Elijah Mobley amassed some eye-popping scoring stats during his junior campaign with Weston Ranch, but it’s his all-around game that earned him MVP honors in the Valley Oak League.

He’s also the Manteca Bulletin All-Area Boys Basketball MVP.

The wiry 6-foot-1 guard finished tied for second in the Section and fifth in the state with 732 points scored, according to MaxPreps. He averaged 24.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals, playing in all 30 of the Cougars’ games.

Mobley did not need to rely on 3-pointers to get the bulk of his scoring, as he only shot 31 for the season and made 13 of them (42 percent). He converted on 57% of his total field goals.

Weston Ranch went 10-2 in claiming the championship in its final season in the VOL. Overall, the Cougars went 19-11 in their challenging schedule and were eliminated by eventual NorCal Open Division champion Modesto Christian in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

Mobley rose to the occasion in some of their biggest games of the season.

He started his junior campaign on fire and helped Weston Ranch end an early three-game losing skid by scoring 34 points in a 78-76 win over SJS Division III champion Vanden. That was during a stretch of four straight games in which he poured in 30-plus points, and he eclipsed that mark 10 times on the season.

Five days later, he grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds to go with 28 points and four steals in the Cougars’ 73-64 victory against Edison of Fresno in the Clovis West Tournament.

His most memorable moment came in a high-scoring league game against Kimball. Mobley came close to breaking the program record in single-game scoring with 44 points, and the Cougars came away with a needed 93-70 win after trailing by double digits early on.

Mobley later tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds when Weston Ranch avenged an earlier loss to Manteca, 77-67, another important win in its march to the league title.

He ended the season with a team-high 23 points along with nine rebounds and four steals against Modesto Christian.

Mobley will lead a veteran team into a new era for Weston Ranch, which is moving to the San Joaquin Athletic Association next year.

WRESTLING

Manny Zavala, Sierra senior

Teammate Benjamin Wheeler (170 pounds) was the only other male wrestler from the Manteca area to reach the second day of the SJS Masters Championships.

Zavala took it a step further, qualifying for the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships. His postseason run began with a successful defense of his 2020 VOL title. A week later, he steamrolled his way to the SJS Division III crown.

At Masters, Zavala secured his spot in the state tournament by pinning three straight opponents each in the first period on the opening day. He went 1-2 on Day 2 to finish in fourth place, forfeiting the third-place match because of an injury.

Zavala started out hot in the state meet at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield, notching pinfall victories over the North Section runner-up and Los Angeles Section champion. He was eliminated after dropping his next two.

Zavala finished ranked 16th in the state by The California Wrestler.

Giovanni Perez, East Union sophomore

The area’s most prolific scorer finished with 28 goals, tying him for fifth most in the SJS.

Perez was named MVP of the VOL after leading the Lancers to a 10-1-1 record and 13-6-7 overall. They would have been league champions but forfeited multiple games for using a suspended player.

That doesn’t take away from the season he had. Perez drew the attention of every back line East Union faced, and he still accounted for more than half (28 of 50) of the total goals the team scored all season.