Wildcat football opens season strong with seven-team scrimmage in Modesto | Sports
The 2022 iteration of Sonora Wildcat varsity football got its first look at real, on-field competition Friday with a set of four 13-minute scrimmages at Thomas Downey High School in Modesto.
Over the course of the evening, Sonora faced James C. Enochs High School, Thomas Downey High School, Kimball High School and Fred C. Beyer High School.
The offense and defense of each team each played for 13 minutes at a time continuously, with no formal score kept. Sonora was dominant against the teams it faced at the scrimmage, especially given its size compared to most of the schools in attendance, with a positive point differential in each game.
Two of the teams Sonora faced — Downey and Enochs — are CIF Division II programs which compete against much larger teams.
Sonora head coach Bryan Craig said he liked giving the team a chance to face stiffer competition from upper-division programs in order to prepare them for what they might expect to face in the postseason.
“We’ve been coming here for a few years now,” he said. “It’s tough — it’s a good scrimmage. It’s definitely good to come down here and get some good competition.”
The Wildcats faced Enochs High in their first scrimmage. Sonora’s defense smothered Enochs, allowing only one score in the 13 minutes of continuous play to Sonora’s six.
First-year Sonora quarterback Adam Curnow had a shaky start to the game, with each of his first three pass attempts falling incomplete. Craig said he would be looking for Curnow to polish up his play over the course of the day.
“Our quarterback play was a bit up and down,” Craig said. “We’ve got three more games to improve that.”
Curnow answered the call in the second scrimmage against Downey, taking over and imposing his will upon the Downey defense.
Persevering despite an early interception, Curnow completed three key passes against Downey, hooking up with star receiver Chance Pimentel on two long balls near the corner of the endzone for scores. Curnow also delivered a strike across the middle of the field to set up a short run, which gave Sonora their third and final touchdown of the scrimmage.
“I was just trying to complete them,” Curnow said of his strong passing display. “Some of them were overthrown, but the endzone ones, those ones were nice by Chance.”
Curnow referenced one of Pimentel’s catches in particular, which drew the attention of the entire stadium, as well as players from opposing teams who watched near the endzone. After beating his man to the corner of the endzone, Pimentel leapt up and over his defender to catch a ball that had been slightly underthrown, wrestling the ball away for a touchdown.
Pimentel credited assistant coach Kirk Clifton for teaching him to always maintain focus on the ball once it’s in the air, which he says has helped him make some of his more spectacular plays.
“(Coach) Clifton always preaches you can’t take your eye off it, no matter what,” Pimentel said. “If you see a guy, you’ve got to take the blow.”
While this will be the first year Pimentel and Curnow line up as QB1 and WR on the field, Pimentel played with Curnow’s older brother, Bradley, and said feels some similarities between the two in how they approach the game.
“Last year his brother played and this year he’s got the same kind of mindset,” Pimentel said. “Only thing is he’s left-handed and that’s it, so it works out.”
When asked about his goals for the season, Pimentel said he hoped to repeat as a first team all-league receiver in the Mother Lode League, and for the team to aim for a sectional and state championship.
Sonora looked its worst against Kimball High, fumbling the ball twice on some of its first plays on offense and allowing Kimball QB Dalton McKey to torch the secondary, completing many passes over the top of the defense.
The Wildcats still managed to score three times against Kimball, which included a fumble recovery into the endzone.
Adam Curnow was able to flash some of the speed which Craig has mentioned as one of his quarterback’s finest attributes, finding a hole and running 25 yards for a touchdown against Kimball in this game.
Halfway through the night, Adam Curnow had his ankles taped after he felt himself slipping and turning his ankles on the wet field.
“It feels nice,” he said of getting loose and being able to run the ball.
As is often the case, the work of Sonora’s offensive and defensive lineman happened in the trenches where errors often stood out more clearly than great play does. That didn’t stop the Wildcat lineman from showing out, though.
The defensive line bottled up the run game against each of the opposing offenses, with star defensive end Roger Alderman making a few flashy plays like a batted pass on the Enochs quarterback. Tyler Sells found his way through the line to blow up a run play in the backfield, and the offensive line provided Adam Curnow with enough time to make the right reads.
Craig agreed that the team was able to find most of its success on the field due in large part to the great play of their lineman.
“Our offensive and our defensive lines were both pretty dominant, and because of that we were able to do a lot of things,” he said. “We’ve just got to continue to get better. Stay physical, stay focused and just work on our assignments, the things we worked on this week.”
Alderman, who has been heavily recruited to a multitude of Division I programs, said he was excited to get back on the field and actually compete after a summer of training camps and college recruiting visits.
“There were a couple mental things and rules-wise things we could touch up on, but other than that, I think we did really good today,” Alderman said. “It’s been while since I got to play a game or scrimmage, so it feels really good.”
Craig said these early-season scrimmages and games also provide an opportunity for players to stand out and catch the eye of the coaching staff, and Friday was no different.
“I think we found some players,” he said. “We’ve got a couple surprises that we didn’t know about.”
The Wildcats’ first preseason game will be 7 pm Friday at Sonora’s High Dunlavy Field against perennial rival the Oakdale Mustangs.