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Harvest Bowl through the years
Harvest Bowl 2009
The Pride celebrate winning the sixth annual Harvest Bowl in 2009.

The Harvest Bowl is one of the best intra-city rivalries in the region. Friday night marks the 19th installment, which has featured such well-known athletes as Pitman’s Collin Kaepernick, Anthony Harding and Dominick Walker, and Turlock’s Kevin Kramer, Danny Velasquez and Mustafa Johnson. Who will be the next star? What will be the next big moment? Which team will win? Find out in Saturday’s Turlock Journal. Until then, here’s a look back at the previous Harvest Bowls.

2004: Pitman 21, Turlock 18 — The first year of the Harvest Bowl saw junior quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the neophyte Pride football program come away with a 21-18 victory, as Pitman’s Mark Runyan scored a touchdown in the final quarter to hold off the Bulldogs.

2005: Pitman 35, Turlock 34 (OT) — The game was determined in overtime as both teams scored in the extra minutes. After watching Turlock score and notch the extra point, Pitman found pay dirt to make it 33-34, then went for the win on a two-point conversion. Running back Anthony Harding crossed the goal line for the victory.

2006: Pitman 21, Turlock 0 — The Pitman defense pitched a shutout, the first of four in the history of this series and the only one to date for the Pride, as Brandon Harris took over as Pride coach for Larry Nigro. Lance Cornell was making his coaching debut for Turlock, taking over for Tom Tyler.

2007: Pitman, 20, Turlock 19 — After just carrying the ball one time in the first half, Pitman’s Stefan Palacio carried the ball 12 times for 99 yards in the second, leading the Pride to a 20-19 victory.

2008: Turlock 7, Pitman 0 — Turlock High captured its first Harvest Bowl as sophomore quarterback Kevin Kramer, who would go on to play baseball at UCLA, scored on a designed roll-out from the 2-yard line.

2009: Pitman 40, Turlock 6 — Dominick Walker rushed for 174 yards on 15 carries and scored three touchdowns. After Turlock cut into a 10-0 lead with a TD midway through the second quarter, Pitman scored 30 unanswered points, handing new Turlock coach James Peterson a loss in his first Harvest Bowl.

2010: Turlock 21, Pitman 16 — Senior Kevin Kramer, now in his third year as the varsity starting QB, threw for a TD, ran for a TD, made the saving tackle on a two-point conversion attempt, and recovered Pitman’s onside-kick attempt late in the fourth quarter.

Harvest Bowl 2010
Quarterback Kevin Kramer leads the Turlock High football team to a 21-16 victory over Pitman High in the seventh annual Harvest Bowl in 2010.

2011: Pitman 16, Turlock 13 — AJ Derr — son of Pitman assistant Jon Derr, who was a kicker at the University of the Pacific — kicked field goals of 41, 35 and 25 yards, the last one clinching a 16-13 win.

2012: Pitman 49, Turlock 27 — Drew Lewis returned two interceptions for touchdowns and fullback Kody Bracket rushed the ball 33 times for 170 yards and a TD as the Pride rolled, 49-27.

Harvest Bowl 2012
Pride defender Brente Nelle chases down Turlock’s Brandon Esquivel during the 9th Annual Harvest Bowl in 2012.

2013: Pitman 27, Turlock 25 — Tom Tyler, who previously coach at Turlock High, earned a win in his Harvest Bowl debut as the Pride’s head coach.

2014: Turlock 41, Pitman 10 — Bubba Moreno completed 80 percent of his passes (20 for 25) for 307 yards and three touchdowns as the Bulldogs romped 41-10 — one to now-Turlock assistant Danny Velasquez — to begin a streak of eight consecutive victories.

2015: Turlock 24, Pitman 16 — The Bulldogs held on for the victory and, in doing so, earned a home playoff game the following week at Joe Debely Stadium while Pitman had to hit the road for postseason play.

2016: Turlock 31, Pitman 14 — Senior quarterback Danny Velasquez, who was named the Central California Conference’s MVP for two consecutive seasons, ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to earn the outright conference title.

2017: Turlock 39, Pitman 27 — This was the last time the Pride were within 30 points of the Bulldogs.

2018: Turlock 33, Pitman 0 — Quarterback Jonah Kosakiewicz was 11 for 17 for 174 yards and three total touchdowns as the Bulldogs clinched the first Central California Athletic League title.

2019: Turlock 41, Pitman 7 — The Bulldogs completed a perfect run through league play to win their second consecutive CCAL title. Lance Weckerle was the new coach for Pitman.

2020: Turlock 49, Pitman 7 — Due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the hiatus of fall sports, this game actually was played in April of 2021. Didn’t seem to matter, though, as the Bulldogs continued their dominance with the most lopsided Harvest Bowl ever.

2021: Turlock 35, Pitman 0 — This one will be the answer to a trivia question someday: In what year did Turlock and Pitman play two Harvest Bowls? The teams played twice in 2021 as high school sports got back on schedule after a year-long pandemic. It was also Eric Reza’s debut as Pitman coach.