The 2026 Valley Oak League season tipped off with a trio of contests for Oakdale’s varsity boys basketball team.
Oakdale began the regular season with a road game at Patterson. The Tigers defeated Oakdale 57-51 on Jan. 5. Two days later Oakdale hosted Central Catholic where the Raiders escaped with 62-58 win. The long week came to a close, on a high note, as the Mustangs battled to a 69-59 road win in Manteca on Friday night, Jan. 9.
In the Wednesday night home game, Jan. 7, a near standing room only crowd witnessed a rowdy game between Oakdale and the Raiders. Donavyn Hernandez hit a deep three with 2:18 left in the first quarter to bring Oakdale to a 13-9 deficit. Oakdale entered the second quarter down 14-11. Niki Jones powered his way through the lane and made it a 15-13 game with 6:24 remaining in the half and forcing a Raiders time out. Hernandez hit his second three-point field goal of the half to bring Oakdale to a 19-18 deficit with 3:38 remaining in the half. Griffin Galuppi gave Oakdale their first lead of the night when he hit deep three with 3:19 left in the half to go up 21-19. Then, down 30-28 with less than five seconds remaining in the half, Hernandez hit a fade away jumper to tie it at 30, and the two teams went into the locker room tied at 30 all.
The Mustangs came out of the half strong and built up a 39-32 advantage with 5:28 remaining in the third forcing a timeout by Central Catholic. The lead would be short lived as Central regained the lead 41-39 with 2:19 left in the third. Oakdale tied the game at 41 when Charles Benninger hit a jumper with 1:47 left in the quarter. Gavin Wyatt tied the game at 44 with 22.9 seconds left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter Oakdale took a 49-46 advantage when Beau Kesterson slashed through the paint for a layup; resulting in a Raider timeout with 5:44 left in regulation. Central Catholic stormed back and took a 56-49 lead with 3:51 left to play. Jones stopped the Raiders’ run when he connected on a pair of free throws with 3:23 to play. Galuppi got the home crowd on their feet when he made a layup to cut the lead down to 58-53 with 1:27 left to play in the game. However, it would not be enough and the Raiders battled for the win.
“It is disappointing starting off 0-2. We overlooked Patterson a few nights ago, and that was a huge mistake. Tonight, we battled and played hard, but could not find a way to finish,” said first year Mustangs head coach Kelly Power.
Friday night, Oakdale regrouped and earned a road win over the Buffaloes. Galuppi got things rolling early for the Mustangs when he pulled down an offensive rebound and scored on a putback for the first points of the night with 7:06 to play. Bryce Busam hit a long distance three to give Oakdale a 7-0 lead with 5:54 remaining in the opening quarter. Busam scored on a layup to expand Oakdale’s lead to 15-10 with 2:08 left in the first quarter. The Mustangs led 17-13 at the end of the first quarter. Manteca rallied early in the second quarter and took a 21-20 lead with 5:42 left in the half, for their first lead of the night. Busam scored on a layup to tie the game at 26 with 2:06 left in the half. Oakdale regained the lead at 28-26 when Wyatt hit a jumper with 1:27 left to play. The Mustangs led 34-26 at halftime.
An assist from Galuppi to Jones made it 36-28 with 7:14 left in the third. A layup by Kesterson made it a 46-39 with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter resulting in a Buffaloes time out. The Mustangs entered the final quarter up 51-43.
Busam hit a corner three to go up 57-46 with 6:19 left to play. Kesterson hit a pair of free throws with 34.8 seconds left to play to go up 67-57.
“This win was so important for us, and to get back on track. Every single game in this league is tough to do. Getting a win on the road to help get us right after a long week is a huge credit to our guys. They stayed the course and handled business,” said Power.
The Mustangs will host East Union on Friday night, Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
At the JV level, the boys defeated Patterson on Jan. 5, 75-35; took down Central Catholic, 79-71, on Jan. 7; and were also winners on the road at Manteca on Jan. 9, winning by a final of 80-51.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
After a Jan. 6 loss to Patterson, 48-37 and a lopsided defeat at Central Catholic on Jan. 8, losing 62-18, the varsity Lady Mustangs battled their way to a win against Manteca on the home court. They emerged as 48-43 winners in that game to notch a Valley Oak League victory.
The JV girls fell 60-40 to Patterson, lost 49-39 to Central Catholic and then defeated Manteca by a 48-25 final.
WRESTLING
Coming away from the prestigious Doc Buchanan Classic with a championship, senior Wes Burford took down opponents in the 218-pound weight class. The tournament was hosted Jan. 9 and 10 in Clovis. In the finals, Burford earned an 8-5 decision to take the title over David Calkins of Liberty-Brentwood.
BOYS SOCCER
Sandwiched in between two tough losses, the varsity Oakdale soccer boys got a big shutout win on the home pitch.
They fell by a 1-0 final to Sierra on Jan. 6, and lost to East Union by a 2-1 final on Jan. 10. But on Jan. 8, they scored five goals in the first half and four in the second to put away the Central Catholic Raiders, 9-0.
Adrian Arias and Max Verduzco had two goals each; Aiden Ramirez and Evan Perez each had a goal and two assists.
The JV soccer boys forged a 2-2 tie with Sierra, defeated Central 5-1, then lost a 3-0 contest to East Union.
GIRLS SOCCER
The varsity Lady Mustang soccer squad continued its strong play to start the VOL campaign as they got goals from five different players in a shutout 5-0 victory over Patterson. The road win came on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
Scoring for Oakdale were Skyler Burford, Dakota Burford, Sophia Garavaglia, Shelby Mitchell and Layla Garcia-Gonzalez.
The JV girls were shut out by the host Patterson team, 1-0.
Editor Marg Jackson contributed to this report.
