Oakdale’s second year head coach named The Bee’s Football Coach of the Year
When he was playing linebacker and safety at Oakdale High, Garrett Martin never thought he would take over for the legendary Trent Merzon.
“When you’re young and in high school, a lot of times you don’t know what you’re gonna do. (Football) was a game I loved and I had a pretty good understanding of it,” Martin said. “(After college) I was thinking about becoming a teacher and coach Merzon reached out in 2014 and said ‘we’re looking for a linebackers coach’ … and it went from there.”
Martin originally came back as a linebackers coach before working his way up to defensive coordinator. Last season was his first as the head coach and offensive play caller. He says he learned a lot from Merzon. Among the many things was how years of calling the Mustangs’ defense could directly help with his new offensive playcalling duties.
“Early in his career he helped coach on defense before he took over as head coach. He talked a lot about understanding how the defense functions,” Martin said. “It allows you to attack certain aspects of the defense. Understanding how they’re trying to stop our concepts allows us to tweak it a little to take advantage of that.”
It led to the Mustangs’ three-back, Wing-T offense producing some of the Stanislaus District’s top offensive performances this season. Oakdale finished third in the competitive Valley Oak League and made it back to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship for the first time since 2021.
After leading Oakdale back to the section championship in just his second season as head coach, Martin is The Bee’s Football Coach of the Year.
Oakdale wasn’t your typical run-first offense in 2024.
They thrived on explosive plays against some of the most disciplined defenses in the area. In their three-back system, Wes Burford, Chase Lopez and Richard Flores were all threats to break 20-plus yard runs at any time. The Mustangs averaged 40.3 points a game, scored over 50 points four times and put up more than 60 once. Lopez recorded over 1,100 rush yards and Burford finished top 20 in the nation in rushing yards, tallying 2,678 yards and 32 touchdowns on the ground.
“It’s fun to score points and I think it validates all the hard work the kids do,” Martin said. “It allows them to have belief in the system, especially the guys up front. We have guys scoring TD’s and rushing for all these yards, but it doesn’t happen without the other 10 guys on the field.”
Despite adding one of the Stanislaus District’s most successful programs over the past five seasons in Patterson, Oakdale still kept its spot as one of the top teams in the VOL. Oakdale is consistently in the running for league championships, no matter how many teams enter the league.
Martin’s senior season as a Mustang the team won its first two playoff games before falling to Inderkum. In 2025 with Martin as the coach, they finished third in the VOL and earned the No. 1 seed in the Division III section playoffs. For the first time since 2021, the Mustangs won their quarterfinals and semifinals matchups, beating Woodcreek and Destiny Christian Academy, before matching up with Vanden in the section title game.
Every year, Oakdale football’s goals are VOL and section championships. Even though Martin led the team to an 8-4 record last year in his first as head coach, not reaching the title game still doesn’t sit well with him. Is it delusional? Martin admits that is a possibility. But the program’s success brings an expectation to make deep runs and be in the running for a blue banner.
“That’s the standard of success,” Martin said. “I hope that’s not arrogant, but I think we have to have that belief in order to give it to the kids. I don’t think it can be faked. If we don’t believe it as coaches, it will be hard for the kids to believe it.”
Next season all three running backs, Burford, Lopez and Flores, return for their senior seasons along with offensive and defensive linemen, defensive backs and linebackers. The goal next year is the same as every year.
“That goes back to being delusional,” Martin said. “Our goal is to win the VOL and win a section title. We have a very good group coming back.”
