By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Bulletin correspondent

OAKDALE — The Oakdale Mustangs were too much for Sierra Friday, scoring early and often en route to a 63-21 Valley Oak League win on Senior Night at The Corral.

The night started off, however, just as Sierra coach Jeff Abrew and his staff drew it up.

After a touchback on the opening kickoff, senior quarterback Zak Willson led the Timberwolves (2-3 VOL, 5-4 overall) on a five-play, 80-yard drive highlighted by a 40-yard connection to Cole Martin, and capped off with Willson finding wide receiver AJ Chapman all alone over the middle for a 42-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0 for the visitors less than 2 minutes in.

“Like most games, we started out great. That first drive we put together, we looked good, we looked crisp,” said Abrew of his teams fast start on a field Sierra has found very little success on over the years.

The fast start for the Timberwolves came to a screeching halt on the ensuing kickoff, with Oakdale kick returner Richard Flores evading the coverage as he raced down the sidelines for an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that knotted the score at 7-all after just 2 minutes of game time.

It was the third kickoff return for a touchdown the Timberwolves have allowed on the season and proved to be the catalyst that would kick start the Mustangs (4-1, 7-2).

On the Timberwolves next possession, facing a third-and-5, Willson threw an interception on a fantastic one-handed catch by Oakdale senior linebacker Jackson Gilton, the first his two picks on the night.

It took just one play for Oakdale to take the lead for good, with the Section’s leading rusher Wes Burford taking the first offensive play for Oakdale 31 yards untouched for the first of three touchdowns for the standout Junior.

The first play from scrimmage proved to be a theme on the night for Oakdale, with their running backs finding holes to the tune of 340 yards and six touchdowns on the ground on just 16 carries in the first half.

“We executed tonight. We talk a lot about getting off the ball — the offensive line did their job tonight so our running backs could run in space,” said Mustangs coach Garrett Martin.

It wasn’t just offense that was working for Oakdale. Martin’s Mustangs clicked in all three phases Friday night, with the special teams coming up with another big play after Sierra’s second three-and-out of the night early in the first.

Kicker Dylan Krause, who made all nine PATs for the Mustangs on the night, did some scoring of his own, as he picked up a blocked punt and took it 12 yards to put Oakdale up two scores midway through the first.

It was a gut punch for Sierra.

“We basically imploded from there,” Abrew said. “They are a really good football team, and they were able to capitalize on our mistakes and they didn’t look back.”

The Timberwolves battled, and had moments all night where they flashed the team that jumped out to a 5-1 record before injuries impacted the roster greatly over the past few weeks.

Willson, who finished the night 17-of-23 passing for 254 yards and three touchdowns, found WR Tali Vaipuna deep over the middle, who evaded the defender and raced 74 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-14 with 9:09 left in the second quarter.

Abrew recognized his team fought hard despite the injuries.

“We had the right guys in the right spots all night, no excuses,” he said. “I’ve got to do a better job coaching these dudes and hopefully we can come back and play tough.”

Oakdale closed out the first half dominating on both sides of the ball. After Sierra cut the deficit to two scores, Oakdale answered with four touchdowns on runs of 10, 87, 18, and 45 yards in just over six minutes of game time.

Highlighting the impressive offensive output was Burford’s 87 yard rumble, his 23rd rushing touchdown of the year for the Mustangs.

Martin attributed his teams success on the ground largely to his team’s execution of the vaunted Wing-T attack.

“The biggest thing is getting our guys to buy into our system,” he said. “We like to create angles, because we don’t always have the size that other teams have.”

Martin’s Mustangs went into the break up 56-14 after the explosive 35-point second quarter outburst.

Both teams were able to play a lot of their second and third units during the second half that was played entirely under a running clock. Abrew recognized the gauntlet that is the Valley Oak League Conference and the test on the horizon.

“It doesn’t get any easier for us next week,” he said. “We have got to clean things up, and come out and compete. CC is a top team in Division I so we’ve got to really try to rise to the occasion and do our best.”

Abrew and his staff remain focused on Central Catholic despite playoffs looming on the other side of the matchup with the local power.

“We want to make sure we are healthy for playoffs, but at the same time we play in the VOL where every week is a challenge and we want to try to compete with these guys.”

While Sierra travels to Modesto next week to take on the Raiders, Oakdale has its own showdown with a shot at a VOL title on the line at Manteca.

“It’s a hostile environment and they’re (Manteca) a very good team,” Martin said. “We’ve got a chance to achieve our goal of winning a VOL title. We said it all year, if you can play in Week 10 for something that’s a good thing.”