A once promising start to the game quickly unraveled for the visiting Oakdale High School Mustangs, on the road for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 semifinal contest.

Oakdale, going in as the number four seed, took the early lead, 7-0 with 7:55 remaining in the first quarter against top seeded Grant, but would never get on the board again as the Pacers defeated Oakdale 42-7 on Friday night, Nov. 17.

“It was a great season, we obviously hate to lose, but almost every team ends their season with a loss,” said first year Mustangs head coach Garrett Martin following the game.

In the first quarter Oakdale’s Jacob Kindrick intercepted Grant’s Luke Alexander to set up a one-yard rushing touchdown for Wes Burford to give Oakdale a 7-0 advantage. However, Grant’s Devin Green scored an eight-yard touchdown to tie the game with 2:42 left in the first quarter. Green scored his second touchdown of the evening on a 17-yard rush with 10:11 remaining in the second quarter. This happened following a failed fourth down conversion on a fake punt attempt by the Mustangs.

Kingston Lopa extended the Pacers lead when he caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Alexander with 2:13 left in the first half. The Pacers took a 21-7 lead into the locker room.

Down by two scores, the Mustangs just couldn’t seem to get anything going offensively, unable to sustain drives to get into a position to score.

Just before the midway point of the third quarter, Green found the end zone for Grant for the third time, as the top seed started to put the game away. Green exploded for a 49-yard rushing touchdown making it 28-7 Pacers. With 1:28 left in the third quarter, Alexander connected with Kyle “KJ” Jones from 16 yards out for a touchdown, giving the Pacers a 35-7 advantage. The final scoring play of the game came on a Wayshawn Parker 28-yard rushing touchdown with 10:13 left in regulation to seal the 42-7 victory for the home team, sending them to the Section final.

The fourth seeded Mustangs committed five turnovers – three interceptions and a pair of turnovers on downs – in the loss. Their offense struggled in the air and on the ground. Oakdale’s leading rusher was Burford with 19 rushes for 84 yards and a touchdown. Chase Lopez led the team in receiving yards with one catch for 23 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, it was Tommy Chance with five solo tackles to lead the way for Oakdale. Charlie Kjeldgaard, Gavin Gleason and Gage Ginger also had big stops in the game.

“Super proud of the team and the way they got better and grew throughout the year. The seniors were a great group that went through a ton of adversity and will be missed,” Martin said.

Oakdale, which went 3-2 in Valley Oak League play to finish third in the league standings, closed out the campaign with an 8-4 overall record. They won their quarterfinal game at home on Nov. 10 by a 56-35 decision over number five Merced.

Grant, which demolished Linden 82-7 in the quarterfinals before defeating Oakdale in the semifinals, heads to the Section title game at Sacramento City College on Friday, Nov. 24 at 3 p.m., facing off against the number two seed, Woodcreek.