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1977: EU upsets Sonora in basketball
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Forty years ago, on February 15, 1977, East Union High pulled the upset of the Valley Oak League basketball campaign, stunning Sonora High at the Wildcats’ gym 82-78. Russell Stewart, a 6-2 senior who will complete his first and only year of high school basketball, kept the scoreboard lights blinking with an amazing 39 points. The total is a Lancer individual scoring record and is also an individual high this season in league play. Tim Tucker added 18 to the winning total, while Kelly DeGeest had 12 and Bruce Corbett 10 counters.

 

In other sports stories

from the Bulletin file:

90 years ago: February 17, 1927 – Coach Ben Mellow’s Manteca High basketball team won the last C.I.F. game of the year last Saturday night when they defeated the Oakdale High team in the Mant eca “gym” 38 to 33. It was superior teamwork and coordination that gave the Green and White team of Manteca their advantage. Eddie Forsell was high scorer for Manteca with 14 points.

 

80 years ago: February 18, 1937 – Tracy High smashed all chances of the Manteca High Buffaloes for the West Side League basketball title here Friday night when they defeated the Green and White quintet 31 to 21 in the last five minute s of play to stretch their string of wins in circuit play to six straight. Floyd Lusk, at guard, was Manteca’s outstanding player, scoring eight markers and playing a fine defensive game throughout the contest.

 

70 years ago: February 20, 1947 – Manteca High won a thrilling victory over Livingston High last Friday night on the local court. The final score was 51-47. Curtis Patterson scored 21 points for the Buffaloes.

 

60 years ago: February 21, 1957 – The Manteca High wrestlers took second place at the Sac-Joaquin Section tournament Saturday as Turlock High edged the Buffaloes out by a score of 66 to 63. Manteca had three champions. They were Danny Southwick winning the 112-pound class; Jack Lewis winning the 138 and Laurie Filippini taking the 154 class.

The Manteca High basketball team, tired of sitting in the league cellar, went wild in the fourth quarter of the game Friday night against Sonora High and came from behind to win the game by one point, 59 to 58. Center Gene Morrison tipped in a shot and the ball dropped through the hoop as the horn sounded the end of the game. Leroy Shockey led the scoring with 17 points. Coach Joe Jacobs was well-pleased with the team’s performance.

 

50 years ago: February 17, 1967 – East Union High’s frosh basketball team got off to a fast start Tuesday afternoon and coasted to a 59-38 win over Oakdale High on the Mustang court. The Lancers were led by Dave Crawford, who scored 22 points in the game.

 

40 years ago: February 16, 1977 – Wrestlers from Manteca and East Union High Schools did a better than expected job during last Wednesday’s VOL meet at Los Banos High. Weight-class titles were picked up by Manteca’s Ed Mayfield (157) and Mark Burrows (194), while EU sophomore Richard Lewallin highlighted the young Lancers’ performances with a first at 168.

VOL champion and perennial cage power St. Mary’s High downed Manteca High Tuesday night 66-44. Sophomore Randy Ross paced the Buffaloes with 14 points.

 

30 years ago: February 19, 1987 – While the Lady Buffs’ offense had trouble getting untracked, the defense didn’t waste much time in taking control and boosting the Manteca High girls past Livingston High 49-39 last night in Livingston. MHS was a dismal 30 percent from the floor and 35 percent at the free throw line, but were led by Joette Lucas and Lissa Dixon with 19 and 13 points, respectively.

East Union High forward Stacy Lee bolted for a season-high 27 points to lead the Lady Lancers to a 72-54 victory over Los Banos High last night. The 5-10 senior also had nine rebounds. Kelli Horton added 14 points to the EU total.

East Union High buried 14 of 16 free throws to help account for the Lancers’ 54-47 VOL cage win over Los Banos High Wednesday night at Dalben Center. Gary Kron and Dwight Young shared EU’s scoring honors with 17 points apiece.

After trading hoops with Oakdale High the first eight minutes of the game, Manteca High tightened their defense the rest of the way to pull away for a 57-38 VOL boys’ basketball victory Friday night. The Buffaloes retained sole possession of first place in the league. Chad Johnson and Marshall Cannon netted 15 points each for the winners and Kevin Wentworth added 12 to the total.

 

20 years ago: February 16, 1997 – Although Oakdale High bested Manteca High 281-215.5 for its second straight VOL wrestling championship last Saturday at Winter Gym, the Buffaloes having nothing to be ashamed of as Jake Harris (135), Elizar Ceballos (140) and Ara Kimbrough (171) all won VOL crowns and all 14 MHS wrestlers qualified for the South Delta Subsections that start next Friday. East Union High will be sending 11, including VOL champion Josh York. Sierra High will take five to the meet, to be held at Tokay High in Lodi.

Manteca High secured a VOL basketball playoff berth with a thrilling 50-48 road victory over Oakdale High Wednesday night. Jeremiah Nieman’s 3-pointer with four seconds left in the game gave the Buffaloes the victory. Nieman led all scorers with 14 points for Coach Paul Brogan’s squad, now 6-7 in league play.

Manteca High made it two straight wins over regular-season VOL champion East Union High with a 63-48 victory Thursday night at Winter Gym. Audrey Jackson finished off a sensational senior year by scoring a game-high 21 points, along with 10 rebounds and three steals. Coach Joey Jacobs’ girls finished the regular season at 10-4. Cynthia Mathews led EU with 20 points. Jessie Hardcastle finished with 12 and Jaynee Moon added 10 points. Despite the loss, Coach Mark Liles’ EU girls won sole possession of the VOL crown with a 12-2 record.

The Manteca High soccer team blanked Tracy High 3-0 in a game called midway through the second half. The Lady Buff scores were by Lyndsey MacDonald, Michelle Haynie and Amy Birmingham. Fifteen minutes into the second half, the referee stopped play to force a Manteca High fan off the field and then called the game moments later. The MHS girls are now 14-9-2 under Coach Debbie Kohl.

The East Union High girls took a 9-0 soccer win over Oakdale High as eight different players scored for the Lancers, now 11-2 in league play. Senior Meghan Harris scored twice, while Shanna Wetzel, Lyndi Saxton, Ja’Rae Mamorno, Michelle Moran, Miranda Souza, Lisa Campbell and Amber Anderson all netted one goal each.

Freshman Lisa Esteves celebrated her promotion to the varsity squad with a first-half goal, junior Monica Pires added two goals and Ginny Teunissen had a goal as Sierra High blanked West High 4-0 on Tuesday. Coach Manuel Pires’ Lady T’wolves remained undefeated in VOL action at 13-0.

 

10 years ago: February 21, 2007 – In one of the more colorfully officiated games in recent memory, the Manteca High girls’ basketball team took down host Livingston High 43-33 in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs Tuesday night. All told, the Buffaloes were called for 17 fouls and seven traveling violations in the contest, as opposed to six fouls and one violation against the Lady Wolves. Alex Gonzalez score d 12 points to lead the Manteca win.

East Union High’s girls went on runs of 15-0 and 14-2 and recorded seven of eight 3-pointers in the second half to race into the quarterfinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs with a 66-55 win over visiting Highlands High of North Highlands at Dalben Center Tuesday night. Christin Gowan was responsible for four of those 3-pointers as she led the scoring with 29 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals in the game. Ellen Parker added 12 points to the winning total.

The East Union High girls’ soccer team put it all together Tuesday in a 5-1 blowout of Escalon High in its season opener. Amber Omstead, Annie Sandoval, Natalia DaSilva, Kaci Todd and Julie Lennert all scored for EU.

With two seconds left in the game, Sierra High’s Aaron Gonzalez pushed the game-winning basket off the backboard to give the Timberwolves an outright VOL boys’ basketball championship with a 49-47 victory over Weston Ranch High last night. In the loss, the Cougars were held to 17 points in the second half. Marvin Cotton netted 17 points for the T’wolves. Coach Scott Thomason’s boys ended the league season with a 13-1 mark.

With both teams showing incredible intensity, Manteca High edged East Union High 68-65 in overtime Friday night. Ruben Cedano finished the game with seven 3-pointers and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line while totaling a game-high 29 points to finish out his career for the Buffaloes. Ryan Rose and Eugene Alston led the Lancers with 22 and 21 points, respectively. Cody Lee added 10 points in a losing cause. Coach Dave Asuncion’s Buffs end the season with a 10-17 mark, while Coach Eric Simoni’s EU squad ends the year at 4-22.