The night ended much like it started: with the Oakdale Mustangs staring at the back of Central Catholic’s Zymir Nelson’s jersey as he scored a touchdown. On Friday night, Nov. 6, Oakdale traveled to Modesto take on Central Catholic. This game would decide the Valley Oak League Championship as it was the final regular season game of the 2026 campaign. In the end it would be the home team that would be champions of the VOL as they defeated Oakdale 37-27.
On the opening drive of the night, Central Catholic leaned heavy on their running back, Nelson. The senior carried the ball six times on the drive and racked up 89 rushing yards; that was capped off with a seven-yard rushing touchdown with 9:48 to play in the quarter. Oakdale’s opening drive saw the Mustangs face a fourth-and-4 from the Central Catholic 49. A false start penalty pushed the Mustangs back to their own 46-yard line and turned it into a fourth-and-9. Oakdale lined up for the punt and Lucas Oberg faked the punt and tossed it to Andrew Ruiz for a gain of 23 yards to keep the drive alive. However, just a few plays later, Christian Amerine fumbled the ball and it would be recovered by the Raiders at the six-yard line by Damian Leal with 2:34 to play. Oakdale’s defense forced a three and out to get the ball back. Oakdale chewed up the clock and with six seconds left in the quarter, Amerine’s screen pass to Anthony Navarro turned into a 16-yard touchdown catch to tie the game 7-7.
In the second quarter Oakdale looked to take the lead. On a fourth-and-3 from the Raiders 36, Ruiz rushed for a dozen yards to pick up the first down. The next play, Amerine threw an interception with 8:05 remaining in the half. The Raiders would go three and out. Oakdale marched down the field but another turnover cost the Mustangs as Dex Edwards II fumbled the ball at the Raiders 35, recovered by Cole Collins with 3:43 left in the half. The Raiders had the ball at the Mustangs 15-yard line and Nelson lost the ball and Logan Mata took it back 85 yards the other way for a touchdown to give Oakdale a 14-7 advantage with 46 seconds left in the half. Central Catholic only took 23 seconds to answer as Anthony Alberto scored on a 45-yard reception from quarterback Cruz Costa, but a bad snap resulted in a missed PAT to make it a 14-13 Oakdale lead at halftime.
The first play of the second half, Oakdale threw an interception to Cole Collins at the Oakdale 35. Central Catholic took advantage of the turnover and took the lead on a 38-yard field goal to go up 16-14 with 7:29 to play. Just 90 seconds later, Amerine threw his third interception of the night when Alex Pimentel caught it at the Oakdale 41. The next play Ramon Hinojosa rushed for a 41-yard touchdown to go up 23-14. That would be the score going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Central Catholic extended their lead to 30-14 when Isaiah Middleton scored on a 35-yard catch and run with 8:17 left to play. Oakdale stopped the scoring drought when Edwards II scored on a three-yard rushing touchdown with 4:12 to play in regulation. The Mustangs recovered an onside kick and Amerine found Navarro on a screen pass from eight yards out to make it a 30-27 ball game with 3:09 to play. But the final score of the night came when Nelson broke free for a 30-yard run with 10 seconds to play for Central, cementing the win.
Playoff Preview
With a regular season record of 5-5 and with a 4-2 Valley Oak League record, Oakdale has been named the fourth seed in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Playoffs. In the eight-team tournament Oakdale will host the fifth seeded Vacaville Bulldogs on Friday night, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m.
Vacaville holds an overall record of 7-3 with a 5-1 league record in the Monticello Empire League. Vacaville finished the regular season with a two-game winning streak that saw them outscore their opponents 74-7.
Other teams in the tournament include top seeded Destiny Christian Academy, Woodcreek, Vanden, Merced, Antelope and Johansen. If Oakdale is victorious against Vacaville, they would face off against the winner of the Destiny Christian Academy-Johansen contest, with the second-round action on Nov. 20. The championship game will be held on Nov. 28 at 4 p.m. at Sacramento City College.
