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Turlock High tops Atwater, 30-7, in 500th win
turlock football pic1
Turlocks Mark Flores gains 23 yards setting the Bulldogs up to score a few plays later. The Bulldogs beat the Falcons 30-7 earning them their 500th win. - photo by CANDY PADILLA / The Journal

Turlock High celebrated a milestone victory Friday night that marked the program's 500th win in school history, spanning 97 years, as the Bulldogs defeated the Atwater Falcons on the road, 30-7.

“It’s a privilege to be part of the success for this school,” said James Peterson, varsity head coach. “We’re taking it one game at a time; these guys come out and work hard all week and then get rewarded on Friday night.”

The first drive of the game led to a 55-yard rushing touchdown up the sideline from junior Danny Velasquez to get the offense rolling for Turlock.

“Today was a tough win,” said Velasquez. “We had a lot of people go down with injuries this week and we just had a ‘next man up’ mentality.”

Senior Landon Curtis scored the Bulldogs' second touchdown leaping deep in the back corner of the end zone to complete Peyton Dunseth’s 26-yard pass from across the field with 3:16 left in the first quarter, putting the Bulldogs up 16-0.

Turlock continued to dominate throughout the game, but the Falcons took over the third quarter and scored their lone touchdown of the night with a pass from Juan Bautista.

“Our guys are very business-like,” said Peterson. “This is one of the most disciplined teams that I’ve had as a whole in a long time and I’m very proud of them.”

Velasquez finished with 125 yards and two touchdowns, and Mark Flores capped the night not far behind with 113 total yards.

“Danny Velasquez comes out here and plays his butt off for his guys,” said Peterson. “If you asked him, he’d give all the credit to his offensive line for all the blocking that they do up front for him—he’s very humble.”

Turlock has a huge matchup against the defending league champion Merced Bears next week as the two undefeated teams in league face-off for what seems to be the deciding game for the CCC title.

“We came off a tough loss to them last year in a very close game,” said Peterson. “Next week is one that we’ve got to get to be a true playoff contender. If we could come out and put one on them that would really set us up great going into the Harvest Bowl.”