MODESTO – Dakarai Charles stood near the 40-yard line, watching Central Catholic chew up the fourth quarter clock.

The Manteca quarterback’s hands collected in a warmer around his waist and he leaned slightly to his left, taking pressure off an achy right knee.

In this moment, Charles was helpless, stuck on a soupy sideline, staring down his first loss in nearly two years.

Eventually, Central Catholic would jump, howl and punch the sky with their helmets, celebrating a thrilling 29-28 overtime victory over the Buffaloes, its first as a member of the new-look Valley Oak League.

Charles tried his best to hide the tears, burying his head into his forearm. Losing doesn’t come easy to these Buffaloes (0-1, 3-1), the reigning VOL and Sac-Joaquin Section Division III champions.

“It hurts bad. We were so close,” Charles said. “We were right there. It comes down to execution. If I complete most of those passes, it could have been different. Turnovers … this is what happens when you turn the ball over.”

For three quarters, the electric junior, whose feet and arm have created an atmospheric shift in pressure above the East Yosemite Avenue campus, was getting rolled up in the wash of his first varsity league start.

He missed throws, lost track of the first-down marker on a pivotal third-down play late in the first half, fumbled a handoff and threw a costly interception.

Charles was 6 of 11 for 75 yards and a 26-yard scramble represented the bulk of his rushing total. In short, he was anything but electric for 42 minutes, reeling some from an injury he suffered Wednesday evening but also rattled by the caliber of opponent standing across from him.

“It was pretty tight, so I couldn’t be mobile like I usually am,” he said of a knee injury that nearly cost him the start. After the game, head coach Eric Reis said Charles was a game-time decision.

“It kind of messed with me, but I just played through it.”

Anyone who doubted Central Catholic (1-0, 3-1), a two-time, small-school state champion, could make the leap to the Valley Oak League was fitted for a dunce cap on Friday evening.

The Raiders scored on their first three possessions and then weathered the Buffaloes’ late stampede. Justin Rice’s 10-yard scoring run on Central Catholic’s first play in overtime was so convincing, so utterly demoralizing for Buffalo fans that head coach Roger Canepa had no choice but to feed the beast.

So he did.

Rice crashed in from 2 yards out to give the Raiders the one-point victory. And get this: Rice was technically a stand-in for injured starter Montell Bland, who sat out the game with an ankle injury.

If Friday’s game was a test of mettle and ability, Central Catholic announced itself an alpha male in a conference brimming with larger, chest-thumping powers.

You know who else showed up?

Charles, finally.

You learn a lot about a person’s character when the chips are stacked against them; when it seems like their best has been left on the bus.

Charles salvaged his worst performance under center with a pair of touchdowns on the final two drives of the game, proving he has the chops to lead a title defense.

With 5:30 seconds left in the fourth, Charles pulled his hands out of the waist warmer and limped onto the field. Manteca trailed 21-14 and its best player – running back Hector Soto – was on ice on the sideline.

The spotlight unequivocally belonged to Charles. A packed house at David Patton Field hung on his cadence.

“I definitely accept (that pressure) as the quarterback,” he said. “That’s game is going to be on you.

“We knew as a team, especially me, I knew I had to come through and do what I had to do; what I hadn’t been doing all game. I had to drive them team down the field, complete passes and go down and score. Our offense is explosive. We just didn’t play to our ability.”

He was nearly flawless on their final drive in regulation. Charles scrambled for 26 yards on a busted third-and-10, showing the change of direction and burst that he shied away from early on.

Then he zipped a 7-yard pass into tight end Greg Jones, and then floated a beautiful ball over the shoulder of Ronaldo Tijero for a 36-yard gain. The pass-and-catch moved the ball to the Central 9, and three plays later, Lechi Nkowcha pushed his way in from the 1 for the tying score.

“He’s a passionate young man and he’s emotional. That’s what you saw early on when he wasn’t making plays,” Reis said. “When push comes to shove, though, he made that (26-yard) run when things were pretty bleak. Again, he gives you a taste of what’s to come.”

And if there’s a silver lining in this defeat, it’s that. Historically, Charles has been strengthened by his setbacks and missteps.

“My last loss was freshman year – to Oakdale, a long, long time ago,” he said. “We recovered that next week.”

And how’d you do, Charles?

“I got into the end zone,” he said, flashing perhaps his first smile all week.

Manteca will take that.