Sierra scored its last two goals on headers to break a tie and take the first game of the Valley Oak League slate from visiting Manteca 3-1 Thursday at Daniel Teicheira Memorial Stadium.

“I’m tall, I tower over everybody,” Stackpole said. “We had Diego (Lopez), one of my brothers, on the corner kick, and he played it right to my head.

“There were three dudes surrounding me and I was taller than all of them. I just jumped up, got a head on it and placed it. It was beautiful.”

Sierra’s Mason Zeiher broke a 1-1 tie late in the first half when he took a long pass from Paul Barrios in the corner and headed the ball in.

“I was looking for chances to score and I saw Paul Barrios make a run to the corner,” Zeiher said. “So, I checked into the middle waiting for the ball to see if he would play me the ball.

“He did, and I shot it and scored.”

In the 12th minute, Alejandro Sanchez put the Timberwolves ahead 1-0 when he avoided a pair of Buffaloes players and blasted in a shot from 25 years out.

“I had dribbled through like one or two players,” Sanchez said. “And then I saw an open opportunity to shoot and I just shot it and it went in.”

Four minutes later Ethan Fraser evened the score for Manteca (0-1, 6-10-1) on a penalty kick.

Sierra coach Joe Pires was glad to get the league-opening win.

“It’s kind of good to get this off the chest, so to speak,” Pires said. “This was the first league game of the season, and we were playing at home against our crosstown rivals and we played well. I thought we dominated the game, but we just couldn’t finish. We finally got a couple to go in with both teams playing well, but we just need to finish.

“But you have to give their goalkeeper credit. He had a ton of saves — I lost count.”

Buffaloes goalkeeper Leo Garcia tallied 14 saves with the Timberwolves firing at him all night with 29 shots, and he did so with a painful leg injury.

“He (Garcia) has a strained muscle in his upper thigh, maybe his groin,” Manteca coach James Burns said. “We have been doing around-the clock treatment for him. In between classes today he was going on recovery boots, and we have been doing everything we can to get him healthy.

“We no longer have the goalie we had and this has put him in a difficult spot, but I am proud of the way he has responded to this injury in the last two games. In the post-game huddle, I told the rest of the team that this is the kind of fight I want to see from everyone like this guy on one leg making 14 saves on 29 shots. He was put in front of a firing squad today, and he absolutely responded for us. I am super proud of him.”

The Buffaloes six wins so far this season has eclipsed last year’s season total of just three wins.

“I feel like our group can be disruptive in the VOL,” Burns said. “These are games we obviously have circled on our calendars, because if we are to put ourselves in position for a playoff spot we have to be able to compete in these games and potentially at some point take a point off of these guys – talking about Sierra, East Union, Kimball – some of the top teams in the league.

“The boys were hungry, they were prepared, you could see the spirit and the fight in them. I felt like with a couple of breaks here and there it definitely could have been a different result.”

Manteca hosts East Union on Tuesday night starting 6:15 at Woodward Park, while Sierra hosts Oakdale at 6:45 p.m.

Junior varsity

Sierra 7, Manteca 3

Preston Gallegos and Neddy Ramos each notched a brace for the Timberwolves.

Johan Arroyo and Hamza Niro each added a goal.

Eli Navarro had a hand in all three goals for the Buffaloes, assisting JuJu Orejel and Adrian Anaya and scoring on a penalty kick.