Central Catholic basked in its statement win at Manteca on Friday, knocking off the two-time reigning Valley Oak League champion, 42-13.

“The fact that they’re here a half an hour taking pictures afterwards tells me that beating us now is a big deal for them,” Manteca coach Mark Varnum said.

The Raiders (3-0 VOL, 6-1 overall) snapped a two-game skid against Manteca after winning their previous nine meetings.

They were led by physical running back Zymir Nelson, who rambled for 247 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Quarterback Cruz Costa helped showcase CC’s playmaking receivers with three touchdown passes that went for 37 or more yards.

Central Catholic outgained the Buffaloes (2-1, 4-3) on offensive yardage, 494-351, while holding them to a season-low scoring total. The Raiders also dominated the turnover battle 3-0, and came up with a momentum-swinging goal-line stop in the first quarter. They later broke away with a 21-point fourth quarter.

“When you turn the ball over three times and don’t punch it in the end zone, you’re not going to beat anybody, let alone good teams,” Varnum said. “It would have been nice if we were to give ourselves a chance. I think we’re better than that, but unfortunately, we were not tonight.

“Sadly, here we are Week 7, and to have a performance like that, especially on one side of the ball, you just can’t have that. At this point, we got to be beyond that. We have to learn from that.”

Central Catholic pounced on the Buffaloes’ mistakes at the outset. Ezekiel Gradford intercepted a pass just inside the Manteca 40-yard line and returned it to the 5. Nelson scored on the next play, moving the pile with his powerful legs.

The Buffs did well to sustain its next drive, and a 31-yard connection from Carabello to Jaylin Harris set them up inside Raiders’ 10. Manteca failed to come away with any points, however, as Carabello momentarily slipped behind the line of scrimmage on a designed QB run play before getting taken down at at the 2.

Two encroachment penalties helped give Central Catholic some breathing room deep in its own territory, and a 30-yard gain from Nelson on a third-and-2 play put the Raiders back in striking distance. They capitalized on the opportunity, as Costa hit Dylan Ridenour for a 37-yard touchdown.

“It was huge,” Varnum said of CC’s goal-line stand. “We put the defense in a horrible spot on the first drive throwing a pick, them we couldn’t punch it in there. They play good red-zone defense, we worked on that all week, and we unfortunately just didn’t get it done.”

Manteca’s next two giveaways were inside the Raiders’ 30.

Sophomore EJ Johnson gave the Buffaloes life with a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after Ridenour’s score, and the defense was able to turn the ball over on downs on its own 26.

Central Catholic thwarted Manteca’s chance to tie it, as Josh Peinado intercepted an underthrown ball intended for Harris.

The Raiders avoided disaster two plays later when Costa fumbled the exchange to a running back, but fullback Ramon Hinojosa was able to land on the loose ball.

On the next sequence, Gradford came through with his second of three big plays — an 87-yard touchdown on a screen pass. The Raiders took the 21-6 lead into halftime and received the second-half kickoff.

In the fourth quarter, it was Gradford who had the heads-up play on a fumbled ball after Nelson scampered 82 yards to the 7 before he had it knocked away. The ball tumbled into the end zone, where Gradford picked it up for the touchdown that put the game out of reach at 35-13 with 8:39 remaining.

Ridenour added one more touchdown for good measure, breaking a tackle following a short pass for a 57-yard score. This was set up by yet another turnover by Manteca. The Buffaloes threatened to score in the red zone, but Harris had the ball stripped away and recovered by Levi Zalinski, who returned it to the 43-yard line.

Costa completed just six of his 13 passes, but they went for 233 yards.

Central Catholic’s defense held Manteca standout Nikko Juarez, who had a career night last year against the Raiders, to 60 yards on 17 rushes. He added 30 yards on four receptions.

Harris finished with nine catches for 127 yards, and twin brother Jayden Harris scored on an acrobatic 22-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.

Carabello did most of his damage in the second half, finishing 16 of 28 for 189 yards. The Raiders were able to neutralize his him as a runner in the first half, but he wound up with 53 yards on 13 rushes.

With three games and a Week 9 bye remaining, urgency has kicked in for a Manteca team that is in danger of slipping into the postseason bubble in the Sac-Joaquin Section’s stacked Division II field.

The Buffs head across town to face Sierra next week.