The top rusher in section history, Oakdale’s Burford is Bee Football Player of the Year
If you want insight into the competitive nature burning inside Oakdale do-it-all football player Wes Burford, his final postgame interview is a window.
Let’s paint the picture.
Burford just rushed for 176 yards and five touchdowns on 41 carries in the Division III Sac-Joaquin Section championship against Woodcreek.
The Mustangs lost in what was the highest-scoring championship game in section history, a 58-52 shootout that went back-and-forth.
The Mustangs were emotional. Burford was emotional.
But when asked to reflect on the circumstances, his answer focused on the future and a pursuit for championships in other sports.
“I want to get something back somehow,” Burford said after the championship game loss. “I know I can’t do it on the football field here, but wrestling season is coming up, track is coming up, and I want to finish strong in those. Football is amazing. I loved all of it and I know there’s more to come. I’ve got to keep my head up and keep going.”
Anyone who watched even a quarter of Oakdale football the past three years could see the competitive side of No. 12. He runs through and around defenders as the slot in Oakdale’s Wing-T, he plays linebacker on defense, punts, returns kicks, and kicks field goals.
“I love to compete,” Burford said in an interview with The Bee on Oakdale’s football field two and a half weeks after the section championship game. “I love lining up in front of me and doing the best I can, whether that’s wrestling, whether that’s track. It sucks losing and, yes, it was in a championship (game) ... but in the bigger aspect of life, there’s a lot more people going through stuff a lot harder than losing a football game.”
After being named Valley Oak League MVP, leading the Sac-Joaquin Section in rush yards, total points and total touchdowns and guiding the Mustangs back to the section championship, Burford is The Bee’s Football Player of the Year.
Oakdale’s strong season results in trip to SJS title game
While he was locked in on securing a victory in a must-win rivalry Valley Oak League game against Central Catholic, Burford’s opportunity at history was unescapable.
He was on the verge of becoming the Sac-Joaquin Section’s all-time career leading rusher.
Not only did Burford set the record with a 290-yard, five-touchdown effort, but Oakdale secured the 60-46 win, keeping the Mustangs’ league championship hopes alive as they remained unscathed in VOL play.
At the end of that game, he had 6,453 on his career, propelling him past former Rio Linda star and current New York Giant Cameron Skattebo.
“I’ve got respect for Central, it’s an amazing program and a good team, but beating them for the first time was a really fun moment for the team in the rivalry (game),” Burford said. “That was definitely a big highlight of the season.”
Burford’s numbers this season were jaw-dropping. He rushed for 2,867 yards and 42 touchdowns on 312 carries, recorded 77 tackles, 30 tackles for loss, seven sacks for 29 yards, an interception, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
They were more than just section bests, putting the Air Force-bound star in conversations with some of the nation’s top talent. His rushing yards were second in California and 21st in the nation, his total touchdowns were fourth in California, and his 295 total points were first in the section and state and ninth in the nation.
Oakdale head coach Garrett Martin called Burford the team’s heartbeat, and somehow even that might be an understatement.
“It was cool hearing the stats and everything put up. The stats are amazing, and those fall where they fall, but to me, it was always about going out to perform with my team,” Burford said. “Whether I get eight touchdowns in a game or I get zero touchdowns. I’m gonna go out and run hard. If (teammate) Chase (Lopez) had to score every game, so be it, if Richard (Flores) had to score, it was about whatever we had to do to win.”
After a season-opening loss to eventual back-to-back state champion Sonora, Oakdale rattled off eight straight wins and had some of the most impressive offensive outputs in the section. The Mustangs scored 70 and 60 points twice each this season.
With Burford leading the way, the Mustangs finished second in the VOL, their best league finish since their 2019 co-championship run. Though they did not win, the title game appearance against Woodcreek was Oakdale’s second straight trip to a Division III section championship.
“There were so many things throughout the season with my friends and my brothers and my coaches, just going through everything,” he said. “It was one of the best seasons I’ve ever had out of any sport.”
A career of consistency
Burford’s career has been defined by his consistency. He did not start playing wing until high school but when he got the ball in his hands, he never looked back.
He is product of college athletes Seth, a football player, and Jill, who ran track in college, and is the older brother of a pair of Oakdale soccer players in Dakota, a junior, and Skyler, a freshman.
Seth was a quarterback at Oakdale, Idaho State, Cal Poly and in the NFL. Despite having a dad who made it to the game’s highest level as a signal caller, Wes was the JV backup while starting at first-string wing and linebacker. He quickly realized the quarterback was not for him.
“They’d put me in (at quarterback) at the end of the game or when our quarterback had to go out for a play,” Wes recalled. “But I wasn’t a fan of it. I wasn’t a fan of throwing the ball and stuff, I’d rather just take it and run it every time.”
Burford is the section’s all-time leading rusher and is just outside the top 10 on the Cal-Hi Sports state all-time career rushing list. What makes that feat even more impressive is that he is nowhere near the top of the state’s single-season rushing records.
Burford was a rusher of 1,000-plus yards the moment he started playing varsity football. He improved every year, tallying 1,819 as a sophomore, 2,678 as a junior and 2,867 as senior. His best season as a senior would have been around 58th in state history.
He also never missed a game. He logged time in 38 career varsity games, playing through injury, illness and a heavy heart after losing his grandmother the week of a game as a junior.
For the past two seasons, Wes’ only water breaks were in between field goals and kickoffs or during a change of possession. And he didn’t even really leave the field for those. His dad, who is also on the Mustangs’ coaching staff, would pull a bottle with an electrolyte-water mix out of his pocket so his son could take a swig.
By Wes’ senior season, they had the routine down pat. And though he pushed himself to the point of in-game cramping on some occasions, he would not trade how he played for anything.
“I just love competing, and I’ll play until I can’t physically do it anymore,” he said.
This story was originally published January 1, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
