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Pride fall to Knights in CCAL matchup
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Pitman's Daniel Villaseñor battles and wins possession of the ball during the game against Downey Friday evening. Downey won 28-0 (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Sparked by career-best 211 rushing yards from Elias Haynes, Downey High scored four unanswered second-half touchdowns en route to a 28-0 Central California Athletic League victory over Pitman on Friday night at Joe Debely Stadium. 

The Pride dip to 4-3 on the season and 1-1 in CCAL action heading into next week’s Harvest Bowl matchup with crosstown rival Turlock. The Knights, meanwhile, improved to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play, tied with the Bulldogs for the league’s top spot. With just three games remaining, Pitman needs a Harvest Bowl victory to any shot at claiming a piece of the league title, coupled with a Downey loss somewhere along the way.

Regardless of how the final three weeks will shake out, first-year Pride coach Braden Plaa is pleased with where his team is at — though not satisfied.

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Ben Vilhauer sacks Downey quarterback Julian Masaniai during the game Friday evening (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

“We’re 4-3, and we’re a program that hadn't won more than three games in a season since 2018,” said Plaa, whose father is Jeremy Plaa, the Knights head coach since 2007. “We’ve made a lot of improvement as a growing program, but we’ve got to continue to keep getting better.”

The elder Plaa saw a Pitman program much more competitive than the one he’s seen in recent years.

“I saw kids who are playing hard for their coach,” said the Knights’ coach. “The crowd was into it, the band was into it, and based on the way they played, and the size of their freshman team, we’re going to be in for a problem down the road.”

In the first half, Pitman’s defense forced Downey to turn the ball over on downs to start the game, then forced punts on the next three possessions. Near the end of the first half, the Knights moved all the way to Pitman’s 3, but a false start infraction backed up the ball 5 yards, and time expired before they could punch it in.

“Our defense really bore down in the first half and did a good job of limiting their explosive plays,” the Pitman coach said. “But in the second half, all the things that a team can control, we didn’t control.”

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Pitman's first year head coach Braden Plaa poses with his dad and Downey head coach Jeremy Plaa before their teams battle each other on the gridiron at Joe Debely Stadium (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Pitman received the kickoff to start the second half and lost a yard on first down, lost another on second down, threw an incomplete pass on third down, then punted to pin Downey on its own 18.

The Knights scored in just four plays, getting a 22-yard gainer from Haynes, a 20-yarder from Bryant Mendes, a 7-yard pick-up from Mark Sanchez, and a 33-yard TD run from Haynes to make it 7-0 less than 3 minutes into the half. 

Haynes gained 158 of his 211 yards in the second half.