Continuing their winning ways to start the postseason, Oakdale’s varsity soccer Lady Mustangs were pushed hard – but came away with an overtime win on Monday, Feb. 16. They hosted Central Catholic in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 contest, taking a 4-2 overtime victory.

The teams traded goals, one each in both the first and second halves, to end regulation knotted at 1-1. Oakdale scored two goals in the overtime period while keeping Central off the scoreboard, getting past the visitors. Oakdale, the top seed in D4, had a first-round bye on Friday, Feb. 13. Number nine seed Central defeated Lindhurst, 3-1, in the opener before falling to Oakdale in the quarterfinals.

The Lady Mustangs will host number four Ripon in a 6 p.m. match Wednesday, Feb 18. Ripon defeated number 13 East Union in the first round, 2-1.

In the win over Central, Dakota Burford had two goals and an assist; Kaia Cox had a goal and Shelby Mitchell had a goal. Also notching assists were Layla Garcia-Gonzalez, Sophia Garavaglia and Jezell Perez-Andrade.

Oakdale enters the Feb. 18 semifinal game with a 19-2-2 overall record and earned the championship of the Valley Oak League, going 12-0. Ripon, champions of the Trans-Valley League at 10-1-1, come in at 21-5-1 overall.

WRESTLING

It was another pennant for the wrestling Mustangs over the weekend, as they captured the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 team title at River City High School.

Six Mustangs earned individual divisional championships, with three finishing in second place. The team also had four wrestlers take third place honors and one fourth place finisher. All the Mustangs that took the mats at divisionals advanced to the Masters Meet in Stockton, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20 and 21.

Champions for Oakdale were Jake Simmons, 128 pounds; Jesse Meza, 152; Griffin Gerber, 167; Cody Soares, 177; Wes Burford; 217; and Matthew Cooley, 287 pounds.

Taking second at River City were Avery Jones, 140; Israel Mercado, 159; Xander Birakos, 192. Third place finishers included Grant Dixon, 108 pounds; Ezekiel Hernandez, 115; Brooklyn Harper, 122; Zeke Meza, 146. Finishing in fourth place at divisionals was Michaelangelo DeLeon, 134 pounds.

The Mustangs will take the mats at the Masters in hopes of qualifying for the State Meet.

BOYS BASKETBALL

The final two games of the regular season didn’t go Oakdale’s way, as the varsity basketball boys fell in both contests. They lost 65-42 at East Union on Feb. 11 and then were defeated by Valley Oak League champions Mountain House on Feb. 13, losing 72-43.

Against East Union, the Mustangs were consistent, scoring 21 points in each half, but the host Lancers used a strong 41-21 scoring edge over the middle two quarters to seal the victory.

Mountain House, meanwhile, ran to a 19-10 first quarter lead as they hosted Oakdale in the regular season finale, and extended that lead to 37-20 at the half, then ran away with it with a 23-12 scoring edge in the third quarter.

Oakdale, however, put together a tremendous season, going 22-6 overall and compiling a 7-5 record in Valley Oak League action, good for a fourth-place finish.

With that showing, for the first time in two decades, the varsity boys punched their ticket to the postseason. The Mustangs received the number 10 seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 bracket and will travel to play number seven seed Beyer in Modesto on Wednesday, Feb. 18. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Other teams in the D3 bracket are top seed Placer, along with Central Catholic, Roseville, Christian Brothers, Del Campo, Oakmont, Pioneer, Twelve Bridges, Wood, East Union, Nevada Union and Casa Roble. A pair of play-in games on Feb. 17 were to feature Burbank against Lathrop, with Ponderosa facing off with Foothill.

The JV basketball boys closed out the season with a split of their last two games. The boys won 56-48 at East Union on Feb. 11 and lost at Mountain House, 66-48, on Feb. 13. The JV squad went 9-3 in league play.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

For the Lady Mustangs, the varsity girls split their last two basketball games of the season. They lost a Feb. 10 game, 71-35, to East Union but got a victory on the home court against Mountain House on Feb. 12. They outscored Mountain House 55-34 to improve to 13-15 overall and they were 3-9 in league for fifth place. That did get them into the Division 3 playoffs; the girls went in as the number 14 seed and were scheduled to take on number three Lathrop in a road game on Feb. 17, past press time.

Oakdale’s JV girls fell in their last two league games, 47-20 to East Union, 48-30 to Mountain House. The JV team went 4-8 in league, 10-14 overall.

For the youngest Lady Mustang hoopsters, the freshman girls wrapped up a league championship season with two wins. They defeated East Union by a 35-18 final, then outscored Mountain House, 44-26. Look for a recap of their league championship season in the Feb. 25 issue.

BOYS SOCCER

Final game on the schedule for Oakdale went in the loss column for the varsity soccer boys. They fell by a 4-1 decision at Mountain House on Feb. 10, ending with a 3-9 mark in Valley Oak League play, sixth place, and were 6-16 overall. The JV boys lost, 3-1, at Mountain House to end their season.

Reporter Dennis D. Cruz contributed to this story.