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The Bulldogs defeat Pride for the first time as the flag football regular season comes to a close

The Bulldogs defeat Pride for the first time as the flag football regular season comes to a close

For the third and final time in 2024 – the first girls flag football season for local high schools – the Pitman Pride and Turlock Bulldogs met on the 80-yard gridiron. And for the first time, the Bulldogs defeated their crosstown rivals 7-6 on Wednesday night in another defensive battle under the lights at Joe Debely Stadium.

The difference in this chapter of the crosstown rivalry came in the extra point attempts.

After a scoreless first half, the Pride struck early in the second half when junior Ashli ​​Mendoza broke through the end zone but had the point-scoring attempt blocked.

The Bulldogs answered shortly after, when Senior gunslinger Cadee Campbell found freshman Makenli Watt for a touchdown. They took the lead when Campbell hit another freshman, Mara Gemperle, in the end zone.

There is no kicking in flag football. The additional point after a touchdown is scored by breaking through the end zone again from the 5-yard line. Teams can attempt to score a two-point conversion by shooting the ball from 10 yards away.

After Wednesday’s result, Turlock has played eight games where the winner was decided by one point, including three of its six losses.

“You might think one or two mishaps isn’t a big deal, but we’ve seen how big a drop here or there can be,” Turlock head coach Aaron King said. “Some of those one- or two-point games went the way they did by not executing, but this time we just made a few more plays than Pitman and we got the job done.”

The Pride won the last two meetings against the Bulldogs 13-6 and 6-0.

“We knew what we were going to do with Pitman because the first two games were so close,” King continued. “But these girls continue to show that they can persevere and get the job done even under pressure.”

Turlock is now 15-6 overall and 9-4 in the Central California Athletic League, a good second place behind Pitman, which is 16-2 overall and 11-2 in conference competition. The Pride remained undefeated until falling to Gregori 56-20 on October 7th.

Each team only has two games left in the regular season, all on Monday and Wednesday next week.

The Bulldogs will begin their week by traveling to Modesto to take on the 14-6, 8-5 Gregori Jaguars. They finish Wednesday at home against Enochs (8-12, 4-8).

Meanwhile, the Pride can clinch the league title on Monday at their home court in north Turlock when they host a winless Modesto High team. Their season ends in Gregori, where they will look to avenge last week’s defeat. The four games each start at 7 p.m