Merced can’t sustain fast start, falls to Oakdale

Trent Merzon believes there are two things teams must do to win at this time of year: Run the ball and stop the run.

Merzon and his Oakdale High coaching staff spent a lot of time focusing on those two things and it showed on Friday night as the top-seeded Mustangs overcame a fast start by No. 4 Merced by scoring the final 28 points of the game in a 35-21 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinals at the Corral.

Oakdale (11-2) will face No. 3 Christian Brothers in the championship on Friday at Lincoln High at 7 p.m. Christian Brothers defeated American Canyon 29-0 in the other Division III semifinal on Friday.

“We spend a lot of energy for 12 months of the season working on stopping the run and running the ball,” said Merzon, whose team improved to 11-2. “The teams winning at this time of year do those two things.”

Will Semone continued his torrid postseason, following up his 559 yards in his first two playoff games with 266 yards and four touchdowns on 46 carries against Merced (9-4).

The Mustangs racked up 386 yards on the ground and held the Bears to 122 rushing yards. The bulk of those yards came on a 51-yard run from Ulonzo Gilliam and a 48-yard run by Paul Scoggins on a fake punt.

“We had a tough time running the ball,” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt, whose team finishes the season with a 9-4 record. “We were able to do some good things early. I think we were fatigued. We spent a lot of energy early in the game.”

The Bears dominated the opening quarter, marching down the field for touchdowns on their first three possessions.

Merced hit Oakdale for big plays in the passing game as quarterback Jake Foss connected on touchdown passes to Scoggins and Stephen Williams to give the Bears a 21-7 lead.

However, the Mustangs regrouped and shut Merced out the rest of the way.

“We couldn’t find a way to get back in the end zone,” Scheidt said. “Part of it was bad play calling and the part of it was just not making plays.”

Meanwhile, Oakdale stuck to its ground attack and chipped away at the Bears’ lead with the help of three Merced turnovers. The Mustangs cashed in on each turnover, turning them into seven points.

The first turnover was against a trick play by Merced in which Scoggins took a pitch and fired a pass down field for Tanner Pellissier, but Oakdale’s CJ Toledo intercepted.

The Mustangs then marched down field and Semone punched in a 1-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 21-14.

Bronson Harmon intercepted a Foss pass in the third quarter and returned it to the Merced 8-yard line. Semone scored on the next play to pull the Mustangs even at 21-21.

“The thing that makes our Wing-T unique is we refuse to deviate from what we do,” Merzon said. “You won’t see us go to a spread or try something new. If we’re going down, we’re going down doing us. Our kids just believe we’re going to play harder and faster than anybody else.”

Merced’s offense was bottled up in the second half. After throwing for 184 yards in the first half, Foss was held to just 41 yards passing in the second half. Gilliam was limited to just four yards rushing in the second half after 68 yards in the first two quarters.

“They just came out more physical than us,” Foss said. “We tried to give it a run at the end, but it was too late. They changed their defense to stop the pass and they did a good job.”

Scoggins gave the Bears a spark on the fake punt, when he sprinted around the left side and then cut across the field for a 48-yard gain that moved the ball into Oakdale territory with the game still tield at 21-21 late in the third quarter.

The Merced drive stalled, however, and Semone broke free for a 47-yard run that eventually set up his own 2-yard touchdown run that gave Oakdale its first lead of the game at 28-21 with 11:57 left in the game.

“We didn’t change anything when we fell behind,” Semone said. “We played our game, ground and pound. That’s what we do best. That’s why we’re successful. The guys up front are the key. There are 22 men on the field and 10 of them are trying to help me get yards. My yards are going to trying to get the team a win.”

Merced’s third turnover helped the Mustangs put the game away. The Bears were driving, trying to tie the game until Oakdale recovered a fumble by Williams.

The Mustangs used their own trick play as Harmon threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Lutz to extend the lead to 35-21 with just over 7 minutes left in the game.

“When we play well, we keep the ball in our possession,” Scheidt said. “We put our defense is some bad spots.”

There was a lot of emotion on Merced’s side of the field after the game with the season suddenly over.

“It was a good run,” Foss said. “Looking back at the season, I’m proud of what our team was able to do.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Merced can’t sustain fast start, falls to Oakdale."