After a scoreless first quarter, Oakdale found themselves trailing 7-6 at halftime.

Not the formula you want for a Homecoming game … and the Mustangs responded with a 50-point second half effort, defeating Patterson in Valley Oak League action, 56-40, on Friday night, Oct. 11.

Capping off a busy week, the varsity football team found their legs in the second half, with 29 points scored in the third and 21 more in the fourth quarter. Star of the night was Wes Burford, who had 26 carries for 381 yards, scoring six rushing touchdowns. Chase Lopez, with 15 carries for 135 yards, added the other touchdown. Gavin Wyatt had five carries for 70 yards on the night. Burford also had one pass reception for seven yards. He averaged nearly 15 yards per carry on the ground.

Oakdale, which is riding a six-game winning streak, is now 6-1 overall, 3-0 in league.

They amassed 586 total yards of offense on the night, compared to 234 for Patterson.

But the visiting Tigers kept it somewhat close, scoring 13 points in the third quarter, 20 in the fourth. It wasn’t enough, though, to get past a surging Oakdale team, which seems to be getting into postseason form.

Defensively for the Mustangs, Jackson Gilton recorded 15 tackles and Jacob Kindrick had 10. Eli Fisher chipped in with eight tackles, while Cody Soares recorded a sack.

The team travels to Central Catholic to take on the Raiders on Oct. 18.

At the lower levels, the JV boys started off the Homecoming Night with a decisive 34-7 victory over Patterson. For the freshmen, they ran out to a big lead on Thursday night, building up a 37-0 lead in the road game. Neither team got on the scoreboard in the second half, so Oakdale’s youngest Mustangs took the road win via shutout.