If local sports fans want to attend Oakdale High School’s highly anticipated football showdown with Oceanside in Southern California on Friday, Aug. 31, they had better get tickets soon or they will be turned away at the door.
Oakdale and Oceanside play one of four varsity contests in a packed schedule of games and spectacles during the U.S. Armed Forces Allegiant Battle For Veterans Football Invitational.
The event is expected to see an early sellout for limited space inside the stadium at Westlake High in Westlake Village, just north of Los Angeles. Tickets are on sale now at Oakdale High and may also be purchased at www.battleforverterans.org.
The show begins with a freshman contest between Westlake and Alemany at 2 p.m., leading to Oakdale’s varsity showdown with Oceanside from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. A condor flyover and parachute jump team will entertain the crowd during a brief intermission, before Del Oro and Westlake square off at 7:30 p.m. The festivities continue with lower level games the next day before a Windor vs. Upland contest and showdown between Oaks Christian and Granite Bay to conclude the series of games.
Del Oro and Westlake both reached California State Bowl games last year. Del Oro slipped to Helix in the Division II title game while Westlake was defeated by De La Salle in the open division game.
The Oceanside-Oakdale matchup is perfect on paper, considering Oakdale (13-1 last year) was defeated by Del Oro in the Sac-Joaquin Section final while Oceanside (9-3-1) was dropped by Helix in the San Diego Section final.
Oceanside has 212 wins under coach John Carroll since 1987 and boasts 10 section championships and two state titles since 1997. The team is the seventh best program in Maxpreps.com’s listings of California’s top-10 most consistent high school football programs.
It makes for an intriguing matchup for an Oakdale team that ranks 10th in Maxpreps.com’s preseason rankings for the SJS (all divisions) and outscored opponents 642-212 last year. Oakdale ended 2012 ranked 42nd in the state by calhisports.com. Oceanside was not listed in the top-50 after the devastating 44-6 loss to Helix in the SDS finale ended the Pirates’ season.
