Williams 16 – Willows 0
A strong defensive effort and two second half touchdowns lifted the Yellowjackets to a shutout victory in their season opener at McCarl Field last Friday night.
Giovanni Luna led the way with 11 tackles, Varion Gonzalez accounted for eight tackles, Azael Velazquez had a 95-yard pick six and Moises Vargas collected two sacks and six tackles to pace a swarming ‘Jacket defense.
Velazquez also figured prominently for the offense scoring a third quarter rushing touchdown as part of his six carries for 48 yards.
While pleased with the victory, Coach Forrest Bateman sees room for improvement as the season progresses.
“It was nice to get a win and a solid building block to start the year,” said Bateman. “It was a very solid defensive performance. Hard work and changes on that side of the ball looks to be paying off so far. Offensively we did enough but still need to gel upfront. There were lots of fixable mistakes that we should be able to iron out going forward.”
Next up for Williams is a tilt in Live Oak on Sept. 4.
Pierce 10 – Middletown 7
On the road for its season opener, Pierce got a field goal off the foot of Timmy Vega with seven ticks left on the clock to seal the win.
“It was a dogfight,” said Coach Anthony Tapia. “Both teams had turnovers and we had quite a few penalties, but they were tough and had no quit. They also had two of the best running backs I’ve seen.”
In his varsity debut, Ben Sweet made his presence felt carrying 20 times for 102 yards and a touchdown, then on the other side of the ball made five tackles.
Austin Jorge ran for 88 yards on offense and also accounted for nine tackles, a sack and a forced fumble on defense.
Colin Dye had a big night for the Bear defense as well, with 10 tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles.
Pierce has another tough test this week when defending Northern Section CIF Division III champion Gridley comes to LeMaster Field on Friday night.
Maxwell 14 – Fall River 6 (8/21)
Maxwell kicked off the 2026 season two weeks ago by edging their long-time rival Fall River to give new head coach Zach Urrutia his first victory.
Quarterback Vincent Orozco had a big game completing nine of 13 passes for 124 yards, rushing for 92 yards on 13 carries and scoring both Panther touchdowns then for good measure picked off a pass while patrolling the secondary.
Colton Jones hauled in two passes for 71 yards.
Spearheading the defense was Landon Barrett and Colt Montgomery having recorded 15 and 12 tackles respectively.
After a bye last week, the Panthers are back at it on Friday when they host visiting Weed.