Oakdale High School’s varsity football team celebrated 2023 Homecoming with a convincing 62-26 victory over East Union. Oakdale scored four touchdowns in the first quarter to help pull away from the Lancers in Valley Oak League action.

The Mustangs established the run early and wore down East Union. Wes Burford scored the first three touchdowns of the game for Oakdale. Burford scored from 1-yard, 55 yards and 4 yards out in the first quarter. His 1-yard rushing score came less than two minutes into the contest, with 10:09 left to play in the first quarter. Less than three minutes later, he crossed the goal line again this time from 55 yards out. With less than a minute left in the first quarter, Burford scored for the final time of the opening frame with 0:59 left to play. Last week Burford carried the ball over 40 times and racked up nearly 300 yards. This week Burford’s workload was 13 carries for 135 yards.

As time expired in the first quarter, Oakdale found the end zone one more time on a Tommy Chance 10-yard quarterback keeper. With a 28-0 advantage Oakdale expanded their lead to 41-0 just minutes into the second quarter. Gabe McDonald scored a pair of touchdowns for Oakdale as he went into the end zone on a 4-yard rush and was on the receiving end of a 4-yard touchdown pass from Chance.

East Union got on the board with 4:29 remaining in the half. The Mustangs countered with an Angel DeAnda 17-yard reception from Chance with 0:29 left in the half. Oakdale went into the locker room up 48-6.

But proving to be at least a little resilient, visiting East Union wasted little time scoring the first points of the second half on a 52-yard reception with 10:20 left in the third quarter. However, Andre Galaviz scored on a 5-yard rush with 7:29 remaining in the third, giving the Mustangs a 55-12 advantage. Later in the fourth quarter, with the score 55-26, Oakdale scored the final points of the evening on a 24-yard rushing touchdown by Aiden Saso.

“We talked about distractions. The Escalon game had a lot of distractions and I told the boys with Homecoming there are a lot of distractions. I feel like they did a great job tonight blocking out distractions;” said coach Garrett Martin.

Oakdale’s defense had a big night as well. Tyler Stroup had a fumble recovery on a kickoff return in the first quarter. Selso Rodriguez had an interception. Timothy Leigh had a sack, Gage Ginger, Charlie Kjeldgaard and Gavin Gleason all had tackles for losses for Oakdale.

This Friday night, Oct. 13, Oakdale (6-1) will host Central Catholic (5-2). The Raiders are coming off a 40-12 victory over Kimball. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m.

JUNIOR VARSITY

Oakdale ran away with a 65-27 victory over East Union. The visiting JV Lancers scored first but the Mustangs scored three touchdowns in as many plays to go up 24-7 in the first quarter. Richard Flores carried the ball twice and had 125 yards and two scores in the first quarter. The first touchdown by Flores was from 59 yards out with 6:35 left in the quarter. His second was a 66-yard rushing score with 3:52 left in the quarter. Ricky Torrez took over in the backfield as he scored a total of four touchdowns. Oakdale also found the end zone on a Gavin Wyatt interception for a score in the third quarter. Capping off the scoring for Oakdale was Flores on a 66-yard rushing score. Oakdale will host Central Catholic at 5 p.m. on Friday night.