Oakdale runs for 590 yards in 50-8 victory over Pacheco

As usual, the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III football playoff bracket reads as a who’s-who of mid-size powers.

For starters, there’s top-seeded Inderkum, three excellent teams from the Valley Oak League and an always-athletic Sacramento squad.

But at Oakdale High School, coach Trent Merzon teaches his players to ignore the bracket and focus on the weekly task at hand. And in Friday’s first round, that meant rolling to a 50-8 victory over Pacheco.

“It’s a fun tournament – a dynamic field,” Merzon said. “I told our kids that they shouldn’t be intimidated by all the great teams in D-III because one of those great teams people are talking about is us.

“And we don’t have to beat all the teams in D-III; we just have to beat the team we face each week.”

In fact, after what the Mustangs (10-1) did to the Panthers (7-4), the rest of Division III has to take notice. One week after running for more than 500 yards in a victory over Central Catholic, Oakdale rushed 59 times for 590 yards and seven touchdowns against Pacheco.

“They’re a good football team and we knew that coming in, and we also knew it would take some sort of miracle ... they’re just deeper than us,” Pacheco coach David Snapp said. “They’re what we aspire to be, but we’re in our fourth year and we’ve made the playoffs three years in a row.”

Frankie Trent rumbled for 117 yards and four scores for Oakdale, while Brock Whiting had 120 yards and junior Darus Nelson had 14 carries for 192 yards and a score, giving the junior 1,069 yards this season.

“It shows that while we haven’t perfected the wing, we run it really well,” junior quarterback Adam Olsen said. “We run our fakes well, and it’s hard for defenses to pick up what we do.”

Merzon had a theory about why Oakdale’s run game would be particularly successful against the Panthers.

“They don’t have a team in their league that gets under center, and that hurts them in the playoffs,” Merzon said. “They haven’t seen a wing. They saw a quasi-wing when they played Bear River (which runs a shotgun wing) and a fly against Buhach in Week 3, but if you don’t see people under center it’s tough.”

And it was tough all night. The only times an Oakdale drive didn’t end in points, the culprits were a missed field goal, the team’s third lost fumble of the season and the end-game kneel.

Pacheco managed 214 yards and was on the verge of getting blanked until quarterback Juwan Epperson hit Daniel Villegas on a quick slant that went for 72 yards and a score with 14 seconds left in the third quarter.

A two-point conversion brought Pacheco within 43-8, but the game and the fourth-quarter running clock had long been sealed.

Next for Oakdale is a home game next Friday against Folsom’s Vista del Lago, which held off American Canyon 42-28. Again, even though eight excellent squads remain in Division III, the Mustangs are looking at one week, one game.

“It is daunting when you look at all the teams,” Merzon said. “So you just have to take a deep breath and play against one team each week.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2014 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Oakdale runs for 590 yards in 50-8 victory over Pacheco."