Eleven touchdowns. Five lead changes. Three times tied. And still, after a three-hour roller coaster of a game at McSweeney Field on Friday night, the same result for the 10th straight week — a Hilmar victory.

In front of a capacity crowd in their home stadium, the Yellowjackets outlasted rival Hughson by a 42-35 score to claim the outright Trans-Valley League championship with a 6-0 record and finish the regular season undefeated at 10-0.

Friday night’s thriller came down to the final ticks on the clock, when Hilmar broke a late tie with a 64-yard scoring drive with eight seconds in regulation and desperate laterals by Hughson were stopped short of the goal line as time expired.

With the result, Hilmar finished the regular season unbeaten for the first time since 2013 and won its first conference title since 2022.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said junior Adam Branco, who scored the game-winning touchdown in Friday’s marathon. “This is what we’ve been working for since the summer. It’s very satisfying.”

Satisfying, and also relieving, especially after the Yellowjackets were left stunned with just under two minutes remaining. On a fourth-and-inches from its own 41-yard line, Hughson sophomore Blake Hobbs took a halfback dive nearly untouched into the end zone to tie the game at 35.

On the ensuing kickoff, Hilmar senior Hunter Greunke’s 33-yard return set his team up in strong field position. After two passes to Nathan Ayala ate up another 30 yards, senior quarterback Cohen Felber unleashed a 37-yard strike to cousin Gage Gonzalez, who leaped over a Hughson defender and was tackled just short of the goal line. The Yellowjackets rushed to the ball and handed it to Branco, who muscled his way in for the final score of the night.

“I was so happy he made that catch, and I was thinking in my head that we had to get this touchdown no matter what with the clock running,” Branco said. “I’m glad that my team trusted me with the ball and thankful for my offensive line for blocking.”

It was Branco’s ninth and final carry of the night, and second touchdown of the contest.

“I feel like I blacked out on that last drive,” said first-year Hilmar head coach Mark Santos. “There were some big plays and guys stepped up when it mattered most. This one really could have gone either way.”

The scoring began filling up almost immediately. On just the fourth play from scrimmage, Felber broke a 29-yard touchdown.

Hughson’s first possession was equally impressive, as sophomore quarterback Hudson Baldwin, who already carries three Division I collegiate offers, marched his offense 85 yards on 13 plays. He handed the ball to Hobbs for a 1-yard touchdown to cap the drive and knot the game at seven.

Hilmar responded with another explosive play, as Ayala hauled in a pass near midfield and ran the rest of the way for a 61-yard touchdown to retake the lead less than two minutes into the second quarter.

Baldwin showed off explosiveness of his own. One play later, he found junior wideout David Soria for a 40-yard gain, which set up a 34-yard touchdown strike to a wide open Titus Beers, Hughson’s star senior receiver. A missed extra point kept the Yellowjackets ahead, 14-13.

The Yellowjackets proceeded to milk six minutes off the clock with a 12-play scoring drive that was finished off with a 19-yard touchdown run by Branco to extend the lead to 21-14. But with just under three minutes to go before halftime, Baldwin connected with Soria twice for another 57 yards before again locating Beers in the end zone from 15 yards out. Beers also caught a pass over the middle for a successful two-point conversion and knot the game at 21 heading into the break.

After receiving the second half kickoff, the Huskies ran 12 plays and took its first lead of the night when junior Chase Muirhead snagged an 8-yard pass from Baldwin in the end zone. Another missed extra point kept the score at 27-21 in favor of Hughson.

In response, Hilmar channeled its running game once more. Felber and Branco split six carries before the dual-threat quarterback raced down the home sidelines for a 19-yard touchdown to give his team a 28-27 lead.

There was a momentary pause in the shootout as Hilmar made the first defensive stop by either team. A completed pass to start Hughson’s drive didn’t gain any yards. Hilmar’s Blake Vitorino then broke up a pass to set up third down, where senior linebacker Isaiah Gill finally tracked down the elusive Baldwin for a sack. The momentum carried over to the offense after a punt. On the first play, Ayala caught a screen pass and ran for a 41-yard touchdown to make it a 35-27 contest 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“We just needed to lock down and actually get after the quarterback,” Gill said. “I feel like our pass rush wasn't what it should have been in the first half, and I feel like we cleaned it up in the second half. We were getting after him, which led to that sack.”

Even after the improbable game-tying touchdown run by Hobbs and the game-tying conversion pass to Soria on the next drive, Santos felt as if the defensive stop changed the complexity of the game.

“We made a couple adjustments,” said Santos. “We felt like we just needed to play a little more sound on defense and just make tackles. It's nothing crazy with football. Sometimes people make it difficult, but if you stop the other team, then things can happen.”

Despite the losing effort, Baldwin lit up the stat sheet by completing 16 of 24 passes for 208 yards and the three touchdowns. Soria led the receiving room with 79 yards on four catches, while Beers had five receptions for 59 yards and two touchdowns. Hobbs also had a career night with 147 yards on 18 carries.

“They are some of the best receivers in the area, with one of the best quarterbacks, so we're trying to get pressure on the quarterback, trying to do everything we can,” Santos said. “Our guys are shorter than their wide receivers, so trying to play the ball on the way down… You just gotta do the best you can when you're trying to cover four stud wide receivers.”

The Huskies finished its TVL campaign in third place with a 4-2 record and will enter the postseason with a 7-3 overall mark.

“Hughson, they're a heck of a team, and I think they're going to do some big things in the D-4 playoffs. (Head coach) Shaun King does a great job,” said Santos.

As for Hilmar, Felber was perfect in 11 passing attempts, racking up 203 yards. His top target, Ayala, made seven catches for 147 yards. Felber also finished with 132 yards on the ground. Branco’s final rushing yardage, meanwhile, was 85.

“I did envision this at the beginning of the year,” Santos said confidently. “We have high standards. The goal is to win every week. This is not a surprise. We’ve busted our butts since January, and this was always the plan.

“Being undefeated was where we wanted to be, but you know that's not where we want to stop. We want to keep winning the games in November and continue playing into December.”

The Yellowjackets will likely have the top seed in the Division V bracket.

All teams from across the section will learn their fate over the weekend, as the 2026 CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Football Bracket & Bowl Game Release Show will take place Sunday at 1 p.m., livestreamed free on the NFHS Network at www.nfhsnetwork.com/associations/cifsjs.

“I'm ready to get into the playoffs and work harder,” Branco said. “We'll see what happens, but I think we're going to do pretty good.”