Score early, score often and score again.

That is a recipe for victory, but when one person does, so that is a recipe for greatness.

Manteca’s Quinn Martinez was great Friday night with five touchdowns to lead the host Buffaloes to a resounding 74-7 win over Sierra in Valley Oak League football action at Guss Schmiedt Field.

“Coach V (Varnum) always talks about preparation and getting better throughout the week,” Martinez said. “No matter who we are playing, we have to go hard in practice, and how you do in practice is how you are going to do in the game.

“Our linemen and all our players on the team work our butts off in practice.”

Martinez (five receptions, 83 yards) scored on punt returns of 50 and 75 yards, a kickoff return of 80 yards and touchdown catches from Owen Gully of 28 and 35 yards.

Nikko Juarez (six carries, 126 yards) posted touchdown runs of 10 and 95 yards.

“It was all thanks to the line tonight,” Juarez said. “The line does their job and knows their assignments, and the runs follow.

“We just wanted to make sure that we got better tonight.”

Gully (8-of-8 passing, 113 yards) added a 2-yard scoring pass to Kyrin Barajas.

“Gotta thank the line,” Gully said. “I had a clean pocket, and I didn’t get touched this game, and everyone was making plays — Quinn Martinez, Jayden Harris, Micah Cardoza and JuJu Ramirez.

“All the receivers put in work day in and day out. I love it when the guys want to say out before and after practice and get in route time.”

Ramirez pulled in a 45-yard scoring pass from Johnny Valdez, and Manuel Lopez scored on a 23-yard touchdown run to round out the scoring for Manteca (2-0 VOL, 6-0).

“We have the week off of school next week,” Buffaloes coach Mark Varnum said. “So, tomorrow I am taking the boys to watch (Jacob) DeJesus (Manteca, class of 2020).

“I might go camping with coach (Gilbert) Martinez and then get back to work next week.”

The Manteca defense allowed negative 23 yards rushing and was led by Barajas with six tackles. Jose Rios (fumble recovery), Mateo Esparza and Maava Tialavea added four stops apiece with Harris forcing a fumble.

The Timberwolves (0-3, 2-5) got down to the Buffaloes 5-yard line late in the first half before Harris forced a fumble for Rios to recover. Late in the third period Darien East (four receptions, 102 yards) pulled in a 51-yard pass from Jaysen Martinez (10 of 15 passing, 154 yards) for Sierra’s lone score.

“Manteca High is a phenomenal football team,” Timberwolves coach Jeff Abrew said. “I am proud of my kids for trying to hang in there as much as they could. That’s a tough, tough football team right there.

“We have next week off. We’ll try and get healthy and get ready for Patterson.”

Manteca travels to Mountain House next Friday and on Friday, Oct. 17, Sierra travels to Patterson with both games starting at 7 p.m.  

SCORING SUMMARY

Sierra 0 0 7 0 — 7

Manteca 15 29 15 15 — 74

First quarter

M — Quinn Martinez 75-yard punt return (Eli Navarro kick), 7:47

M — Nikko Juarez 10 run (Matix Cardoza kick), 1:49

Second quarter
M — Martinez 50 punt return (Navarro kick), 11:47

M — Kyrin Barajas 2 pass from Owen Gully (run fail), 5:40

M — Safety, 4:28

M — Martinez 35 pass from Gully (Navarro kick), 4:25

M — Juarez 95 run (Navarro kick), 1:01

Third quarter

M — Martinez 28 pass from Gully (Juarez run), 10:40

M — JuJu Ramirez 45 pass from Johnny Valdez (Navarro kick), 5:24

S — Darien East 51 pass from Jaysen Martinez (Vareho Zingkhai kick), 1:15

Fourth quarter

M — Martinez 80 kickoff return (Navarro kick), 11:31

M — Manuel Lopez 23 run (Roman Duvernay run), 3:30