Manteca’s Bryson Davis wasted little time in setting the tone Friday night with a 73-yard touchdown on the Buffaloes’ first play from scrimmage on the way to a 69-0 shellacking of visiting East Union in Valley Oak League action at Guss Schmiedt Field.

“There was great blocking by the line,” Davis said. “Every play there was a big hole, and I had to hit the hole and do my job.”

Davis finished with 11 carries for 277 yards with touchdown runs of 7, 33, 40, 67 and 73 yards.

The Buffaloes (3-0 VOL, 5-2 overall) led 50-0 at halftime when both teams had combined for 14 penalties for 137 yards. They finished with 18 penalties for 182 yards.

“We play on the edge,” Manteca coach Mark Varnum said. “And when you play on the edge, sometimes you go a bit over. We have to clean that stuff up, even though it didn’t hurt us in the end. It was a complete effort in all three phases of the game – our defense has played a month of darned-near flawless football. And on offense, now that we are hitting on all cylinders it is a beautiful thing to watch.

“K.P. (MacDannald) did the little things for us tonight on both sides of the ball. He played great on defense and was flying down the field on special teams. He had a heck of a senior night, and I am really proud of the kid.”

MacDannald finished with 38 yards on four carries including a 12-yard touchdown run along with four tackles.

“We dominated on both sides of the ball,” MacDannald said. “There’s really not much you can say.

“We did what we should have done.”

The Buffaloes defense limited the Lancers (0-3, 3-5) to just 168 offensive yards, keeping East Union out of the end zone thanks to a stellar play by Joshua Mellion.

With 5:08 left in the third quarter, the Lancers had fourth and goal to go from the 2-yard line. Mellion (four tackles, forced fumble) penetrated the left side of the East Union line and sacked Lancers quarterback Kirk Simoni to stop the most significant Lancers threat.

“To be honest, I thought it was third down,” Mellion said. “I took him down and made the tackle and then I saw everyone running off the field.

“Like coach (defensive coordinator Rick) James says, we get a shutout we eat on Wednesday.”

Manteca’s Chris Chavez (four tackles) made an interception and recovered a fumble.   

“We were just doing our part on defense,” Chavez said. “We were flying around and getting to the ball.

“I was in the right spots at the right times and made the most of it.”

Nikko Juarez (105 yards, seven carries) scored on a 48-yard run for the Buffaloes. Jhadis Luckey (eight carries, 55 yards) added a 24-yard scoring run, Julian Moncada pulled in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Garrison Reis and Damariae Long (four carries, 35 yards) scored on a 15-yard run on the game’s last play.

Isaiah White led Manteca in tackles with six. Carson Saban (interception), Thomas Perea and Luckey added four stops apiece.

Simoni was 11 of 30 for 108 yards with two interceptions and gained 33 yards on 14 carries. Cesar Salinas, Orian Germann, Carson Sanders, Vincent Hudson, Chris Gallego, Tony Agueda and Brandon McCullough were all in on three tackles each for East Union.

When asked about the penalty yardage on the night, Lancers coach Mike Kuhnlenz said, “It was a sloppy game on our end for sure, plus it’s a rivalry game.

“But we have a lot to clean up if we want to have a shot next week at Sierra because they are playing some pretty good football. Coach (Jeff) Abrew has done a pretty good job over there, and we are going to have our hands full next week on both sides of the ball.”

Next Friday at 7 p.m. East Union opens a refurbished Dino Cunial Field hosting Sierra and the Buffaloes travel to The Corral to face Oakdale.