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TOURNAMENT TIME: Pride Cup, Bulldog Classic happening this weekend
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Turlock and Pitman high schools will be hosting big sporting events this weekend, the Bulldog Classic wrestling tournament and the Pride Cup men's soccer showcase.

The weather is colder which means the weekends will be action-packed with tournaments for the winter sports programs of local high schools. Things will get underway with a pair of annual staple events at the Turlock and Pitman campuses.

Friday is the first day of the 19th annual Pride Cup, with Pitman looking to defend their crown. Last year’s lifting of the cup marked the first time in six years that the Pride won their own tournament. Unlike previous years, though, the 2025 edition will be a round-robin showcase, with matches scheduled throughout Friday and Saturday at the school’s main turf field.

The Pride, who are coming off the most successful season in program history in which they won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II title and advanced to the second round of the CIF Northern California tournament, will enter the showcase with a 2-0 record.

Participating schools alongside Pitman are Modesto, Pacheco (Los Banos), Grant Union (Sacramento), Roosevelt (Fresno), Weston Ranch (Stockton) and Smidt Tech (Los Angeles). 

The Pride will be in action Friday at 4 p.m. against Weston Ranch and for the 8 p.m nightcap against Smidt Tech. The team’s lone contest Saturday will be at 7 p.m. against Grant Union in the final match of the two-day event.

As the Pride Cup continues on Saturday morning, it will also bring the start of one of the longest standing wrestling tournaments in the region, the Bulldog Classic, hosted across town by Turlock High School.

From Bulldog Arena, 20 wrestling programs from across the region will come together, looking to build early momentum for the 2025-26 season.

There will be eight classes for both boys and girls, with action getting underway at 9 a.m. Championship matches are estimated to begin around 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Along with host Turlock High, participating programs are Beyer (Modesto), Big Valley Christian (Modesto), Buhach Colony (Atwater), Central Valley (Ceres), Davis, Denair, Downey (Modesto), Enochs (Modesto), Escalon, Gregori (Modesto), Johansen (Modesto), Livingston, Mariposa, Merced, Modesto, Patterson, Riverbank and Stone Ridge Christian (Merced).

Full recaps of each tournament will be in Wednesday’s edition of the Turlock Journal.