Oakdale puts up 49 points on Sonora. But it was a defender who shined for Mustangs.
In front of a sea of red and yellow, Oakdale gave its fans plenty to cheer about during a 49-0 victory over rival Sonora on Friday.
The win is the Mustangs’ (1-0) second straight over the Wildcats (0-1) and they have now beat them eight of the last nine years.
“We jumped on them early, got some big stops and then finished some drives,” Oakdale coach Trent Merzon said.
After forcing Sonora to punt on its first drive, the Mustangs started their 2018 season on offense with a 13-play, 61-yard drive that culminated with a 1-yard touchdown run from senior running back Oscar Ramos as Oakdale led 7-0 with a little over three minutes left in the quarter.
Senior Carson Frazee forced a fumble on the ensuing drive and senior Caleb Kuppens recovered it to give the Mustangs the ball on the Wildcats 43-yard line. Two plays later, sophomore running back Zeke Saffar ran 35 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. Saffar finished the night with eight carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
Kuppens’ day was just getting started as the senior added another fumble recovery in the second quarter and scored on a 2-yard rushing touchdown on the following drive. He also had a 45-yard kickoff return.
“The kid is a stud,” Merzon said. “Kupp might be one of the best players in the area that nobody knows about or that nobody knew about. The secret is out. He worked so hard in the off-season to turn himself into what he is right now.”
“All you got to do is focus on your job and then everything should be pretty sound,” Kuppens said. “If someone doesn’t do their job then someone else has to compensate. We watched a lot of film and practiced hard.”
The Mustangs held the Wildcats offense to 38 rushing yards on 17 carries through the first three quarters and Sonora didn’t have an offense play in Oakdale territory until the fourth quarter.
“I thought our defensive line coaches did a great job game-planning,” Merzon said. “The defensive coaching staff did a great job tonight.”
Junior running back Leo Ayala had a 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter as he made a couple of defenders miss on his way to the end zone. The Mustangs ran for 284 yards on 52 carries for the night.
Oakdale will face Archbishop Mitty in San Jose next Saturday at noon.
This story was originally published August 18, 2018 at 12:30 AM.