Oakdale falls to Manteca in season finale as Buffaloes capture first VOL title in 11 years
Oakdale High head football coach Garrett Martin is proud with how far his team has come.
The Mustangs went from scoring 21 points in a season opening loss to Sonora to a seven-win team that scored 45 or more points in four of their last six games entering the final week of the season. Martin says the team has grown "leaps and bounds" since that loss. They've battled illness and injury and had players blossom into reliable forces on offense and defense.
"I'm happy with the way the kids have responded and the growth we've had," he said.
The team entered Friday's season finale on the road against Manteca with a chance to win their eighth game of the season and shake up the Valley Oak League standings. With a win, they could create a three-way tie for first place in league play with the Buffaloes and Central Catholic.
Oakdale struck first, leading after the first quarter after connecting on a field goal, but Manteca proved to be too much, outlasting the Mustangs 36-24.
Martin's message to his team after the loss was simple: Now the real season starts.
The Mustangs are one of the top ranked teams in Division III and will likely have a first-round bye in the playoffs. They enter the postseason having won five of their last seven games and will have a week to rest and recover before they find out their quarterfinals opponent.
"We've always believed whoever can stop the run and run the ball late in the season is going to do well," Martin said. "I was happy with our effort tonight and going forward, we're going to continue doing what we're doing."
A 16-play drive capped by a 32-yard field goal by Dylan Krause opened the game's scoring, giving the Mustangs a 3-0 lead with 2 minutes, 55 seconds left in the first quarter. Oakdale answered a pair of Manteca scores with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Grant Gardner to Wes Burford as the first half ended, going into the locker room trailing 14-9.
Burford capped Oakdale's opening drive of the second half with a 43-yard touchdown run, his second score of the game, and a two-point conversion gave the Mustangs a 17-14 lead. The running back carried the ball 17 times for 137 yards and one rushing touchdown and added a receiving score.
That would be the Mustangs' last lead of the game as Manteca scored 22 unanswered points to pull away. Chase Lopez added the game's final score, a three-yard touchdown run to make it a 36-24 game.
"This (Manteca) is not a team where yards are going to come easy," Martin said. "Wes played every snap on offense and every snap on defense, Chase ran hard when we called his number. It's just a couple mental mistakes and penalties that really pushed us back. There's things I could have called better. But super proud of the effort, super proud of our effort on defense and our o-line as well."
Over the past seven full seasons, Manteca has won five section titles. The Buffaloes took home blue banners in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022. The only full season they did not win section championships in during that stretch was 2018 and 2023. The entire section missed out on a full 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They instead played a five-game schedule in the spring.
For all of the recent success Manteca has had in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, an outright league title was the one thing they could never check off the list.
Until Friday night.
With the win over the Mustangs, Manteca claimed its first outright league title since 2013, when it went 7-0 in the VOL, 13-2 overall and won a section title.
"These kids wanted to be different," Manteca coach Mark Varnum said. "They wanted to separate themselves and I said the way to do that is win an outright VOL title. It's one of the toughest leagues in Northern California."
Nikko Juarez had two rushing touchdowns and a rushing conversion, Quinn Martinez and Kyrin Barajas each caught a touchdown pass and Maava Tialavea rushed for a score.
Quarterback Owen Gully connected with Martinez for a 45-yard touchdown in the second quarter to start Manteca's scoring and Juarez scored his first rushing touchdown on Manteca's next drive.
After the Mustangs took their second half lead, Manteca answered with a 13-play scoring drive to regain momentum and they never looked back. Barajas' and Tialavea's touchdowns provided much needed insurance.
Juarez finished with over 100 rushing yards in his third straight game. It's something Buffaloes players, coaches and fans have become accustomed to from the sophomore sensation. In total, he had 162 rushing yards on 29 carries to go along with the two scores.
"He's an unbelievable athlete, he's the total package," Varnum said of Juarez. "When we need him to be a tough runner, he's a tough runner and when we need him to be a speedster, he's a speedster. He's fun to coach and he's really appreciative of his linemen and his fullback."
A run-first team with over 2,600 total rushing yards and three players with over 400 rushing yards, Manteca relies heavily on its offensive line. Led by line coach Dan Eavenson and with leadership from seniors Ratu Tomasi and Jose Jimenez, both three-year varsity players along with other seniors Gavin Goodwin and Josiah Sagapolu, they have come up big for Manteca all season, carving out holes for Juarez, Tialavea and Elijah Stevenson to run through. For them to make a deep playoff push, they'll need the big guys up front.
"Year in and year out, those kids buy in," Varnum said.
Both teams await Sunday's Sac-Joaquin Section playoff seeding selection show, where they will find out their postseason fate. Manteca, according to CalPreps, is the No. 4 seed in Division II and Oakdale is the No. 1 team in Division III.
