Mustang Wrestlers, Soccer Girls Rounding Into Postseason Form
Continuing a streak of dominance and excellence on the mats, the Oakdale Mustang wrestlers captured the Sac-Joaquin Section I Double Finals title. They won the championship at Lincoln High School in Stockton this weekend.
“Oakdale junior Elias Corona (197 pounds) defeated California’s number seven ranked wrestler Kainoa Acia of Del Oro by major decision (12-4) to help the Mustangs defeat Del Oro High School en route to the division 1 doubles finals,” said head coach Steve Strange.
In the first round of the DI Duals, Oakdale defeated St. Mary’s by a 72-12 decision. That put them through to the semis, where they handled Del Oro, 52-19. Finally, the Mustangs edged Vacaville in the final, 40-25, to win the championship.
Other top performers for the Mustangs include: Logan Thomas, 2-0, 115 lbs; Jesse Meza, 128, who won in the fall against Vacaville; Sammy Neely, 134, 3-0; Colton Silva, 147, 2-0; Payne Perkins, 162, 3-0; Wes Burford, 172, 2-0; Carlos Garcia, 184, 3-0; Emilio Johnson, 220, 2-0; Brock Osmundson, 285, 2-0.
Coming next, Friday, Feb. 3 at 3 p.m., Oakdale will host the VOL Championships.
Saturday, Feb. 11 will be the Division 3 Championships at Westpark High School in Roseville, beginning at 9 a.m.
The Masters Meet is scheduled for Stockton Arena, February 17-18; CIF State Meet is February 23-25 at Mechanics Bank Arena, Bakersfield.
In addition to the wrestlers, the Mustang boys’ and girls’ basketball and football teams had a busy week in league competition.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Falling at home and on the road, the Lady Mustangs college basketball girls battle through a tough Valley Oak League campaign.
They hosted Sierra on January 24 and suffered a 46-12 loss. Then they hit the road for a contest on January 26, losing that match to host East Union by a 53-24 final.
Oakdale’s JV girls picked up a victory at East Union, with a 10-0 run in the third helping them to a 30-15 win. Earlier in the week, they lost a home game 43-15 to Sierra.
BOYS BASKETBALL
With one game on the road to open the week, the college Mustangs found themselves on the wrong end of a 60-44 final at Sierra. Host Timberwolves opened the game with a 19-5 first-quarter run, taking a lead the Oakdale side simply couldn’t overcome. Niko Klose had 16 points to lead Oakdale; Cooper Pitney had five rebounds.
In the Homecoming contest on Friday night January 27, it was Oakdale who hosted East Union and they battled it out, leading for much of the game before losing to the visitors by a 50-44 decision.
Leading 16-13 at halftime, Oakdale made it 29-24 after three. But the Lancers won the game with a solid fourth-quarter run, outscoring the host Mustangs 26-15 in the final eight minutes.
Klose had 13 points and eight rebounds; Jacob Cavanaugh had 10 points. Pitney and Bryson Boyd also had eight rebounds apiece.
JV and freshman action of the week saw both teams lose to Sierra on January 25; the JV boys fell 55-32 and the freshmen by a 56-25 decision.
GIRLS SOCCER
After a tough and important victory on January 20 that put Oakdale in first place in the Valley Oak League against Kimball, the Lady Mustang college football girls had very little time to enjoy their first half achievements and were scheduled to be ready to play Monday night, January 23 against six-time defending VOL champion Sierra.
Host Timberwolves wasted no time and set the tone from start to finish, handing Oakdale their first league defeat. Sierra needed to get points to keep her playoff dreams alive and didn’t disappoint her home fans. Sierra had a 3-1 halftime lead and added a second-half goal to claim a 4-1 victory. Oakdale entered the board in the 25th minute thanks to a goal from Kyndra Obermeyer, assisted by Trista French.
Avery Alves made seven saves for Oakdale.
“Throughout the game, Oakdale was two steps behind and had no response for Sierra’s intensity,” head coach Kico Monares said. “Our strength as a team and the reason we were undefeated was because of our work ethic and our ability to break teams for 80 minutes due to our fitness. This was not the case on Monday.
The post-match chat was straightforward, the coach added.
“While we were on the court, I asked the girls to watch Sierra take selfies, team photos, throw the ‘W’ hand signs on their court and told the girls to remember from that feeling, remembering how you feel, we know what we have to do,” Monares noted. “Look what you’ve done in the Oakdale Soccer program; now a big target on your back and everyone wants to beat Oakdale.
On Wednesday, January 25, the girls got back to winning ways, knocking out East Union in a 1-0 final. French scored the game’s only goal, Alves made five saves in goal.
The girls are to host Manteca and hold senior festivities on February 1.
BOYS SOCCER
Sharing their game this week, the Oakdale University Boys lost to East Union on Jan. 24 by a 7-1 margin, but came back with an 8-0 shutout win over Central Catholic on Jan. 26. January.
Hudson Ruvalcaba scored the Mustangs’ lone goal against the Lancers.
Against Central, the boys scored four goals each half. Goalkeeper Dirk Scott made five saves.
Abraham Isidro for Oakdale scored four goals that day, with one each from Khrystian Escalante, Christopher Diaz, Hayden Koehler and Alfredo Fernandez. Diaz added two assists; Escalante and Fernandez had one each.