When Eric Reis took over as head coach of the Manteca High football team in 2002, part of his mission was to connect the past with the present, introducing his players to the traditions and legends of old while creating their own.
His successor, Mark Varnum, is an out-of-state product who has kept the team on the winning track, while embracing the way of the Buffaloes and adding his own touch to tradition.
Past meets present tonight, as the Buffs continue celebrating their 100th season of football. They host Chavez for their home opener and will unveil their first “Herd of Honor” ceremony after the JV game.
Varnum spearheaded efforts in establishing the program’s own Hall of Fame.
The inaugural five-man class includes some of the brightest stars to ever don the green and white: Paul Wiggin (class of 1952), John Holbrook (1961), Don Morgan (1994), Michael Turner (2006) and Jacob DeJesus (2020).
“It’s going to be a special night,” Varnum said.
Festivities began on Aug. 14 when Deaf Puppy Club, owned by 1991 grad Chris Teicheira, held a no-host dinner event for alumni commemorating the 100th season.
Reis, a 1987 MHS alumnus, is a seminal figure in Manteca High football history.
He retired after 16 successful seasons as the Buffaloes’ all-time winningest coach with a 150-42-2 record, 14 playoff appearances, five Valley Oak League championships and five Sac-Joaquin Section titles. Reis’ accomplishments are noted on a bronze bust bearing his likeness on a plaque just inside the front gate at Guss Schmiedt Field. He’s now Manteca’s athletic director.
“The fun part of having the 100-year party was seeing the turnout from alumni, and just seeing the passion that’s still there for the program,” Reis said. “These current kids know they’re a part of something special.”
Buffalo beginnings
Manteca Union High School actually played its first football game in 1923, two years after opening, but since had seasons canceled in wartime and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. A shortened football season did take place in the spring of 2021, but there were no league titles, playoffs and postseason awards at stake.
B.F. Mellow began piecing together the first football team in the spring of 1922 when the school was still making arrangements to gain membership in the California Interscholastic Federation.
“The Green and White,” as often described in articles by the Bulletin and student newspaper The Tower at the time, played its first game on Oct. 12, 1923, defeating Hilmar, 26-6. The “Thundering Herd” did not win again that season.
The “Manteca eleven” would soon become contenders under Mellow. On Oct. 8, 1926, the Buffaloes defeated Oakdale for the first time ever 6-0 in a non-league game, and the two schools forged one of the greatest traditional rivalries in the region.
The ’26 campaign ended in defeat, however, as Manteca lost the league championship game to Ceres 7-6 on a rain-soaked field in Modesto on Nov. 27. That came just one week after the Buffaloes had blanked the Bulldogs 7-0 in the regular-season finale.
In 1929, now coached by Cleetis Brown, Manteca won its first championship in the Central California High School Athletic League Class B section, finishing 7-2-2.
That sparked Manteca’s dominant run in the 1930s led by Aubrey Laws (28-9-4 from 1930-1934) and Larry Siemering (29-5-2, 1937-40).
Modern-day MHS
According to Cal-Hi Sports, Manteca High is the Sac-Joaquin Section’s all-time wins leader with 645. Grant of Sacramento, which opened in 1932, is No. 2 with 623.
In 1942, the SJS was formed as an offshoot of the CIF’s Northern Section. Five years later, Manteca became a charter member of the Valley Oak League along with Ceres, Livingston, Oakdale, Sonora and Tracy.
Manteca replaced old Pennebaker Field with its current site for football, Guss Schmiedt Field, in 1959, and it was one year later that the Buffaloes won the first of their 21 VOL championships. Holbrook was the standout fullback of the 1960 team.
Coach Phil Harmon guided the Buffaloes to the three more league titles in the next three years, setting a new standard for football at the school. He left as the program’s longest-tenured and winningest coach after 12 years with a 53-38-1 record. None of his 15 predecessors lasted for more than five seasons.
The Walker Vick era soon followed from 1969-80. Manteca went 76-42-4 under his watch, capturing five league crowns while making its first SJS final-round appearances in 1975 and 1978. He was named to the SJS Hall of Fame in 2012, and the field house adjacent to the football stadium bears his name.
Joe Miller (55-48-3) jump started Manteca’s run of section championships in 2001, the final campaign of his 10-year stint. The Buffaloes blanked Del Oro 21-0 in the Division II final, a full-circle moment for Miller after his ’93 team lost to the same school in the title round.
Reis claimed section titles in 2005, 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2017. The 2006 team was the first in school history to finish with a perfect 13-0 mark — 80 years after Manteca lost to Ceres in its first league championship game.
Varnum has led Manteca to its last three section titles in 2019, 2021 and 2022. The Buffaloes are currently the two-time defending outright VOL champions.
Big-name Buffs
The historic 1929 squad featured the school’s first star football player in offensive tackle Jim Barber, whom the Bulletin referred as “one of the country’s outstanding football stars” and “Manteca’s greatest contribution to football.” He played for University of San Francisco, earning All-America honors and later a Hall of Fame induction. Barber played six years in the NFL for the Boston Braves/Washington Redskins, earning one Pro Bowl selection and a league championship in 1937.
Barber is the first of four Buffaloes to make it to the NFL.
Younger brother Ernie played also played for USF and, after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, appeared in three games for the Washington Redskins in 1945.
Joining the Barbers in the NFL fraternity are Wiggin and Morgan. Wiggin was a two-time All-American defensive end at Stanford, two-time Pro Bowler for the Cleveland Browns and NFL champion in 1964. Morgan played for College Football Hall of Famer Chris Ault at University of Nevada and was a defensive back for the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals.
There are other noteworthy athletes who played football for Manteca High and became pros in other sports, such as 1935 alumnus Milo Candini (baseball), Kevin Wentworth (1987, baseball) and Ken Huckaby (1989, baseball).
De Jesus, among the Herd of Honor inductees tonight, was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent this year after a decorated college career in which he set a single-season record at Cal with 108 receptions in 2025.
