MODESTO — The Pitman varsity football team secured its first winning season since 2018 with a 10-7 victory Thursday night over Enochs on the campus of Johansen High School.
The Pride, with starting quarterback Brayden Esparza out and stars Jaiden Brown and Elijah Casillas limited with injuries, took a 10-0 lead into halftime and hung on after surrendering a third-quarter touchdown.
The victory marked the first for the Pride in two weeks after losses to Central California Athletic League title contenders Downey and Turlock, and will enter the final game of the regular season with a 6-3 overall record and a 2-2 mark against conference opponents. The Pride will welcome Gregori (4-5 overall, 2-2 CCAL) to Joe Debely Stadium in next Friday’s finale for third place and better its chances for a bowl appearance.
Last year, the Pride posted a 5-5 record in the regular season but fell 20-17 to Kimball in a section bowl clash.
“I think after you lose those two games to Downey and Turlock, two really elite teams, it's really crushing to the kids, especially after how hard they worked, but they battled in each of those games even though the final scores may not have shown that,” said second-year coach Braden Plaa. “After the Harvest Bowl, it may have felt like the sky was falling because we had set such high expectations for ourselves, but when you take a step back, we were 5-3 and had a chance at getting this winning season. To get it is like a big monkey off the back and was another step in the right direction for this program.”
Despite driving into the red zone on Thursday’s opening possession, the Pride remained scoreless after a quarter of play following a failed fourth-down conversion. The defense stepped up in the early stages of the second frame when senior lineman Xavior Cantu cut off a screen pass and ran over 30 yards for the pick six.
Just before the intermission, senior Matthew Griffin drilled a 35-yard field goal that proved to be the difference.
In the third quarter, the Eagles scored a touchdown on a screen pass near the red zone.
“We were just trying to get through the week after being banged up over two tough weeks,” Plaa said. “Thursday games were always odd with the timing, but it was overall a good week, though the execution was a little rough on our part. It’s a two-week season for us now that we hope to end on a high note.”
