Why Oakdale, Central Catholic could emerge as the Valley Oak League champion

One of the biggest challenges for Trent Merzon and the Oakdale Mustangs is replacing 3,800 yards and 58 touchdowns.

Those number signified the combined production of senior running backs Cameron Cherry and Josh Jacobson.

The loss of those two, among others, have created what Merzon says is a cast of doubters regarding the defending Valley Oak League champions. He couldn’t care less about what people outside the program say.

“I love where we are at,” Merzon said after the Mustangs hosted Tracy in a scrimmage on Saturday. “I think we are going to be better than what anybody wants to think we are. What anybody thinks really thinks of us is absolutely irrelevant.”

Staying atop the VOL has been the norm for the Mustangs, who have won at least 12 games in the last four years and a league title in 13 of the last 16 including a dramatic 27-21 win over Central Catholic last year.

How has Oakdale, which opens the season Friday at home against Sonora, stayed on top for so many years? It’s simple: The System.

“We run a system over here and our kids get that,” Merzon said. “We have been running the same system since I got here. We are a system team. Yeah, we lost some special human beings but we have some special human beings here.”

One player to watch is sophomore running back Zeke Saffar, who combines speed and agility.

“Football is a great game but ... But you have to grind,” Merzon said. “The key for us is will our kids enjoy the grind and will they continue to grind.”

Roger Canepa and the Central Catholic Raiders — ranked No. 39 in the state by CalHiSports.com — are looking for redemption.

To prepare his team for the VOL, Canepa has scheduled a rigorous non-conference schedule with games against Clovis West (Aug. 17), national power De La Salle (Aug. 24), ranked third by Cal-Hi, No. 26 St. Mary’s (Aug. 31), and Lincoln (Sept. 7).

One of the toughest non-conference schedules that Canepa has created?

“By far,” he said with a chuckle. “Its probably one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the state. We are a school of 360 kids and we are playing Clovis West, then we are going to De La Salle, who is nationally ranked. We come back and play in the Holy Bowl against St. Mary’s and we also have Lincoln who is a very good football team.”

In fact, both Clovis West and Oakdale are on Cal Hi’s list of “teams to watch.”

The Raiders haven’t decided on a starting quarterback yet as juniors Dalton Durossette, Dylan Everhard, and Kyle Jackson continue to battle but whoever earns the starting spot will have two great running backs in seniors D’Angelo Bellamy and Dawaiian McNeely. McNeely has offers from Arizona State and Fresno State among others.

What can make this Raiders team special is the fact that Canepa believes this is one of the deepest teams he has had at Central Catholic.

“We feel good at a lot of spots,” Canepa said. “We are around 42 or 43 kids, that’s the most we have ever had. We usually play closer to 30. One of our problems has been in close games, our starters are running down on kickoff teams where the other guys are resting. Everybody on our team learns an offensive position and a defensive position.”

Manteca, which knocked out Oakdale in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship last year, return junior running back Trabron Russell (825 yards, 16 touchdowns) and will be the biggest challenger for the Mustangs and the Raiders.

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Friday, Aug. 17

East Union at Downey

Enochs at Beyer (at Johansen)

Gregori at Buhach Colony

Modesto at Clovis

Napa at Pitman

Turlock at Freedom

Central Catholic at Clovis West

Sonora at Oakdale

Ceres vs Central Valley

Patterson at Tokay

Davis at Amador

Johansen at Waterford

Escalon at Union Mine

Hilmar at Delhi

Stagg at Hughson

Sierra at Modesto Christian

Western Ranch at Ripon

Riverbank vs Madison Park Academy

Woodland Christian at Denair

Orestimba at Bret Harte

Millenium at Ripon Christian

Foresthill at Turlock Christian

Big Valley Christian at Harker