Nearly 25 Oakdale High School seniors took on a dozen OHS staff members in a mostly friendly game of basketball in the Mustang Arena on March 9. Fans, friends, and family members packed the gym on Wednesday evening to cheer on the participants in the annual Staff vs. Seniors basketball game, where the final scoreboard indicated a 70-70 tie. That was following some tampering by the seniors, however, as the real score was determined to be 70-44 with the staff coming out on top.

Teacher Pete Simoncini kept the mood lighthearted throughout the night as the official Voice of the Mustangs took the microphone and entertained the large crowd with his witty commentary.

Taking the court for the staff were Julie Ford, Grant Miller, Chris Henry, Joe Gilbert, Vic Moreno, Bobby Monges and more. Among those on the court representing the senior class of 2016 were Adam Olsen, Trevor Williams, Haley Fuller, Nate Van Cleave, Bailey Antonio, Maddy Hackbarth, Megan Burke, and Maxamillion Renner.

The two teams took the court for two 20-minute periods, as Guy Fowler, Hondo Arpoika and Grace Fernandez served as referees. None of them wore a whistle during the game. Oakdale’s staff took an early first half lead and never looked back. Wrestling Coach Moreno led all scorers with 17 total points and got the crowd to its collective feet when he made a layup and followed that up with an impressive “Spiderman”-like flip off the wall and landed on his feet. Gilbert also added 12 points in the winning effort. Ford and Monges added 11 and eight points, respectively, for the staff. Highlighting the evening for the seniors was Van Cleave with five points, but the biggest play of the night came late in the second half on a one handed dunk by foreign exchange student Renner, where all of his teammates rushed the court to congratulate the senior. With the game well out of reach, the seniors threw caution to the wind and allowed more than the traditional “five” on the court and soon as many as 13 seniors were on the court at one time. To go even further, soccer standouts Madison Feuerstein, Burke and others used the hardwood as their own soccer field and began kicking the ball around past the staff members.

“The game was a lot of fun and it is all in fun, just another memory for us to take away from our final year,” said senior Scarlett Brock.