Oakdale turns away persistent BR

OAKDALE ? The Bear River football team got only 10 yards on the ground from 1,000-yard rusher Cody Yeager, had bad snaps on extra-point, punt and shotgun plays, dropped a pair of potential touchdown passes and committed three turnovers.Yet the visiting Bruins had Oakdale fans nervous until the very end of Friday night?s Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinal. Some were even yelling that the Mustangs? head coach should be fired.Thank the Bear River defense for almost spoiling Oakdale?s perfect season, and the Mustangs? defense for preserving it with three goal-line stands en route to a 13-6 victory.The Bruins (8-4) wanted a chance to avenge a 21-0 league loss to Colfax in next Saturday night?s 7:30 section title game. Instead, Colfax (11-1) ? which blanked Rio Linda 27-0 in Friday?s other semifinal ? will play revenge-seeking Oakdale (12-0) for the section crown at Stockton?s University of the Pacific. The Mustangs lost last year?s semifinal to the Falcons 37-17 in Colfax.?We remember what happened last year (in Colfax),? said 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive lineman Paul Lamontia, who had one of Oakdale?s three sacks of Bear River quarterback Josh Rumsey. ?Revenge would be sweet.?In front of several thousand fans at ?The Corral,? including hundreds from Lake of the Pines who made the 2-1/2-hour trip in cars or charter buses, the Bruins nearly overcame a partisan announcer and their mistakes as they closed their first postseason in six years with one of their best efforts.?I like playing in that kind of pressure. It gets me going,? Bear River return man/cornerback Justin Bramer said of playing a program that?s been around more than 80 years. ?We played hard. I?m proud of our team.?Late in the third quarter, the senior heard a Bruin coach yell at him to drop back in case a 43-yard Oakdale field goal try came up short enough to return. Sure enough, it went right to him at about the 20-yard line. He returned it all the way to the Mustangs? 37.Rumsey, under pressure all night, completed an improbable third-down pass to Matt Mocek to the 5. But after a procedure penalty moved the Bruins back to the 10, three different ball carriers were unable to punch it in.On fourth down, Rumsey fired to Wil Thomas in the end zone, but Thomas wasn?t able to hold onto the slightly high pass. Thomas buried his face in the ground for several seconds, then popped back up to assume his safety position on defense.With Thomas and Bramer continuing to defend against the pass well, the Mustangs punted after three short runs. On the first play of the fourth quarter, a short punt gave the Bruins the ball back at Oakdale?s 20.Three straight runs by Brock Boyle got the Bruins to the 5 again. But the Mustangs held once again, forcing Rumsey to throw incomplete on fourth down.?Our starting middle linebacker, Ryan Waterworth, didn?t play in the first half and it made us very vulnerable. But he came in for the second half and really inspired us,? explained Lamontia, who had one of Oakdale?s three sacks.The Mustangs also turned back Bear River in the second quarter, though, after Thomas returned a punt 27 yards to the Oakdale 13. But on third down, Mocek was hit hard after catching a pass at the 8. The ball bounced back to the 1, where the Mustangs recovered it.Seven plays later, though, the Bruins returned the favor by popping Oakdale receiver Joey Norwood after a catch. Bear River?s Cody Chicourrat recovered it at the Mustangs? 19. This time, Brock Boyle (team-high 31 yards on 10 carries) burst 12 yards up the middle to the 7, and two plays later, Yeager caught Rumsey?s bootleg pass for an eight-yard touchdown that tied the score at 6-6.John Savoie didn?t get to kick the tie-breaking extra point. Holder Michael Fredrickson couldn?t handle the snap, got up and was tackled immediately.Yeager didn?t have the kind of shake-and-bake moves that helped him rush for 196 yards in last week?s huge 19-7 road win over Foothill. He seemed a step slow on each of his nine carries.?I wish I?d come to play, but I have a virus infection,? he said afterward. ?They hit me hard and I think they just wanted it more than us.??It helped that they run the same stuff as we do,? said Joey Norwood, who doubles for Oakdale as a defensive back with his brother.The Bruins held red-hot fullback Matt Alfaro, who had averaged 280 in his previous two games, to 127 yards on 37 carries. The junior didn?t have any runs longer than 17 yards after the game?s first series, but did play a big part in each of the Oakdale scoring drives.The junior put his team on the board with a three-yard touchdown run at the end of a 13-play, 65-yard drive that opened the game, running seven times during the drive. When the Bruins fumbled the second-half kickoff, Jason Norwood ? Joey?s twin brother ? fell on it at the Bear River 32. Alfaro ran on seven of eight plays before quarterback Jeff Cox (6-of-8 for 52 yards) found a wide-open Joey Norwood in the left side of the end zone. The PAT was good for a 13-6 lead.The Bruins appeared they were on the way to a second-half collapse similar to ones they?ve had against archrival Colfax when, at the end of the ensuing three-and-out series, punter Brian Hudson received a low snap and got tackled at his own 30. But Bramer helped keep the Bruins hoping with his heads-up field-goal return.?We?ve been known to not be a second-half team,? Bramer said. ?Tonight we stayed the course and played like we know how to play, except for a couple of plays.?Colfax, which went 13-0 last year, will need to play four strong quarters to keep the Mustangs from doing the same this year.?We know they?ve got a good quarterback and pass a lot and can be scary,? Joey Norwood said. ?We know they?re going to give us our toughest game all year, but we?re more of a team this year and we want a rematch.?