A busy schedule of Homecoming Week activities preceded Friday night’s varsity home football game on Sept. 7. However, the crowning of the King and Queen were perhaps the only high points of an otherwise disappointing outing for the Bruins on the gridiron.
The Millennium Falcons of Tracy came to town for a non-league contest, and they left with a huge victory under their belts.
The Bruins had trouble containing runs around the edges and gave up a few solid passes, which saw the Falcons leading 44-0 at the end of the first quarter. Riverbank gave up just seven points in each of the second and third quarters and none in the fourth, but the damage had been done.
This Friday, RHS hosts Modesto Christian High School in the first of six Trans-Valley League games. They’ll play three games here and three on the road. On Friday, Sept. 21, they travel to Ripon.
Lady Bruin Volleyball
Riverbank girls fought a hard three set match on Tuesday, Sept. 4, hosting Modesto Christian High School in their first TVL match. Although they were ahead at several times in all three, even extending the second, they still lost in three: 25-15, 26-24, and 25-14. Much like tennis, volleyball sets must be won by two points.
The next day, they traveled to Ripon, where they fell in three straight sets to the Lady Indians in TVL play.
Riverbank played in a two-day tournament last weekend, but the scores have not been reported.
Monday, they were to travel to Hughson, then return home on Wednesday to host Escalon.
Cross Country
Coach Monte Wood reports his teams posted mixed results from their first Trans-Valley League race of the season.
It was last Wednesday at Legion Park in Modesto. He said his varsity teams struggled while the JV squads did well.
Due to injuries, the varsity girls were not able to field a complete varsity team, said Wood, adding that the girls who did run ran very well.
“Diane Murillo set a personal record on the course while running most of the second half of the race all by herself,” he said. “She finished fifth overall in the race.”
Freshman Aimee Rosales ran her first 5k and finished 11th overall, according to Wood.
“She ran very well and passed a lot of girls over the last half of the race. She has the toughness and competitiveness of her older sisters,” he said.
They ran on Riverbank teams in past years.
“The junior varsity girls finished second overall behind a pack of four runners who ran very well together,” Wood said.
He noted that Jocelyn Ayala, Ainsley Wood, Daniela Raya and Marissa Cruz all hung tough together and finished within 20 seconds of each other. Clarissa Verduzco finished out the scoring.
The boys finished fifth overall in the varsity competition.
“Jesus Sepulveda ran his first 5k and pushed Ramon Rosas to be the first place finisher on the team. Julian Lopez led a young, inexperienced group through the race,” Wood said.
In the junior varsity boys race, freshman Anthony Leon led for a portion of the race before being out kicked by two Hughson runners.
“He has only been running since the second week of school, so we should see a tremendous amount of improvement out of him over the course of the year,” noted Wood. “He may be the most athletic distance runner we have had in a long time. He is an excellent basketball player, too, and he can hurdle and long jump in track.”
Coach Wood said that this week, some 25 of his athletes will travel to Orange County to compete in the 38th Annual Woodbridge Invitational in Norco. This is a huge invitational in which the varsity races take place at night under the lights, he said.
