Winter sports are winding down for Oakdale, with Mustang wrestlers continuing on to the Masters Meet the only ones still active from among the basketball, soccer and wrestling squads.
Here is a wrap of the recent action for the teams at OHS.
Mustang Basketball
Before, by far, the largest and noisiest crowd of the season in the Mustang Arena, the Oakdale Mustangs varsity basketball team dropped an exciting, energy-charged Senior Night game to the visiting Central Catholic Raiders on Friday, Feb.11 by a 56-45 final. Both the freshmen, of head coach Nate Madsen, and the junior varsity, of head coach Daniel Linder, had won their games and the large and vocal fans on both sides of the gym seemed to fire up the Mustangs. Prior to the varsity squads taking the court, the Mustangs conducted their annual Senior Night ceremony honoring statisticians Jessica Rovai and Frida Record and players Jake Kettering, Jacob Guignard, Jackson Holt, Landon Nunes, Johnathan Kraude, Charlie Cripe and Nate Criswell.
The game began with the Mustangs showing great energy, led by the tough inside play of center Jackson Holt and a key three-point shot by Johnathan Kraude. The Raiders responded with treys from Tyler Wentworth and Julian Kuper and the first quarter ended with the Mustangs leading 9-7. In the second period, again effectively using scores from beyond the arc, the Raiders outscored the Mustangs 16-8 to head into the dressing room leading the Mustangs 23-17. Fouls were not an issue in the first half as neither team entered into the bonus column.
In the second half, the Raiders, led by the three-point shooting of Kuper (three treys, 13 points) and the all-around play of Malachi Miller (one trey, 18 points), slowly extended their lead over the Mustangs leading by 10 points (37-27) at the end of the third period. Senior Nate Criswell (17 points) kept the Mustangs in the game along with hustling defense from Jake Kettering (two points) and treys from Johnathan Kraude (10 points), Jayden Coelho (five points), and Niko Klose (five points). As the final stanza began, Klose, coming off the bench and celebrating his 17th birthday, seemed to spark the Mustangs with his intense hustle both under and away from the hoop. Jackson Holt continued to play tough defense and get key rebounds and the Mustangs cut the Raider lead to seven points with 5:23 remaining in the contest. The Raiders battled back with key points from Miller and Kuper and, as the clock ticked down, the Mustangs began forcing shots to no avail and fouling. Raiders Kuper and Wentworth were solid from the free throw line and the Raiders pulled back to a 10, then 11-point lead at the final buzzer.
At halftime, the senior cheerleaders were recognized for their contributions. The ceremony feted exchange student from Germany, Ronja Steffenhag and seniors, Sarah Cuenca, Madison Desset, Kendyll Duke, Hollis Harned, Makena McDonald, Reagan Oliveira, Jenna Rollin, Kierstyn Springer and Abby Waite.
Earlier in the week, the varsity boys were on the road at East Union and lost by a 53-46 decision in the Wednesday, Feb. 9 contest.
The JV boys were 39-22 winners at East Union and took their home game against Central Catholic, 55-41, to end with an 8-4 record in league play and 19-9 overall.
The freshmen fell by a 44-34 final at East Union on Feb. 9 and closed out their season with a 36-25 victory over Central Catholic to kick off the trio of games on Friday night at home.
The varsity Mustangs, under head coach Ryan Berg, finished the season with a record of 7-21 (1-11 in VOL play), dropping many close games. In fact, the Mustangs were in almost every game to the very end. With the success of this year’s JV team and the expected return of sophomore Jayden Coelho and juniors Niko Klose, Luke Davis and Tyler Cooley from the varsity team, Berg is anticipating a strong Mustang showing next season. Many of the seven seniors will now move on to spring sports as they steadily progress toward graduation on May 27.
Lady Mustang Hoops
Tuesday, Feb. 8 was Senior Night for the Oakdale Mustang girls basketball team in the Mustang Arena. Loyal Mustang fans bade farewell to seniors Savannah Borba, Aidyn Hill, Alivia Antinetti and Tori Cadwell in a brief but genteel ceremony. Then the visiting East Union Lancers took the court and took it to the Lady Mustangs, 65-32, outscoring the home team 23-0 in the first period of play, led by juniors Taylor Snaer (25 points) and Lani Tuuga (12 points). By halftime the Lancers had extended their lead to 43-11 as the Mustangs got life with a three-point basket by Hill and field goals by Brooke Wheat, Cadwell and Kaci Jericoff. The Lancers only outscored the Mustangs 22-21 in the second half as the Mustangs tightened up their defense while Hill and Wheat were joined by Borba, Brooklyn Gonzalez and freshman Samantha Powell in scoring. Borba and Hill ended their home high school basketball careers with a three-pointer apiece. The Lady Mustangs completed their season on Thursday, Feb. 10 on the road at Central Catholic, taking a hard fought 35-31 loss.
The JV girls, in the game against East Union at home, put a 29-25 win on the books.
Wrestling
Competing in the Sac Joaquin Section DIII Championship this past weekend, the Mustangs came away as the top team and also had several individual champions.
Taking first place honors were: Zeke Vela, Michael Torres, Jonathan Hernandez, Brodie Johnson, Payne Perkins, Carlos Garcia, Ceasar Garza and Garrison Gerber. Also advancing to the Masters Meet this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18 and 19, at the Stockton Arena are Jordan Van Rys, second place; Brock Osmundson, third; Elijah Elting and Colton Silva, fourth place. Bringing home a fifth place finish was Logan Thomas while Gavin Gleason was seventh.
Soccer
The Mustang soccer boys, going into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 playoffs, were the No. 14 seed and traveled to face off with No. 3 Vista de Lago in Folsom on Feb. 10. The Thursday night game saw the varsity Mustangs shut out by a 2-0 final, ending their brief appearance in the second season.
