Prep notes: Oakdale’s Semone will walk on at Cal Poly; section awards

All-District Football Player of the Year Will Semone will walk on at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in the fall.

The Oakdale High running back rushed for a Stanislaus District record 2,851 yards and scored 35 touchdowns, guiding the Mustangs to their first CIF State Bowl victory.

Oakdale earned a share of the Valley Oak League and Sac-Joaquin Section titles, and then throttled Bishop’s School of La Jolla in the Division III-A State Bowl.

Semone was a revelation in the Wing-T offense.

After missing his entire junior season at Central Catholic, Semone transferred to Oakdale, a VOL rival, citing a desire to carry the football. The Raiders already featured a 1,000-yard running back (Jared Rice) and a fourth-year starter (Montell Bland), and Semone wanted more than a bit role.

He found what he was looking for at Oakdale, and so much more. Semone rushed for nearly 1,700 yards alone in six postseason games, sparking late in interest on the recruiting trail.

Semone also had interest from UC Davis, which offered him a roster spot as a long snapper and a chance to compete for carries at running back.

Cal Poly was 7-5 last season with wins over Davis and Sacramento State. The Mustangs clinched a Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth, but were knocked out in the first round by the University of San Diego, a team it beat earlier in the season.

Two-time champ at Oak Park Tennis Club: Former Modesto Metro Conference and Sac-Joaquin Section singles champion Ryan Lewis of Beyer High won a pair of tournaments at Oak Park Tennis Club in Stockton.

The Pomona College-bound senior, who chose not to play high school tennis this season, defeated Anh Lee in the final of the Open Men’s Singles Tournament, 6-4 and 6-4. An orthopedic surgeon in Stockton, the second-seeded Lee played at UC Davis.

Lewis also defeated the top overall seed Vidal Pedraza in the quarterfinal, 6-3, 3-6, 10-6.

He would later team with Jose Gonzalez to defeat Lee and Pedraza in straight sets in the finals of the doubles tournament, 6-2 and 7-6 (2).

Dale Lackey Scholarship winners: Golden Valley’s Brady Mello was one of two recipients of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Clarke Hoover $1,500 Scholarship.

Mello is a three-sport athlete (football, wrestling and baseball), and qualified for the CIF State Wrestling Championships this past winter. Mello is ranked No. 1 in his class and owns a litany of awards, including: Golden Valley’s Pursuing Victory with Honor; Cougar Pride four times over; and team captain in football, wrestling and baseball.

Leila Doty of Western Sierra was the other Clarke Hoover award winner.

In all, the section awarded 49 seniors with $30,000 in Dale Lackey/CSEA Scholarships at a breakfast banquet in Lodi earlier this week. The scholarship fund is named after A. Dale Lackey, a former section and CIF State president, and recognizes the top male and female student-athletes in the section.

The Stanislaus District had 14 scholarship winners, including: Paxton Sweeney of Modesto ($500); Logan Van Vuren of Ripon Christian ($500); Tyler Stubbert of Big Valley Christian ($500); Aiden Mantarro Moore of Ceres ($500); Alec Barcelos of Hilmar ($500); Nicole Warwick of Modesto Christian ($500); Atley Snapp of Pacheco ($500); Tara Silva of Stone Ridge Christian ($500); Clarissa Seymour of Enochs ($500); Gladis Sandoval of Manteca ($500); Katie O’Leary of Ripon Christian ($500); Abagale Croninger of Golden Valley ($500); and Jack Weaver of East Union ($1,000).

Section recognizes Model Coaches: Five of the section’s six Model Coach award winners hail from the Stanislaus District, and three have roots in the Central California Conference.

Turlock girls golf coach Mary Krupka, Merced football coach Rob Scheidt and Los Banos girls tennis coach Lynn Barcellos were awarded plaques during a breakfast banquet.

Merced and Turlock are longtime members of the CCC, while Los Banos was realigned in the Western Athletic Conference in 2010.

Krupka’s teams have won 13 CCC titles, two Division I South crowns and qualified for the CIF Northern California Regional tournament twice.

Barcellos has enjoyed unprecedented success as a player and coach. A two-time Division I singles champion at Grace Davis (1980-81), Barcellos has guided the boys and girls tennis programs at Los Banos to 20 league titles and 30 postseason appearances.

Scheidt presided over the Bear football program for more than two decades. A perennial league champion, Merced advanced to the Division I championship game in 2006, losing a thrilling game with Vacaville by a point.

Hilmar’s Catherine Mendes and Sierra’s Manuel Pires were also honored.

Mendes has coached volleyball, track and field, girls basketball and softball for the last 42 years, all at Hilmar High and the middle school. She and Sacramento Waldorf’s Dean Stark were selected for statewide honors.

Pires is Sierra’s fifth Model Coach and one of its most decorated. As the only girls soccer coach in school history, Pires has guided the Timberwolves to 12 Valley Oak League championships and four section banners. He also notched his 400th career win this year.

This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Prep notes: Oakdale’s Semone will walk on at Cal Poly; section awards."