Fifty years ago, on January 8, 1966, Manteca High continued its winning ways by downing a scrappy Oakdale High quintet 73-66. Oakdale led the Buffaloes by 14-13 at the first quarter, but trailed from that point on. The Buffs were never able to put the game away, though. Once again, Coach Joe Handy‘s Buffs had four scorers in double figures. Jim Anderson, Mel Montanio and John Tubbs all had 16 points. Close behind was Vance Munoz with 15 points.

In other sports stories from the Bulletin files:

80 years ago: January 9, 1936 – Repeating an earlier victory, the Stockton High junior varsity warped the Manteca High team 51 to 35 Friday night on Manteca’s floor. Stockton took an early lead and kept it throughout the game. Manteca played without captain Milo Candini and Coach John Mathews substituted freely. Ed Bobson led Manteca’s scoring with 14 points.

70 years ago: January 10, 1946 – Mixing height and experience with a fast-moving ball club, Ceres High rolled over Manteca High 43-18 at Ceres Tuesday night. The high scorer for Manteca was center Clarence Kooy, who led the Buffs with six point s until he left the game on fouls in the third quarter.

60 years ago: January 12, 1956 – Manteca High’s varsity cagers, paced by Don Ganes’s 28 points, found themselves in the second half and overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat St. Mary’s High 52-45 Tuesday at the Franklin High gym.

40 years ago: January 7, 1976 – Facing a nine-point deficit with only 6:49 left in the game, Manteca High ignited a fourth-quarter rally that turned near-defeat into a stunning 61-58 victory over Beyer High of Modesto Monday night in the Buffalo gymnasium. Three local cagers scored in double figures as Dale Delmanowski led with 22, Bob O’Rourke collected 18 and Ron Tilton had 10 points.

The East Union High girls’ basketball team defeated Tokay High 35-27 last week in Lodi, thanks to the excellent play of Rhonda Hardcastle and Donna Conley. Miss Hardcastle, a fine ball handler and shooter, scored 14 points to lead the Lancer girls. Miss Conley controlled the backboards with 31 rebounds, while Susan Elliott turned in a solid defensive effort.

Sonora High turned it on in the second half to blitz East Union High 70-49 in a Valley Oak League opener. Ron Hamamoto and Jeff Baker shared high point honors for the Lancers with nine apiece. The loss dropped the Lancers’ record to 2-10.

Goals by Mike Gomez, Gary Torrijos and Tony Lopez paved the way for the East Union High soccer team Wednesday afternoon as the Lancers took a 3-1 win from the EU alumni. Tim Murphy, a 1972 graduate of EUHS, scored the lone goal for the alumni.

30 years ago: January 7, 1986 – After losing their first game, Manteca High rallied to beat Livingston High 5-1 and tie Turlock High 4-4 to capture second place in the Turlock Soccer Tournament last weekend. The Buffaloes also had one their players, junior forward Melvin Armstrong, honored as one of the co-most valuable players in the two-day tourney. Armstrong and Dan Hintzman scored three goals each for Coach Bill Mendosa’s team.

East Union High’s Lady Lancers came up with 27 steals to pave the way to an easy home basketball victory over Los Banos High 64-28. Senior guard Debbie Paradzinski led the assault with nine steals, a game-high 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Tracy Alexander (12 points) and Stacy Lee (11) also scored in double figures for East Union.

Joette Lucas used offensive accuracy and teamed with Michelle Gale to show aggressiveness as Manteca High posted a 48-38 win over Central Catholic High in Modesto. Lucas finished the game with 16 points and she and Gale had 10 rebounds each for the Lady Buffs.

Mark Waterman hit on 10 straight shots from the field, sank six free throws and converted on a crucial three-point play in the fourth quarter to lift East Union High to a 61-55 win over host Los Banos High Tuesday night. The 6-4 senior forward finished with 28 points on the night. Sophomore Gary Kron added 13 more points to the winning total.

The East Union High soccer team out-shot Sonora High 31-12 Friday afternoon but came up on the short end of a 2-1 score. The Lancers’ only score came on a free kick by Jed Phelps.

Manteca High disposed of Modesto’s Central Catholic High in a 67-47 basketball win to improve to a 2-1 league record. The Buffaloes were led in the scoring column by Kevin Frisk, who netted 15 points.

Manteca High wrestler Frank Sabala (193) pinned his Modesto High counterpart in 51 seconds of the first round to clinch a Buffalo 38-35 victory over the Panthers in VOL action. The other Buffs scoring pins were Travis Rowe (121), Brian Briggs (128), Jason Carroll (134) and Danny Allen (140).

20 years ago: January 6, 1996 – James Ward sank two free throws with 4.3 seconds left in the game and his Manteca High cagers hung on for a 45-43 win over host East Union High last night in Dalben Center. The 5-11 senior was a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line and scored nine of his 11 points in a topsy-turvy fourth quarter. Bryan Lucas led the Buffaloes with 18 points and 11 rebounds. EU’s Shane Lewis paced all scorers with 26 points in a losing cause.  Coach Mike Henry’s B uffs are now 7-8 overall, but unbeaten in three VOL games.

The East Union High girls hit five 3-pointers in the game and went on to take a 59-42 win over Manteca High in VOL cage action last night. Cynthia Mathews collected 12 points and Lisa Noceti canned 10 more to lead a balanced Lady Lancer attack. Coach Mark Liles’s EU girls are 3-0 in league play.

The Manteca High wrestling team rolled to its fifth consecutive VOL win with a 68-9 victory over Sierra High Tuesday night at the T’wolves’ gym. Coach Anthony Romero’s Buffaloes are now 9-1 on the season. Buff pins were by Adam Haynes (112), Jake Harris (130), Dennis Elliott (145) and Brian Durbin (hvywt). Nikkos Martinez (140) got the only pin for Sierra.

The Sierra High soccer team, unbeaten in VOL play, came back from a three-week layoff to blank Ceres High 4-0 on Tuesday. Jenni Anaya and Monica Pires both scored twice for the Lady T’wolves.

Meghan Harris scored the game’s only goal with about nine minutes left in the second half as East Union High improved to 5-1 in league soccer play with a 1-0 win over Bear Creek High.

With a 14-1 edge in shots on goal, Manteca High took a 2-0 win over Los Banos High. Tara Emerick and Lyndsey MacDonald scored the Lady Buff goals.

Sierra High came roaring back with 21 points in the fourth quarter to earn its first-ever VOL varsity basketball win, a 41-40 decision over Bear Creek High last night. T’wolf Daniel Touchstone led all scorers with 12 points.

10 years ago: January 12, 2006 – With point guard Ruben Cedeno out with a high ankle sprain in the basketball game against Sierra High yesterday, Manteca High’s Derek Kulberg and Garrett Tolman took the reins and never let go. The pair combined for all of the Buffalo points in a 13-2 run to end the first half of play. Tollman finished with a game-high 22 points, while Kulberg added 17 more counter s, including six-for-six from the free throw line as the Buffs downed the Timberwolves 67-53. Ryan Harris and Michael Elder netted 15 and 12 points, respectively, in a losing cause.

The Sierra High girls edged Manteca High 41-39 in VOL basketball action on Tuesday. Lyons dropped in 15 point s for the Lady T’wolves and teammate Tatiana Dellafosse added 11 more to the winning total. Sughey Cervantes paced the Lady Buffs with 14 points, but was limited to just two in the final half.

Stephanie Swift saved her best performance of the season for one of the toughest venues in the VOL Tuesday. The junior sharpshooter connected on four 3-pointer s in the second half to lift the East Union High girls’ basketball team to a 43-28 win over Sonora High at Bud Castle Gym. Swift finished with 13 points.

Manteca High’s Michael Turner was recently named by CalHiSports to the All-State football team as a first-team cornerback. Turner has committed to play at the University of Arizona next season.