn capped off a seven-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown rush. The Turlock defense then forced a punt after Downey milked three minutes of clock to set a last-ditch effort for the offense. The Bulldogs came up empty, as the Knights forced a quick turnover on downs.

Turlock was without sophomore quarterback Scout Silva, who continued to nurse a shoulder injury. He exited last week’s Harvest Bowl win at halftime.

In relief was junior Donnell Harmon II, who has a similar, dual-threat style of play. Turlock seemed to not be missing a beat in the early stages of the contest, quickly jumping out to a 13-0 lead. Harmon made his presence felt right off the bat, wishing 19 yards for a touchdown on Turlock’s opening drive. After the Bulldogs traded possessions without a score, Harmon manned a six-minute, 12-play drive that ended in a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Guinn.

Guinn, who has been the primary running back in the absence of Alex Ventura, ran for 70 yards on 19 carries.

Ventura, returned for the first time in five weeks after suffering an upper-body injury against Central of Fresno. He was effective in his limited opportunities, gaining 27 yards on five rushes.

But after that, Downey seemed unstoppable, scoring on three straight drives to give themselves a 22-13 lead at the half. It began when running back Elias Haynes took a screen pass 15 yards to the house, and after Turlock turnover on downs, he found paydirt again when he received a delayed handoff and score from nine yards out to give the Knights a 14-13 lead.

The Downey defense then forced another punt, setting the table for their head coach, Jeremy Plaa, to dig deep in his bag of tricks. With just 25 seconds before the intermission, the Knights perfectly executed a double-pass play, in which quarterback Julian Masani tossed a lateral to wideout Isaiah Castillo, who then found Isaiah Hernandez down the field for a 67-yard gain despite him being covered by three defenders. It set up a 2-yard rushing score from Haynes a play later.

The Bulldogs came out firing in the second half, scoring on the first play from scrimmage when junior back Braiden Fuentes took a short screen pass and ran the 61-yard difference to cut the Downey lead to 22-19.

It seemed as if all momentum had shifted towards Turlock when they forced a quick three-and-out, but a 10-play drive was killed by three penalties and a botched snap. The Knights took advantage, needing only six plays for Haynes to score again from 10 yards out to push the lead to 29-19.

“Those are the things that lose games, the penalties, the miscommunications, all of that,” Peterson said. “It came down to beating ourselves again, honestly.”

The Knights hung 292  yards of total offense on the Bulldog defense, the majority (181) coming on the ground.

Despite the significant gains, the Bulldogs stumped six Downey drives. Senior Donovan Muirbrook and sophomore Sydney Aguilar each tallied three tackles for loss. Senior Levi Cook also tackled a rusher behind the line of scrimmage and recorded a sack of Masani. Junior Noel Garcia also recovered a fumble late in the first quarter.

Peterson felt that Harmon performed well enough for the team to win. The 5-foot-9, 168-pound sophomore tossed for 134 yards, many times escaping the pocket to extend the plays. He scrambled for 67 yards on the night.

“He did a great job. I think he played above and beyond, and I'm just super proud of him,” Peterson said. “He came in here and led our team, it's just bittersweet because it came down to this game and we couldn’t pull it out. Hats off to them.”

The CCAL title has come down to Turlock and Downey in the last seven seasons, with Turlock being the victors in all years but 2021 and 2022.

Plaa was unaware that Silva was inactive until pregame warmups, when he spotted the signal caller in street clothes. Nevertheless, he said the game plan went unchanged, and that he was impressed by Harmon.

“No. 12 played great in his absence,” Plaa said. “The defense really stepped up when it mattered… We  didn't really adjust. He kind of plays a lot like Scout, the way he extends plays. He’s not Scout, obviously, but I thought he did a good job of keeping his team in the game.”

Postgame, Plaa stared at his players celebrating on the field, using just one word to describe his emotions.

“Relief,” he said. “Personally, I’m relieved. I felt like we should have had a better showing the last couple years, and that's on me and our coaches.”

Turlock won 33-14 last year and 24-11 the season prior.

“But I’m just really happy for our kids,” he continued. “They deserve it. Nobody works harder than they do, and I’m just happy that they got the win.”