After enjoying a bye week as a result of their top seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 playoffs, Oakdale’s varsity Mustangs showed they benefited from the rest and the extra preparation time. They shut out their quarterfinal opponent, Roseville, by a 40-0 verdict on Friday night, Nov. 12.
“Good win for us. Fourth straight shutout,” said Mustangs head coach Trent Merzon.
In the Nov. 6 opening round, No. 9 Roseville took down No. 8 Davis, 33-21. But they were no match for Oakdale, as the offense and defense were both firing on all cylinders.
“Kevin Camelin had two touchdowns, Jace Rau had two touchdowns,” Merzon said of the effective running game. “Jackson Holt had a touchdown pass to Mick Merzon.”
On the defensive side, it was Brock Osmundson coming up big with a blocked punt and Jake Kettering stopping two Roseville drives with interceptions.
Oakdale put 12 points on the board in the first quarter and added a pair of touchdowns in the second to take a 26-0 lead at the half. Neither team scored in the third quarter and the Mustangs closed out the game with 14 more points in fourth quarter to secure the 40-0 shutout.
Meanwhile, No. 5 Patterson hosted No. 4 Yuba City on Nov. 12 and piled up the points in a high-scoring 52-48 decision. Patterson hosted No. 12 Burbank in the Nov. 6 opening round, upending that opponent, 38-6 while Yuba City was on a bye week.
So top seed Oakdale will square off with the Patterson Tigers, with a 7 p.m. kickoff on Nov. 19.
“Patterson is super talented; very big, very explosive,” Merzon said in sizing up the competition. “Going to take a tremendous effort from our kids.”
Winner on Friday night advances to the Section final.
While Oakdale and Patterson are working toward that goal, on the other side of the D3 bracket, the semifinal game sees No. 3 Manteca traveling to No. 2 Lincoln for the right to play for the blue banner next week.
Manteca defeated No. 6 Sacramento, 54-14 in the quarterfinals on Nov. 12 and No. 2 Lincoln edged out No. 7 Christian Brothers by a touchdown, 28-21.
Tickets for the Friday night game, Oakdale hosting Patterson at The Corral, must be purchased in advance, online.
Oakdale improved to 8-2 overall with the win over Roseville. They finished with a 4-2 mark in the Valley Oak League this season, taking third, but have steadily gained momentum over the last several weeks and look to continue their strong play on Friday night.
