Fifty years ago, on September 10, 1959, the Manteca High football team has had only two weeks of practice time under their belts but they continued to impress as they prepared for their September 18 opener with Tracy High. Coach Phil Harmon stated, “This year’s club is 30 percent ahead of last year’s team at this time.” It looks as if the Buffaloes will go with Leon Thomason and Larry Nascimento at the ends, Roy Rea and Larry Scharmann at tackles; the starting guards appear to be Wayne Dias and Dennis Scharmann and the center is Preston Cary. The backfield appears set with John Holbrook, Ken Wolf, Phillip Evans and the veteran Wade Richards.

In other sports stories from the Bulletin files:

80 years ago: September 5, 1929: The Manteca Maulers plucked another sweet fruit when they took a huge slice of victory from the Modesto Milk Producers last Sunday on the Modesto diamond. The final tally was 7 to 1 and gives Manteca the second half championship of the Don Pedro League. The superb pitching of “Hank” Dinkel was too much for the Milk Producers and they gathered only four hits off his slants, three of which were of the scratchy variety. With such pitching, Dinkel hung up 14 strikeouts and walked but two men. Stanlely Dinkel and Eddie Forsell led the Mauler hitters for the day. Dinkell was 3-for-5 and Forsell was 4-for-4.

70 years ago: September 7, 1939: Manteca’s Merchants forced defeat upon themselves at Escalon Sunday as the home town team came from behind with a four-run rally in the sixth inning to edge out the locals 5-3. The defeat was tough to take as six local errors contributed to the downfall and a total of 12 base hits were handled carelessly on the base paths to squelch any chance of Manteca winning the tilt. For Bill Enders, it was a hard one to lose as he allowed but seven hits, struck out nine and walked only one. Johnny Espinal pounded out a double and a pair of singles in four trips to the plate to cop batting honors for the day.

40 years ago: September 5, 1969 - Star UCLA linebacker Don Widmer of Lathrop begins his third season with the southern California grid team.

Widmer, an outstanding athlete at Manteca High, weighs 225 pounds and stands 6-1 and is a senior political science major.

30 years ago: September 7, 1979 - Tackling twice-daily football practices, East Union and Manteca High gridsters end their summers on a more strenuous note than most high school students. The Buffalo frosh-soph and varsity squads will host Lodi High in a scrimmage tomorrow at Guss Schmiedt Field and the Lancers travel to Lincoln High in Stockton for a scrimmage. Buffalo coach Walker Vick and EU mentor Vern Gebhardt will accompany their squads.

20 years ago: September 6, 1989 - The Manteca High Lady Buffs played fundamentally sound volleyball in a 15-9, 15-3, 15-0 straight set win over Tracy High at Winter Gym on Tuesday. They’ve only been scored on 12 times in six sets this season. Ellen Wofford had nine of her 15 points on the line in the final game.

The Manteca High tennis team, now 2-0 in pre-season, enjoyed perfect performances from two top singles players, Randi Sousa and Amy Noyes, in sweeping by Modesto High 14-1 Tuesday.

The East Union High cross country team won its first meet in years, prompting head coach Brad Stone to say, “I don’t know how many years it’s been.” EU took the Edison Invitational in Stockton, scoring 69 team points. Tokay and Lincoln Highs were the other finishers. EU junior Griffin Cheek was third with a time of 15:10 on the three-mile course. Noel Stoots finished 12th in the girls division with a time of 22:53, shaving three minutes off her time of last week.

Manteca High plowed over the Modesto High defense with a deadly stream of power running from its horde of offensive backs and held firm on defense when they had to for a 16-3 opening football season win at the Downey stadium. The Panthers netted a paltry three yards rushing in the game. Quarterback Jason Van De Pol scored once on a one-yard run and later tossed a 30-yard scoring pass to Jon Fannin. Jeremy Perez kicked both extra points. Modesto had a snap from center sail out of the end zone for a safety. Gary Cook was the leading Buffalo rusher with 55 yards on six carries.

East Union High ran wild in its football season opener Friday night, racing past, through and over Beyer High for a 21-7 victory in a turnover-filled contest at Guss Schmiedt Field. Mark Kackley, a 5-8, 148-pound senior, was the Lancer workhorse, running for 94 yards on 16 carries with a 13-yard touchdown run. Armando Avina, EU’s 6-1, 180 pound junior quarterback, finished with 91 yards on seven carries, including a 66-yard scoring run. After an Avina interception of a Beyer pass, Jason Stock carried the ball 28 yards for the last Lancer score. Tony Calestini kicked all three EU extra points.

East Union High should once again be a force to be reckoned with in volleyball. EU needed only 45 minutes to put away Ripon Christian High in the championship Saturday night at the Tournament of Champions in Ripon. The Lady Lancers made quick work of RC by scores of 15-4 and 15-4. Karen Aufdermaur proved to be the star of the tournament as she earned all-tournament honors.

10 years ago: September 10, 1999 - After a first game in which the players barely moved, the Sierra High volleyball team eventually came out of their shells and recorded a three-game sweep (15-13, 15-11, 15-13) of Stagg High on Thursday in Stockton. Trish Werre, one of eight juniors on the youthful team, led the team with 10 kills, while Michelle Springmeyer added eight.

A cross-country meet of three area schools produced some high finishes for East Union High runners. Yesterday, on a flat 3.1 mile course in Linden,  the Lancers combined with Ceres and host Linden Highs for their first meet of the season. Leading an EU team of 33 runners, junior Tim Bryam finished third in 19:07. For the Lady Lancers, Laura Dukas took first in 22:20.

Battling back from a 15-point halftime deficit, the Sierra High football team used a hard-nosed defense and the capable foot of kicker Nat Allgaier to hush its critics and record a thrilling 22-21 opening season win over Modesto High at Downey stadium last night. Cedric Oxendine collected three of the six sacks on the Panther quarterback as Modesto amassed just 33 total yards in the second half. It wasn’t until Allgaier’s 25-yard field goal with just over three minutes remaining that the game was decided. Timberwolf quarterback Jimmy Bylow connected with James Sadler on a 50-yard pass play for the first touchdown, Leo Rubio later scored on a two-yard run and Bylow tossed 11 yards to Jesse Wise for the other T’wolf TD.

Led by medalist _Erica Yoshino’s 43, the East Union High golf team moved to 2-0 with a 157-175 win over Sierra High yesterday at Manteca Park. Jamie Oliver was the best Lady T’wolf golfer.

Katie DeRoos led the Manteca High volleyball team to a 15-5, 15-10, 15-12 sweep of Linden High yesterday with 11 kills, 11 digs, two blocks and five aces.

Still suffering high scores on the greens, the Manteca High golf team dropped a match to West High yesterday afternoon. The score was 172-180. Playing at the Tracy Country Club, the Lady Buffs’ low scorer was sophomore Ashley Spence who carded a 58.

Though his team suffered a 3-2 loss to Ripon Christian High yesterday, East Union High soccer coach Adrian McDaniel was pleased with his squad’s performance on the field. Lancer goals were made by Adrian Anaya and Shawn Sousa.

East Union High’s tennis team was shut out 15-0 by host Oakdale High yesterday. Coach Bill Stricker praised the play of No. 2 singles player Mary Wells.

Sierra High blanked Manteca High 15-0 in tennis action yesterday. Top-seeded Lady T’wolf singles player Valerie Mercier didn’t allow a game point to her opponent. Coach Greg Israel’s girls are now 3-0 on the season.

A late defensive miscue allowed visiting Tokay High to defeat Manteca High’s soccer team 2-1 yesterday. Juan Romero scored the goal for the 1-5 Buffaloes.

Led by goals by Nat Allgaier and Jesse Flores, the Sierra High soccer team beat Escalon High 2-0 Wednesday evening.

After a rough start, the East Union High volleyball team defeated visiting Central Catholic High 15-13, 15-3, 15-2) Tuesday night at Dalben Center.

It was a homecoming of sorts for CCHS coach Michelle Taylor, who is a Lancer graduate. Erin Heupel served 12 points and had 18 assists for the Lady Lancers.

A top-10 finish in the PGA’s Air Canada Championships has likely secured Manteca’s Kevin Wentworth return to the PGA tour in 2000 after shooting a 4-under-par in Sunday’s final round. He finished in a tie for eighth and earned $75,000. This brings his 1999 season earnings to $368,851.

Competillng at the Oakmont Invitational, Sierra High’s cross-country runner Casey DuQuette raced to a fourth place finish in 16:25 .