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Turlock starts league with a 'W'
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Turlocks Bubba Moreno runs the ball toward the end zone during the Bulldogs' league opening game Golden Valley Friday night. - photo by JON TERRY/The Journal

The Turlock High football team broke its recent lull and with a hard-earned victory on the road, defeating Golden Valley, 50-29,  in Friday's Central California Conference opener.

Coming up just short in their previous two games, this week the Bulldogs proved themselves coming out strong and taking an early lead by holding the Cougars down to 14-0 by the end of the first quarter.

Sophomore Danny Velasquez completed much of Turlock’s first quarter yardage and helped cement his team's lead with an early touchdown.

“In past games it seems like we've been waiting until the second quarter to play—I didn’t feel that way tonight,” Turlock head coach James Peterson said. “We came out on offense and defense came out and got stops.”

Golden Valley began to put the pressure on the Bulldogs going into the second quarter, scoring their first touchdown and field goal in the first two minutes and bringing the score to 14-7.

But it didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to respond and Bubba Moreno threw for a long touch down pass to wide receiver Jeffery Hines, bringing the score to 21-7 with the field goal.

With penalties and incomplete passes, the Cougars would have to put up some fight to combat Turlock’s early lead.

Gaining yards and preparing for their fourth touchdown, the Bulldogs passed an interception and allowed Golden Valley return for another touchdown.

After a touchdown and a successful 2-point conversion, the Cougars began to catch up to the bulldogs 15-21.

“[Golden Valley] got us a few times; they’re a good football team,” Peterson said. “This is the CCC, you don’t play a slouch in the CCC.”

Turlock's Moreno continued to impress, however, running in for a touchdown and completing a pass to wide receiver Jacob Mabie for a 2-point conversion just before halftime.

Going into the third quarter, Turlock held a strong lead of 29-15 when the team threw for another interception, giving the Cougars possession.

The Bulldogs made up for their mistakes once again when they recovered a fumble, giving Danny Velasquez his next touchdown bringing the score to 36-15.

Continuing their streak, Jeffery Hines intercepted a Golden Valley pass and ran in for another touchdown just before the end of the third quarter.

And after another successful field goal, Turlock had brought their score up to 43-15.

The fourth quarter saw the Cougars attempting to make a comeback, but it wasn’t enough as both teams scored for touchdowns leading into the final minutes of the game.

Although Golden Valley scored in the final play of the game, when the buzzer rang the scoreboard read 50-29 in good favor of the Bulldogs.

“We need to have more team discipline in order to play games like this,” Peterson said about moving forward into next week’s match. “The more we are able to limit our mistakes, the more success we will have.”

The Bulldogs will face their second CCC opponent in Buhach Colony at Joe Debely Stadium next Friday night.