Lodi shuts out Ceres to open Duenas era

After a bye in Week 0, Lodi High opened the season on the road on Friday, shutting out Ceres 36-0.

Running back Larry McDowell scored twice on the ground, from 3 yards out in the first quarter and from 20 yards out in the third, while quarterback Logan Stout did the same, scoring from 6 yards out in the first and from 1 yard out in the second while his brother, Colton Stout, handled the extra points.

“At times we looked pretty dang good offensively,” first-year Lodi coach George Duenas said. “There were times we kind of shot ourselves in the foot when we had a chance to score. The good thing is our defense. It don’t matter who you play, it’s always great to

start out with a goose egg. And there were some mistakes, so there’s room to grow.”

Angelo Zazzarino accounted for the other touchdown, scoring on a 26-yarder in the third quarter. Meanwhile, defensive tackle Sean Carpenter provided the exclamation point on the shutout with a second-quarter safety, making the tackle after a muffed snap. He also tallied two sacks out of the 3-4 defense.

“Ours is a little advanced, a lot of movement, a lot of stunts,” Duenas said. “Tonight they hit a couple of big plays on us because we didn’t hit assignemnts. But when we needed to step up, they kids did.”

The main goal defensively was to take away Ceres quarterback Clayton Taylor’s mobility.

“This week, we saw on film, they have a quarterback who can run,” Duenas said. “Our focus was taking away screens and stop that guy. And we did a decent job.

“It was a good team win. Our scout guys that we put in there did da great job of getting us great looks and getting us prepared.”