Convincingly, Central Catholic shows Manteca, everyone else, who’s the best in the VOL
Central Catholic didn’t need long to essentially establish itself Friday night as the king of the Valley Oak League.
Playing their third straight game against a VOL foe ranked among the top 11 teams in the Sac-Joaquin Section, the Raiders, behind a punishing ground game and physical defense, dismantled Manteca, 56-33, to all but clinch the VOL title.
The victory capped a three-game sweep over No. 9 Oakdale, No. 11 Kimball and fifth-ranked Manteca, which entered Friday’s game unbeaten.
“You gotta be physical to win football games,” Central Catholic coach Roger Canepa said. “You win football games by playing good defense, running the ball ... we did a good job managing the game.”
The victory was especially impressive because it was the third straight blowout win against the elites of the VOL, which is the 26th ranked league in the state and second in the Sac-Joaquin Section next to Sierra Foothill (Folsom, Rocklin, etc.), according to NorCalPreps’ league power rankings.
With two games left in the VOL, the fourth-ranked Raiders (7-1 overall, 4-0) play at East Union (4-3, 2-2) and Sierra (1-8, 1-4). They have a one-game lead over Kimball and Manteca, and hold the tiebreaker over the two by virtue of their head-to-head victories.
On Friday, the dual-back ground game paved the way.
In just his second game back from a knee injury, Julian Lopez did it all. In the first quarter, he found Jaelen Nichols in the deep right corner for a passing touchdown and caught a touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Tyler Wentworth in the second. Lopez finished the game with 188 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
“You put me anywhere I won’t let you down,” the senior running back said. “I like to move (around) and help my team out. It feels good to do it all.”
Not to be outdone, teammate Aiden Taylor broke open a 52-yard score on the Raiders’ first possession of the game. The team’s leading rusher finished with 15 carries for 227 yards and four touchdowns.
Early in the game, Manteca’s talented Blake Nichelson answered Taylor’s touchdown with a 54-yard score of, tying the game at 7-7.
After that, Central Catholic controlled the first half, scoring touchdowns in its next four possessions, capped by a 25-yard Taylor run with 23 seconds left and an interception.
After scoring 21 points and allowing just eight in the second quarter, the Raiders went into the intermission leading 35-18.
“Everybody played well,” said Canepa of his team’s first half. “We controlled the tempo of the game by running the football ... and we just played hard tonight.”
After intercepting the final pass of the first half, the Raiders’ defense stepped up again to start the second. Nichols ended the Buffaloes’ (7-1, 3-1) first drive of the half prematurely with a diving interception.
After Lopez and Nichelson traded 1-yard touchdown runs, the Raiders’ defense forced two straight Buffaloes fumbles, scoring as a result of one.
“We’ve won a lot of football games,” Canepa said. “I think we take pride in all the wins we’ve had, and sometimes you’ve got to rear back and show everybody you still got it.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2021 at 2:47 AM.
