Manteca holds on to end Central Valley’s season, will face familiar foe in Inderkum next week

Nearly a quarter into Friday night’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoff opener between Manteca and Central Valley, Buffaloes coach Eric Reis was having Ja’Quan Gardner flashbacks.

“I thought, ‘Oh, no, here we go again,’ ” said Reis, who guided Manteca to a shootout victory over the Hawks in the first round in 2013, the year the Buffs would go on to win the D-III crown.

Manteca’s 31-28 victory Friday at Guss Schmiedt didn’t feature even half as many points as the 69-55 thriller two years ago, nor did any player match the individual brilliance of Gardner, who rushed for 378 yards and four touchdowns in a losing cause that night.

Still, there were enough plot twists and big plays to keep fans interested.

Manteca’s Jose Garcia fielded the game’s opening kickoff at his own 10 and returned it 87 yards to the Hawks’ 3, setting up Marcus Rivas’ first score 23 seconds into the contest.

Central Valley botched a punt attempt on its first possession that gave Manteca the ball at the Hawks’ 10. Two plays later, Rivas busted in from the 5 to make it 14-0 with just 2 minutes, 6 second elapsed.

It got worse before it got better for Central Valley.

With just over three minutes to play in the first quarter, quarterback Reuben Rodriguez was picked off by Ronald Tijero, who scooted in from 23 yards out to make it 21-0 after Diego Reyes’ PAT.

“It’s not our style to air-raid our way back into games,” said CV coach Scott Edwards, whose team outscored Manteca 28-10 the rest of the way. “But all units combined, we’re a pretty good team. I’m proud of these guys; they had a heck of a season.”

Central Valley got on the scoreboard when Moses Ghiorso broke free from the 13 and went 87 yards for the score.

Manteca fumbled on the ensuing drive, giving the Hawks the ball 12 yards from paydirt. Four plays later, Ghiorso scored from the 1 to make it 21-14. That allowed Central Valley to stay within its game plan and not have to “air-raid” its way back into the contest.

Despite 35 points in the first quarter, both defensive units were on their game.

Ghiorso’s 87-yarder was the lone score earned against either defensive unit in the first quarter, and other than the one run for 87 yards, Ghiorso was held to nine yards on 13 carries.

“Both defenses played well tonight,” said Reis, whose team will take on unbeaten Inderkum (11-0) on Friday in a quarterfinal matchup. The Buffaloes and Tigers took turns ending each other’s season in 2012 and 2013.

Manteca quarterback Gino Campiotti had even higher praise for Central Valley’s defense, ranking it just behind the defensive units of Central Catholic and Oakdale.

“They play hard and were quick,” said the 6-foot-2, 170-pound sophomore. “They were the first team this year that really forced me to get out of the pocket. They ran a lot of delayed blitzes.”

Manteca forged ahead 28-14 on Campiotti’s 29-yard touchdown strike to Ronald Tijero with less than two minutes to play in the first half.

The Hawks received the ball to start the third quarter, but for a third consecutive time, went three-and-out.

Emani Anitelea gave CV the spark it was looking for when he recovered a botched punt snap and raced 30 yards for the score to make it 28-21.

After Reyes’ 32-yard field goal stretched the lead to 10 points, Central Valley made it 31-28 when Jamarea Lumpkin scored from the 2, with 6:19 to play.

The Hawks (7-4) forced Manteca to punt and took over on their 24 with 4:33 to play in the game. Faced with fourth-and-the season from his team’s 27, Central Valley quarterback Reuben Rodriguez dropped back to pass and saw Ghiorso open on the post pattern. Rodriguez’s pass was a tad long and Manteca took over on downs.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 1:40 AM with the headline "Manteca holds on to end Central Valley’s season, will face familiar foe in Inderkum next week."