STOIC FACE: Nikk Ryan, Oakdale, Division II Nikk Ryan walked among his teammates as the Oakdale Mustangs retired to the locker room for the last time of 2012. It was a disheartened and physically exhausted group. They looked how one might expect a team to look after a 42-15 loss to a Serra-Gardena team featuring a slew of Division-I talent. Many feared the game would be a massive mismatch, and the 42-0 score midway through the third
quarter confirmed it. Ryan, a 6-foot, 210-pound two-way player for the Mustangs — and the Valley Oak League MVP — walked toward the tunnel with his head high. His expression showed equal parts angst and pride. “I don’t know if we were really ready for them,” Ryan said as he continued walking. “The magnitude of play was may not have really been something we were thinking about
when we took the field. “But I think we came back a little bit in the second half, and once we were calibrated for their style, we showed how we play. We went low and hit ‘em hard. And I don’t think they’re going to be feeling too good tomorrow morning.” The Mustangs trailed 35-0 at the half when a game official asked if they wanted to agree to a running clock to begin the half. CIF rules mandate a fourth quarter run-
ning clock once a team’s lead reaches 35 points or more, however it can begin in the third quarter if both coaches agree to it. Oakdale said thanks, but no thanks. “It’s not in the DNA in Oakdale. We don’t quit,” Mustangs coach Trent Herzog said afterward. “We keep fighting and doing what we do.” Oakdale, perhaps adjusted to the Serra’s style of play, and perhaps buoyed by a large crowd of supporters, actually won the second half. If not for a 78-yard touchdown run on a fake punt, Ryan and his defensive teammates would’ve shut out the Cavaliers offense over the game’s last 24 minutes. “We talked (at halftime) about how we didn’t want to go out like this,” Ryan said. “We wanted to show everybody that we are a team to be reckoned with, and down in the valley we play hard. We wanted every one to know that.”
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December 20, 2012
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