A Thursday evening inside The Corral saw the Oakdale High School freshman football team host St. Mary’s. Oakdale used a heavy dose of running by Yahir Ayala and Jose Torres along with hard hitting defense to carry the team to a 27-12 victory.

A slow start offensively for both teams saw the only score of the first quarter come from Torres on a one-yard rushing score with 1:11 left in the quarter. St. Mary’s scored a rushing touchdown of their own but the point after attempt failed with 4:28 left in the half. Torres, who rushed the ball 15 times for 71 yards, scored his second touchdown of the night on a 20-yard run down the sidelines to give Oakdale a 13-6 advantage. Just before the half, Ayala scored on a 22-yard run of his own to give Oakdale a 20-6 halftime lead.

In the third quarter Ayala found the end zone one more time with 5:47 remaining on a six-yard run to go up 27-6. Ayala finished the night with 199 rushing yards on 16 carries.

On the defensive side of the ball Dillon Thompson, Dalton Vargas and Titan Ginger made life difficult for the visitors. Thompson had 1.5 sacks in the game and delivered several big hits. Vargas also got to the quarterback 1.5 times while Ginger finished with eight tackles and had a big interception in the first half.

“Our defense played really well tonight, I was pleased with the effort they showed,” said head coach Rod Long.

This Thursday night, Sept. 13 the boys open Valley Oak League play when they host East Union. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside The Corral.

“We are ready and excited to see what the season brings. We have energetic guys here who want to play,” Long said.