OAKDALE – Sometimes, a little bit of luck can be good, and Manteca got that little bit Friday night in its 28-27 win over Oakdale at the Corral in the Valley Oak League football regular-season finale.

Tommy Chance (9 of 10 passing, 134 yards, two touchdowns) connected with Joseph Delte (four receptions, 85 yards, two touchdowns) for the duo’s second touchdown play of the night to draw the Mustangs (3-2 VOL, 7-3 overall) within 28-27 with 3 minutes, 54 seconds left in the game. Fortunately for the Buffaloes (4-1, 7-3) the extra-point attempt sailed wide and Manteca was able to run the clock out.

“I think we took them lightly. No matter what we said all week, I think we showed our lack of maturity and again, we took them lightly. We said we had to treat this like a playoff game, and in the end we survived and advanced.”

Manteca featured a ground-pounding offense and the main ground-pounder for the Buffaloes was Bryson Davis with 28 carries for 275 yards with scoring runs of 20, 42 and 47 yards.

“Our line really hit and drove people back,” Davis said. “They opened the holes up and then I just did my job.

“It was all thanks to my line.”

Garrison Reis was the signal caller for the Buffaloes until the final drive when he was injured, and Preston Smith came in under center for the final 3:54 of the game. Smith was able to run the clock out due in large part to the punishing running of Davis.

“At first I was a little nervous,” Smith said. “But I knew my guys were going to have my back and I knew if I had theirs we would get the job done, which we did.”

With 5:09 lefty in the first half, Manteca’s Nick Garcia made an interception which set up Davis’ 20-yard touchdown for a 21-14 halftime lead for the Buffaloes.

“We were in double coverage,” Garcia said. “And I had help.

“I came down with the pic and that helped us out.”

Manteca’s other score came on a 28-yard counter by K.P. MacDannald early in the second quarter. Nikko Juarez averaged nearly 10 yards a carry on his three totes and had some stellar kickoff returns.

The defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champion Buffaloes now await the Sac-Joaquin Section playoff seedings which will be announced this weekend.