Friday night football playoffs: Unbeaten foes next for Central Catholic, Oakdale

Over the past four seasons, nobody in the Stanislaus District has played in more big football games than Central Catholic and Oakdale high schools.

The Raiders are the three-time reigning Division IV state champs and have played in 19 playoff games since that run began.

Oakdale, meanwhile, has won two of the past three Sac-Joaquin Section D-III titles, making trips to the state championship bowl game in 2012, the NorCal final last year, and playing in 15 postseason contests over the same span.

They’ll add to those totals Friday night when they take on undefeated opponents in the D-III semifinals. Central Catholic (12-0), the No. 1 seed in D-III, hosts fifth-seeded Placer of Auburn (12-0) at 7 p.m. in its second matchup with an unbeaten foe this season.

“They didn’t get to be 12-0 by not being good,” said Raiders coach Roger Canepa, who has won 50 of 53 games (.943) at David Patton Field since taking over the program in 2008. “But so are we, and that’s what I tell the kids.”

The No. 2 Mustangs (10-1) will entertain Inderkum (12-0) of Sacramento at 7 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s title game, won by Oakdale 27-23 after falling behind 21-0 in the first half.

Looking across the line and seeing an unbeaten opponent is nothing new for the Raiders and Mustangs. Three weeks ago, in the regular-season finale, the teams met with matching 9-0 records and the Valley Oak League title on the line.

Central Catholic, behind 288 rushing yards and three touchdowns from reigning Player of the Year Justin Rice, won 42-37.

Before 2015, there were eight matchups over the past 25 years in the district involving unbeaten teams with at least nine wins. There have been four this year alone.

The same week Central Catholic and Oakdale clashed, longtime rivals Orestimba and Gustine met to determine the Southern League champ. Two weeks later, in the D-III quarterfinals, Placer and Patterson met with identical 11-0 marks, with the Hillmen winning 65-52 and advancing to take on the Raiders.

There could be a fifth such meeting if Central Catholic and Inderkum were to meet next week in the D-III finale.

But first things first. The Raiders must find a way to slow Placer’s wing-T attack that rushed for more than 500 yards against Patterson.

Leading the way for the Hillmen is Owen Scott, a 6-foot, 185-pound tailback who rushed for 234 yards against the Tigers. But Placer, which hung one of those three losses on Canepa at David Patton Field, also got 100-yard performances from Waylen Cozad (148) and Jared Halbert (118).

But Scott is the key. In addition to rushing for an 84-yard TD last Friday, he returned a kickoff 84 yards for a score and caught a 65-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Marcus Ante. Scott also sees considerable time at cornerback.

Oakdale, meanwhile, also will face a wing-T opponent. Inderkum features three senior running backs – Raekwon Turner, Derrick Henderson and Jimmie Johnson – who have combined for more than 3,500 yards. But Oakdale possesses a power trio of its own in Brad Aquino, Bobby DePuy and Austin Burke. They gave Central Catholic fits in their matchup and no doubt provided Placer with an adequate blueprint on how to attack the Raiders’ defense.

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Friday night football playoffs: Unbeaten foes next for Central Catholic, Oakdale."