First place Manteca smashes VOL newcomer Mountain House

The Manteca High Buffaloes had a strong overall performance against Mountain House on Friday.

They quickly defeated the Mustangs, newcomers to the Valley Oak League, 56-0 at Dino Cunial Field at East Union High.

“We played well tonight,” coach Rick James said.

Manteca High’s longtime defensive coordinator filled head coaching duties in place of the absent Mark Varnum.

“He and his team dedicated this one-sided victory to Coach “V,” James said afterwards.

The Buffaloes (3-0, 6-1) took a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, needing just 12 offensive plays.

Junior running back Maava Tialavea scored the first of his two touchdowns to get the ball rolling earlier in the game.

On Manteca’s next possession, quarterback Owen Gully connected with Quinn Martinez for a 30-yard score.

With less than two minutes left in the first quarter, Ruben Moreno took advantage of his blockers and raced 34 yards to the end zone.

The Buffaloes were warming up at the time.

Trailing 21-0, Mountain House (0-3, 0-7) struggled to move the ball against one of the league’s powerhouses.

Tialavea followed through with a 20-yard TD run as Manteca scored four more times in the second quarter, putting the game even further out of reach.

Gully, who completed eight of his 10 passes for 157 yards and two scores, found Nate Slikker for a 19-yard touchdown.

Gully’s backup Preston Smith got the game started with a 27-yard run.

Elijah Stevenson made it 49-0 with his 2-yard TD just before halftime.

Place-kicker Cameron Navarette converted all of his PAT attempts.

With a running clock in the second half, the Buffaloes managed to add another score on Demariae Long’s 2-yard run in the third quarter to complete the attack.

A testament to Manteca’s dominance was his 481-49 total, including 299-(-12) on the floor.

Defensively, Isaiah White led the way with 11 tackles. Middle linebackers Kyrin Barajas and Joshua Mellion helped out with seven and five, respectively. All three had a quarterback sack each.

Mateo Esparza contributed an interception.

“I was proud of our overall performance,” James said as his team takes on longtime city rival East Union next week.