Riverbank High School’s sports calendar is scheduled to jump start in grand fashion this week, with home games on the volleyball courts, a two-day soccer tournament at Pitman High School this weekend, and away football games at the Waterford Wildcats on Friday night. Also scheduled, home girls golf matches against Sonora and Tracy on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, respectively. Cross country will run in Lodi on Friday. Here is a more in depth look at the upcoming school events.
VOLLEYBALL
The Lady Bruins were to host the first volleyball scrimmages of the season, against Grace Davis of Modesto yesterday, Aug. 25, and against Beyer of Modesto coming up on Thursday, Aug. 27.
On Saturday, Aug. 29, they’ll participate in the Orestimba Tournament in Newman. Their next home game won’t be until Tuesday, Sept. 8, when they meet Summerville High School from Tuolumne County.
BOYS SOCCER
This coming weekend, the Bruin boys soccer teams will get started by traveling to the Pitman Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28 and 29. Then they’ll travel to Sonora on Sept. 1. Their first home games are on Thursday, Sept. 3 as they welcome in Golden Valley High School of Merced.
FOOTBALL
Riverbank travels this Friday to Waterford for the first football game of the season, against the Wildcats. They’ll be at home for the first time on the newly configured football field at Novi Stadium on Friday, Sept. 4. Following that, they have four consecutive home games before hitting the road again.
GIRLS GOLF
The Lady Bruin linksters were to host Sonora on Tuesday, Sept. 25, then Tracy on Wednesday, Aug. 26, on the home course in Escalon. On Thursday, they travel to Bret Harte in Angels Camp.
CROSS COUNTRY
Starting off the season with a trip to Lodi Lake for the Lodi Flame Invitational on Friday, Aug. 28, the cross country runners will then take on the first Trans-Valley League meet at Tuolumne Regional Park in Modesto on Wednesday, Sept. 1.
On the youth side of the competition, members of the Riverbank Raiders squads were on the field the past couple of weekends, first for a scrimmage, then kicking off the season.
After a Jamboree scrimmage session on Aug. 15 at Linden, the Raiders played for real on Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Riverbank Sports Complex. The Raiders hosted teams from Waterford in all four age groups: Junior Novice, 8 and under; Novice, 9-10 year olds; Jr. Varsity, 11-12; and Varsity, ages 13-14. Game times were 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
In the Junior Novice games, scores are not kept. The Novice game went to the Sabercats 38-0, while the JV Raiders lost 14-0.
In the final game, Waterford also was victorious, but team officials said Riverbank was able to hold them off until there were about two minutes left in the game, where Waterford scored only 6 points, taking a 6-0 win.
Officials said they had a great game, considering they only fielded 11 players, so the Raider varsity was on the field for every down, both offense and defense.
