‘This is our town!’ Yuba City thunders past crosstown rival River Valley in Mayor’s Cup
If you haven’t been following Yuba City High School football, now might be a time to consider it.
An impressive ground game and muzzling defense led the Honkers to an easy 40-6 win over crosstown rival River Valley on Friday night in holding onto a fifth consecutive Mayor’s Cup trophy.
Yuba City had a rough time to start the shortened spring season as many in the state battled with COVID-19 protocols, including leaving the Honkers without an opponent last week for what would have been the program’s opening contest. After a 16-month layoff from game action, Honkers coach Aaron Gingery said that one of the strongest things about the team was the way that the players stayed together and worked as a unit.
“Yeah, it looked like a first game without any scrimmage, but defensively, we came to play, we got some decent speed on this team and luckily we were able to utilize that on both sides of the ball,” he said. “We had a very strong senior class, and they stayed together throughout this whole thing. From our last playoff game to now, we lost only one senior. These guys were very focused and did a great job in the offseason, Monday through Thursday, religiously for a year and four months.”
Yuba City led early when Mason Niccum found receiver Tre Henry for a 20-yard touchdown pass. Running back Dane Tedder had a highlight play when he hurdled a River Valley defender on his way to a 14-yard touchdown. He rushed for 75 yards and two touchdowns and also had an interception on defense. In a lot of games, hurdling leads to a penalty as some referees deem it as showboating. It wasn’t called here.
“I’ve been telling my teammates all week I was going to hurdle somebody, so I just kind of did it,” Tedder said. “We’ve been playing these guys since I was 5.”
Joaquin Porcayo ran for 96 yards and a touchdown, while also grabbing an interception on defense for Yuba City.
“The first half was a little bit of first game jitters, but after that we got shaken up, cleaned up and then went out and balled out,” Porcayo said. “We’ve been off for over a year, I broke my collarbone last season, so I missed out on like half the season. So it feels good to be out here playing ball again.”
When asked why Yuba City should be considered a strong team by people who are unfamiliar with them, Porcayo said to look at the team’s strong attributes.
“I would say we’re one of the fastest teams in the Sacramento area,” Porcayo said. “We were one of the hardest working teams out here, one of the fastest, one of the strongest in the weight room year round. Everyone here does multiple sports. We’re a very athletic team and we liked to come out here and ball.
A rushing touchdown for Keola Abreu and a receiving touchdown for Keandre Burns pushed Yuba City’s total to 40 points while River Valley was able to avoid a shutout with a late Colin Totman found Raiden Tochefor a 7-yard scoring play. Later, the celebrations and cheers started with the Yuba City cheerleader chanting, “This is our town.”
Amid the celebration, Gingery said his Honkers are worthy of more notice.
“These past few years, we keep getting deeper and deeper into the playoffs,” he said. “We’re getting more kids out into college. And I think football coaches around Sacramento know us pretty well. Right now, we just let our play speak for ourselves and hopefully, whatever the end result of this season is reflects highly on Yuba City.”
Friday night scores
Jesuit 34, Christian Brothers 28
Folsom 45, Del Oro 6
Pleasant Grove 24, Davis 21
Yuba City 40, River Valley 6
Vista del Lago 40, Inderkum 31
Pleasant Grove 24, Davis 21
El Dorado 17, Liberty Ranch 7
Rocklin 38, Oak Ridge 13
Casa Roble 42, Center 22
Colfax 21, Truckee 7
Bear River 28, Western Sierra 0
River City 27, Winters 13
El Dorado 17, Liberty Ranch 7
St. Mary’s 54, Tracy 14
Lincoln (S) 71, Tokay 6
Lodi 62, West 0
Enochs 20, Downey 14
Manteca 47, Ripon 28
Weston Ranch 26, Denair 6
Calaveras 27, Summerville 8
Hilmar 31, Buhach Colony 27
Central Valley 13, Los Banos 12
Atwater 40, Golden Valley 7
Kimball 32, East Union 29
Pitman 48, Gregori 20
Hughson 48, El Capitan 8
Le Grand 13, Livingston 7
Central Catholic 14, Merced 13