Forty years ago, on February 2, 1976, a titanic defensive struggle erupted into a quick scoring spree and Manteca High retained the coveted Bob Baldwin Cup with a hard-fought 2-0 win over East Union High at Guss Schmiedt Field. The Buffaloes have garnered a 12-1-1 record on the season and ended the Mid-Valley League with an undefeated record of 11-0-1. In the battle, the overall play of EU’s Willie Herrera, Doug Ota and Eric Galeazzi sparked the Lancers as they took control of the game in the first half. In the second half, the Buffaloes played with much more intensity. With six minute s left in the game, Doug West ripped a scoring shot past EU goalie Jim Heupel. Three minutes later, Bruce King scored the second MHS goal.

In other sports stories

from The Bulletin’s files:

90 years ago: February 5, 1926 – Fighting as they always fight, with all the skill and energy that they possess, Manteca High’s players won their first basketball game on the home court last Wednesday. To be sure, it was only a practice game with the Al Kwan Club of Stockton, but at the same time it was also the first victory of the year for the varsity. The final score was 18 to 15. Manteca players were Manuel deSimas  and Ed Forsell, forwards; Henry Theiler and Lloyd Henry, guards; and Fay Forsell, center.

80 years ago: February 6, 1936 – Maintaining a strong defensive game and performing some excellent shots, Coach John Mathews’ quintet completely outplayed Patterson High on the Tigers’ floor Friday night to win 44-26. The local team was without captain Milo Candini. Eddie Bobson played his first league game of the season at center. Harold Reynolds led the scoring for the Manteca boys with 13 points.

70 years ago: February 7, 1946 – With both teams taking to the court with aggressive basketball, Tracy High edged to a 31-30 win over Manteca High in a game played at Tracy Friday night. The Bulldogs held a slight lead over the Buffaloes during the entire game. High man for the Buffaloes was Curt Patterson with 18 points.

40 years ago: February 4, 1976 – Andy Franco, Chris Hughes and Bill DeGroot all chalked up pins Friday evening but it went for naught as East Union High dropped a 33-24 decision to Oakdale High’s wrestlers.

The Manteca High girls’ basketball team played one of its best games of the season last week at Sonora High, but dropped a 56-44 VOL game to the Lady Wildcats. Brenda Handy led the Lady Buffs with 16 points.

Dale Delmanowski sank a couple of free throws with four seconds left and Don Joseph and Bob O’Rourke chipped in some clutch rebounding  as Manteca High maintained a firm grip on second place in the VOL by defeating visiting Oakdale High 56-53 Tuesday evening. Delmanowski finished with game with 15 points. Joseph and O’Rourke had a dozen rebounds each, while scoring 14 and 11 points, respectively. 

30 years ago: February 4, 1986 – East Union High’s girls’ cage team pressed all night long in defeating Livingston High 54-35 last night. Tracy Lee paced the Lady Lancers with 17 points, as teammates Stacy Lee, Kelli Horton and Debbie Paradzinski all collected 10 each.

East Union High’s soccer team played Sonora High to a 5-5 tie in a wild game Tuesday afternoon in Sonora, described by EU Coach Jeff Poulos as “unbelievable”. Freshman Gabriel Gutierrez scored three times for the Lancers, and Tim Hamm and Sean Fix collected the others.

Trying to snap a four-game losing streak, Manteca High lost 62-58 at home Tuesday night to a Ceres High team that could do no wrong in the fourth quarter of a wild game that was stopped with 12 seconds left when tempers flared and players stared fighting. Joe Dias, Kevin Frisk and Chad Johnson scored in double figures for Manteca with 16, 13 and 10 points.

Melvin Armstrong scored two goals and Jose Perez added another to lead the Manteca High soccer team to a 3-0 shelling of Livingston High Tuesday.

Manteca High’s Mary Foehringer took a pass from cousin Kelli Iorio and hit a layup with three seconds left to lift the Lady Buffs to a come-from-behind 40-39 victory over Livingston High in cage action Thursday night. Freshman guard Iorio scored a team-high 14 points.

East Union High shook off a slow start and beat up their out-manned, outmatched opponents from Central Catholic High 49-32 to hand Coach Bill Stricker his fifth 20-win season in the last six years. The Lancers are 20-4 overall and 10-1 in league play. Mark Waterman and Gary Kron each had 14 points for EU.

Manteca High’s Brian Briggs was the lone VOL wrestling champion from a Manteca school as he won the 122-pound title at the league meet yesterday at Oakdale.

20 years ago: February 3, 1996 – Manteca High center Bryan Lucas hit a turnaround jumper with one second left to play to lift the Buffaloes to a dramatic 64-63 win over Ceres High at Winter Gym on Friday night. The Buffs led most of the way as Lucas finished with 38 points, 18 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead the winners.

Slowing down to a near crawl, East Union High won its fifth VOL cage game of the year with a 46-33 decision over host Sierra High Wednesday night. The 8-17 Lancers controlled the game from start to finish. Joey Herbert scored 15 points to lead the EU scoring. Shane Lewis added 10 points to the winning total. Demar Sutton scored eight points to lead the T’wolf scoring.

East Union High guard Cynthia Mathews scored 12 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter as the Lady Lancers come from behind to top the host West High girls 57-46 last night in Tracy. Trailing by 10 points at the end of the three periods, EU held West without a field goal in the final period.

Manteca High senior Atari Watkins took over inside and powered to 21 points to lead the Lady Buffs in a 67-50 win over host Merrill West High in girls’ basketball action on Thursday in Tracy. Audrey Jackson added 15 points to the winning total.

 Young Sierra High dropped a 53-30 cage contest to Sonora High last night. The senior-less Lady T’wolves were led in scoring by freshman Kristen Huntley with 10 points.

Sierra High’s Monica Pires scored a pair of goals and the 14-0 Lady T’wolves beat East Union High 2-0 in girls’ soccer action yesterday. Coach Manuel Pires’ girls have already clinched the VOL title.

The Manteca High girls’ soccer team, with Jamie Plaisted and Maria Trevino each scoring twice, powered to an easy 7-0 win over Los Banos High at Guss Schmiedt Field on Thursday. Other Lady Buff goals were by Bridgette Madden, Michelle Haynie and Lyndsey MacDonald.

East Union High blanked Bear Creek High 3-0 in girls’ soccer action Thursday to improve to 9-3-2 on the season. Ja’Rue Mamorno, Melissa Silvestrini and Meghan Harris each scored a goal for the Lady Lancers against a young and over-matched Lady Bruins team.

10 years ago: February 9, 2006 – John Moreno’s surprise 11 points, including three huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter brought East Union High back after trailing most of the game to edge host Oakdale High 62-61 on Wednesday night. Jordan McDaniel added a team-high 14 points with four treys, and Ryan Fisher (13) and Eric Brown contributing another 11 for the Lancers.

Manteca High outscored Sonora High 30-13 in the second half and maintained its slim post –season hopes with a resounding 60-34 Valley Oak League victory in girls’ basketball at Winter Gym last night. Three Lady Buffs scored in double figures as Alex Gonsalez netted 14 points, Melanie Promes had 11 and Sughey Cervantez steered the offense with 11 of her own counters.

The Sierra High basketball team wasted no time jumping on top of host Buhach Colony High on Wednesday, cruising to a 68-52 win in Atwater. Aaron Gonzalez had a team-high 18 point s and Michael Elder and Ryan Harris contributed 17 and 11 points, respectively, to the victory.

The Timberwolves led by 20 points going into the game’s final quarter.

East Union High’s Stephanie Swift scored a team-high 13 points but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Lancers dropped a 65-47 decision to visiting Oakdale High in girls’ basketball action on Tuesday.

Most of the wrestlers at Thursday’s dual meet between Sierra and East Union Highs received their best workout during team stretches. The half-hour varsity dual consisted of six forfeits and three first-round pins in a quick 56-24 victory for the visiting T’wolves. The win was a finish to VOL duals, resulting in a 2-4 finish for Sierra and a 0-6 conclusion for the Lancers. SHS’s David Rosenow got a pin at 160 pounds and Daniel Dineen did the same. Adam Padilla (112) and Will Langdon (119) and Donnie Berg also got T’wolf pins.