Oakdale High School

Early Workouts Prepping Oakdale Football For Tough Schedule

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The distant clank of moving weights, echoes of rock music and occasional grunts of physical exertion resound through the Oakdale High campus in a strange fashion at 6:30 a.m. on school days.

While most high school athletes in the area are still preparing for the day’s schedule of classes, Oakdale High football players are getting stronger and more explosive — months before their first preseason contest.

“Getting into shape and maximizing your physical abilities is a lifestyle,” Oakdale coach Trent Merzon said. “We do some unique stuff in looking to develop our core strength and it translates beyond the football field.

“It’s just like scholastics — if you don’t work hard in the classroom, how can you compete with the best students out there?”

Merzon said he routinely sees 55 varsity football players at his early bird workouts, with another 20 baseball players and 50 junior varsity football athletes also tackling the workout routine.

Mustang athletes rotate through a series of workouts that include reps of bench presses, squats, power cleans and unique balance drills with ropes.

“We were all given gifts, physically, but our bodies change drastically between the ages of 13 and 18,” Merzon said. “If you are willing to put in hard work rather than just rely on what you were given, you can see dramatic changes for the better.”

Motivated athletes in the weight room are not hard to find on the Oakdale campus. Merzon said his players have already been buzzing about match-ups with fresh Sac-Joaquin Section faces next year, and have picked up workouts with new tenacity and future opposition in mind.

Oakdale will open the season with a highly anticipated bout against Modesto Christian on Aug. 27. The Division V juggernaut was 15-0 last season and beat Parker 44-40 to win a California Interscholastic Federation small school bowl game.

The team graduates quarterback sensation Isaiah Burse, but is a routine section championship contender and should prove a formidable opponent.

Oakdale is also slated to play Division II powerhouse, Granite Bay, on Sept. 11. The Grizzlies have seen playoff qualification out of a stellar Sierra Foothill League in six consecutive seasons.

“I believe the purpose of our preseason is to prepare us for anything we will see in league,” Merzon said. “It’s going to make us better and has given us some motivation to work harder in the off season.”

Off season workouts have shaped the lives of some of Oakdale’s most well-known football standouts. Merzon witnessed students like Blake Raham and Tim Bernard develop into two of the best athletes in the section. Both saw limited playing time until off season workouts translated into impressive physical attributes that landed success and accolades in stellar senior seasons.

The pair serve as a model for Merzon’s philosophy on personal growth.

“Those two kids are what we are all about here,” Merzon said. “They went from playing sparingly to being instrumental in our season.”