Curse reversed: Manteca football takes down Central Catholic in VOL showdown

Roger Canepa’s postgame message to Central Catholic was essentially this: They’ve got to get better.

The blocking, the tackling, the overall effort. All of it needs to improve if the Raiders are going to bounce back from Friday night’s 31-14 loss to Valley Oak League foe Manteca on the road.

“We’ve got to execute. We don’t execute,” Canepa said. “We don’t tackle as well as we have. We’ve got a lot of guys going both ways, but that’s no excuse. That’s my fault. We don’t block as well as we once did. Why? I don’t know. We’re not executing. It’s nobody’s fault but mine. I don’t blame the kids. It was a good game, we just didn’t take advantage of anything.”

In all but two possessions the Raiders struggled to put drives together against the physical hosts. Central Catholic had a punt blocked, giving Manteca good field position. Once in the first half, they turned the ball over in their own territory and four times in the game the Raiders either punted or turned the ball over on downs.

Twice, though, they found some life. After allowing 10 first quarter points, junior receiver Chase Perino took the ball on a handoff, got the edge and sprinted up the Manteca sideline for a 67-yard touchdown.

In the second half with the game still within reach, the Raiders put together their best drive of the evening.

They drove 60 yards on their first possession of the second half, finishing the drive with a 24-yard connection from junior Kayden McHenry to senior Joseph Stewart, cutting Manteca’s lead to just three points with just over eight minutes left in the quarter.

“We played good at times,” Canepa said. “What was it, 17-14?”

Things for the Raiders went from bad to worse in the third quarter when leading rusher Joey Alcutt was ejected for an action after the whistle.

“It was chippy,” Canepa said. “But we’re taught better than that.”

Manteca reverses the curse

Manteca coach Mark Varnum and his staff were adamant to their team that 2024 would be the year they got the job done. The Buffaloes entered the game 0-9 against Central Catholic since the Raiders joined the Valley Oak League.

And they knew it.

“We’ve outplayed them multiple times but something always goes wrong and we don’t finish,” he said. “Tonight, we finished.”

The Buffaloes nearly had another thing go wrong Friday night when leading rusher Nikko Juarez went down with a shoulder injury in the first quarter, but five other running backs and quarterback Owen Gully combined for 237 yards and three rushing touchdowns.

Fullback Maava Tialavea led the way with 155 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Ruben Moreno and Quinn Martinez added rushing scores. Ruben Moreno had the Buffaloes’ only receiving touchdown.

“When you lose one of the best running backs in the section, it’s scary but Elijah Stevenson, Maava Tialavea stood up, ran the ball hard,” Varnum said. “Our two fullbacks, we’ve been saving them for this game to play offense. They’ve been chomping at the bit to play offense … they were running the ball hard. Our offensive line dominated and our defensive line dominated as well. A full team effort.”

After the Raiders’ long scoring drive that made it a 17-14 game, Manteca answered with a pair of long drives, scoring touchdowns on both.

Varnum said he was proud of the team and made sure to note this win meant as much to former players as it does to the current team. He posed for pictures with a Buffs alum in front of the scoreboard that stil glowed with the final score, behind them.

“We straight up told them it’s time to reverse the curse,” Varnum said.

Both continue league play

It’s gut check time for Central Catholic.

The Raiders went through a grueling six weeks and now they’ll have a much-needed bye week. The team will likely get back to basics, working on fine-tuning the offense and stressing blocking, tackling and playing hard. They’ll be back at practice on Monday.

“We go back to work,” Canepa said. “Where else do you think we’re going to go? We’re going to figure out a way to get better.”

Varnum’s focus will be keeping the Buffaloes focused. It’s a young team with a number of sophomores and juniors on the offense. For the past few years, Manteca has been the hunter, chasing down the VOL’s top seed. Now, they’re the hunted as the new favorite to win the league with a pair of big matchups against Patteson and Oakdale on the horizon.

“I told (the team) if anyone wants it, they’ve got to take it from you now,” he said “Sometimes it’s hard to be the hunted. We’ve got to bring it every week. We want to put a sticker on the wall. We want a VOL championship. That’s our goal now.”

Manteca takes on Sierra next week, which is 2-0 in VOL play after wins over Mountain House and East Union.

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