The fall sports season began in earnest this past week, with football, girls volleyball and cross country and girls golf teams all on the road.

Bruin Football

Riverbank’s football teams were on the road on Saturday, Aug. 24, traveling to Big Valley Christian High School in Modesto to open their pre-season play.

An overflowing visitor’s stands crowd of supporters, including a team of 16 cheer squad members, cheered on the Bruin teams as they took on the Lions.

Varsity team play looked promising, but they gave up a 2-point safety early on, and fell, 42-0, by the end of the game.

New head coach Anthony Buich wanted to thank the crowd for being out there to support the program.

“It was a tough game,” he said. “We did some good things, some decent things, and saw what we really need to work on. We’ve got some good players, they just need to play within the scheme of the game.”

It’s a young team, he noted, with only a few returning veterans.

To add insult to injury, at the stroke of 10 p.m., the field sprinklers at Big Valley came on, dousing players from both teams. There was under a minute of playing time left on the clock, so the refs just called the game.

This week, the Bruins host Delta High School of Clarksburg, near Sacramento, for their first home game of the season.

The JV team faced a similar loss in the early game Friday at BVCHS.

Lady Bruins Volleyball

The girls volleyball varsity squad traveled to Newman, also last Saturday, to play in the Orestimba Tournament, which they won in their division.

RHS beat Johansen High in the first round, 25-11 and 25-16, then overcame Waterford, 25-23 and 25-14, to win the ‘Pearl’ bracket title.

They were to play their Foundation Game at Johansen on Monday, Aug. 26, taking their first home match on Tuesday, hosting Argonaut from Jackson, beginning at 4 p.m.

This year, Riverbank girls have Freshman, JV and Varsity teams competing, when other teams bring frosh players.

Co-Ed Cross Country

Bruin distance runners were first out of the box, with an event at the Barton Time Trials, on Friday, Aug. 16. They face their first of three Trans-Valley League meets on Thursday, Sept. 5, at Tuolumne Park in Modesto.

Girls Golf

Lady Bruin linksters were to have played on Wednesday, Aug. 21, at Tracy, but no scores had been reported. They were to start their home season on the Escalon Golf Course this week, hosting Hilmar on Tuesday, Aug. 27.

They are to go to Newman to take on Orestimba High on Thursday, Aug. 29, and play again at home on Sept. 3 and 5.