Niendorf: Tracy football's winning streak snapped by undefeated Rocklin

TRACY – While the Tracy Bulldogs must now erase the word "undefeated" after falling to No. 2-ranked Rocklin on Friday, the players on the 102nd team in school history to don the green and gold jersey were anything but defeated by its 28-21 final deficit.

Rather than dwell on what could’ve been, Tracy (4-1) coach Jeff Pribble rallied his troops in the postgame talk by saying a lot could be learned from taking the Thunder (5-0) deep into the fourth quarter. Had Rocklin not converted a 50-yard pass with less than three minutes left in the game, Tracy would’ve had a chance for one last offensive drive to potentially send the game into overtime.

Instead of overtime, the third-year coach had already decided that if his team had scored, he would’ve gone for the win with a 2-point attempt. But alas, there was no storybook ending. Pribble proceeded to urge his depleted team to take solace in a moral victory as it concluded its nonleague schedule.

Since Pribble took over the program, his teams have finished a combined 11-4 in nonleague games. It was the second time in as many seasons that the Bulldogs had failed to go 5-0. Nonetheless, senior quarterback Aidan VanOs was upbeat about what lies ahead for him and his teammates, who were ranked No. 14 in the Sac-Joaquin Section prior to the loss.

“We knew we always had room to improve,” VanOs said. “It’s not always a bad thing (to lose) because it shows us what we need to work on, and it keeps you hungry. It’s always good to go against a good team like that because it brings a challenge.”

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Tracy, whose offense out-gained the Thunder in total yards 234-220, nearly tied the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter; however, three running plays inside Rocklin’s 4-yard line failed to get the ball across the goal line.

The one that got away, you could say, was the difference in the ballgame.

Understaffed

It could be said that the Bulldogs haven’t played as a team yet because all of Tracy’s starters have yet to take the field together at kickoff. Six starters were out against Rocklin for everything from illnesses such as COVID, Foot and Mouth disease, or the mounting injuries.

Coach Pribble is hopeful many of those will return when the Bulldogs open Tri-City Athletic League action Friday by hosting Lincoln.

“One thing my team has is heart,” Pribble said. “We won’t quit; we back each other up. We went into this season thinking we’re a good team. We’ve found that our defense is so strong, it’s giving our offense a chance (for wins).

“One game (against Rocklin) doesn’t say it all,” he continued. “Win or lose, our goal (to win league) doesn’t change. We don’t even get street cred, but we believe in ourselves.”

The next level

Rocklin coach Jason Adams has been at the helm for 21 seasons, where an abundance of talented players have passed through his program. A whopping 37 former players are currently on college rosters this season, while another is a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants — Logan Webb.

Webb was a standout quarterback mentored by Adams in 2012, and Webb never forgot what Adams did for him at Rocklin. In January, Webb honored Adams at the Game Changer Awards at San Francisco’s Chase Center. Webb credits Adams for encouraging him not to quit baseball. Good thing he didn’t, as San Francisco’s ace has currently earned $4.6 million this season alone.

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Tracy Rock(lin)s

Adams’s sister, Stacie Larson, moved to Tracy nearly 20 years ago believing it was a good place for her and her husband to raise their three children. The two older children graduated from Tracy High, but their youngest son, Kaleb, was just hitting high school when the pandemic surfaced.

Rather than go through distance learning, Larson and her husband sold their home and moved to Rocklin so Kaleb could attend school with his cousin (and Adams’s son), Austin. Prompting the move was the fact Rocklin High remained open for in-person learning. The cousins bonded, playing football together for three seasons. They’re now teammates at American River College.

“Both (Tracy and Rocklin) are incredible sports towns,” said Larson, sporting a Rocklin jersey but sitting among friends on the Tracy side of the stadium. “Both embody everything about the Friday Night Lights. It’s great to come back; it’s like a reunion. These are our roots (here in Tracy), but these are our colors (pointing to her shirt).”

Water tower

New on the Tracy sideline is a fantastic replica of the city’s water tower. It’s the only one of its kind, impressively hand-built by Pribble’s brother, Chris. It allows Tracy’s players to drink ice-cold water as needed through a cooling system built into the bottom of the tank. Spoiler alert: There’s no actual water stored in the tank, but rather a system of coils through which water is pumped into the bottom of the tank before exiting out cold.

It’s much bigger — and much heavier to move — than its original intended size. It takes two to three people to move the 20-foot-tall beast, but it’s an eye-catching addition to the Bulldogs’ sideline. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are about 24,000 public high schools in America. That’s a lot of water towers, so get on the waiting list now for that hard-to-buy-for coach.

A foot above (at least)

Rocklin junior offensive tackle Garrison Blank is hard to miss considering he stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 315 pounds. If you’re still having a difficult time finding him, look for teammate Dwight Nquyen, who is rostered at 5-foot-9 and 215 pounds, which is generous on both accounts. Seeing them standing side-by-side will cause a double-take.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Tracy football's winning streak snapped by undefeated Rocklin