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Oakdale Pounces On Visiting Jaguars
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Oakdales defense was problematic for the visiting Jaguars Friday night, forcing five turnovers, including three interceptions and two fumbles. Shown is Oakdale senior Nicolas Ruiz recovering a fumble in the end zone for the touchdown late in the teams 49-2 victory. - photo by Courtesy Of Glenn Morris

Coming off a tough road loss, the varsity Mustangs rebounded nicely at home against the Kimball Jaguars running away with a 49-2 football victory on Friday, Oct. 24.

The Mustangs (7-1 overall, 4-1 VOL) struck early and often against Kimball (1-7, 0-5). Oakdale scored a total of six rushing touchdowns including three in the first quarter. Leading the charge for Oakdale’s rushing attack was senior Frankie Trent who carried the ball eight times for 80 yards and three touchdowns in just one half of work.

Oakdale led 21-0 after the first and carried a 29-2 halftime lead. Oakdale put up 20 more points in the third to put things away.

“Always more fun when you win. Last week we didn’t execute and this week we did,” said a pleased head coach Trent Merzon following the victory.

Although the offense put on a clinic, it was the defense that put on a show for the Mustang fans that made their way to The Corral on Friday night. Oakdale held Kimball to a total of 173 yards, one pass completion, on 57 plays from scrimmage. The stingy defense also had five takeaways in the game, including three interceptions and two fumble recoveries, one of which was recovered in the end zone by senior Nicolas Ruiz for the team’s final score of the evening.

“We played well as a unit tonight. Coach tells us to take advantage of opportunities and I think we did that tonight,” shared Kevin Corral, who had two of the team’s three interceptions.

The Mustangs improved to 5-0 at home, and will look to build off this win as they head into Lathrop to clash with the Spartans on Halloween night. Lathrop (2-6, 1-4) is coming off a tough outing against Central Catholic as the Spartans lost 55-14.

“Lathrop is a dangerous football team, it’s going to be a tough one. Everyone wants to talk about week ten, but we need to focus on week nine and that’s on the road against the Spartans,” Merzon said. “They’re good at what they do, they’re well coached, fast physical athletes over there. We need to show up and play better than we did tonight or we can be in trouble against them.”

With two games remaining on the schedule for the Mustangs, Oakdale currently sits in third place and will wrap up the regular season at home when they host Central Catholic on Friday, Nov. 7.