Woodcreek football has arrived: Timberwolves win program’s 1st CIF section title

The Woodcreek Timberwolves have officially arrived.

Members of the Roseville football team will return Monday morning to their 31-year-old Placer County campus with the program’s first CIF Sac-Joaquin Section football title after beating the storied Oakdale Mustangs, 58-52, on Friday night at Hughes Stadium for the coveted Division III blue championship banner.

The 110 combined points was the section’s highest-scoring title game in the event’s 53-year history, and Timberwolves quarterback Josiah Melendez was responsible for a lot of it. The senior accounted for 561 yards from scrimmage, 384 of those with his right arm and 177 with his legs.

It was one of the most impressive performances in section playoff history and launched Melendez into The Sacramento Bee’s Player of the Year award conversation.

“Our (offensive) line, they played a perfect game,” Melendez said. “I only had one pressure all night. I’m so grateful. This is school history. It’s an amazing feeling to be out here right now.”

Melendez was in complete command of the Timberwolves offense. The team scrapped the run-heavy veer offense in January as Kyle Stowers took over the program as head coach, installing a pro-style run-pass option that is well-suited for Melendez’s skill set.

On the first play of the second quarter, Melendez took the snap and noticed a huge hole had opened in the middle of the line of scrimmage. The speedy Woodcreek leader tucked in the ball and ran untouched through the Mustangs’ defense for a 63-yard score.

“That’s something that you can’t teach, but he’s got to know that, hey, it’s there,” Stowers said of his QB’s decision-making abilities, especially on the 63-yard score. “The way he can process the game in real time, and his instincts, you don’t coach that. Some of the plays he made tonight, he made a couple other ones. He is just a special, special talent that needs a lot more recruiting interest. He was in command. Phenomenal.”

Oakdale’s Wes Burford had 42 carries for 171 yards and five touchdowns. He finished his high school career with 7,369 rushing yards and 101 touchdowns. Burford is a 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-recycled-tire-dust type of runner.

But every time Burford brought the Mustangs back and then capped a score with a bruising, 2-point point-after-run, Melendez countered by throwing to Ethan Keim in the first half for 184 yards. The quarterback then found leading receiver Trace Murchison for two late scores to put the game away.

Keim estimates that he and Melendez have thrown and caught more than 5,000 passes since January when the squad first got together and started dreaming of the school’s first section football title. All that work paid off as Keim got behind the Mustangs’ defense repeatedly, and his breakaway speed was too much. He was held to one catch in the second half but saw double coverage. That allowed Murchison to get going in the second half.

Murchison had 1,100 yards receiving coming into the game, and it was a 6-yard gain that proved to be pivotal to their season. Murchison ran a short, sit-down pattern, caught the ball and was immediately wrapped up. But he spun in the grasp and reached the ball out and over for the first-down marker. Melendez then sprinted for 20 yards and could have scored but slid to keep the clock rolling. Two kneel downs later, the Timberwolves started celebrating.

“They were applying so many people to Trace, so, you have to find somebody else,” Melendez said. “I think (Murchison) is the MVP of our league, for sure. He plays offense. He plays defense. He plays special teams. He is that guy. And just to have him on our back like that and rely on him, even though he wasn’t getting the ball. He knew there’s a reason why. He knew he was like a decoy. He played his part and he played it perfectly. He’s an amazing guy and a humble person. I love him as a friend, too.”

Woodcreek’s only loss of the season was 38-35 to Inderkum in Capital Valley Conference play. They played Grant for the Division III Section title two seasons ago and were blown out, 40-14.

Oakdale’s last section title was 2016. The Mustangs have five section titles over three divisions, but are now 5-14 in title games.

Woodcreek is one of three Roseville Joint Union High School District programs in their respective division section finals. The other two are slated to go Saturday: Granite Bay plays St. Mary’s of Stockton for the Division II title, and Roseville High plays East Union for the Division IV banner.

The Timberwolves are now 1-1 in title games over the last three seasons, losing to powerhouse Grant in their last finals appearance. Respect has been earned.

“It’s just huge,” Stowers said of the title. “It’s everything you work for. For us, you have two goals to start the year — to win a league championship and win a section title, and we fell short against Inderkum. We could have pouted and felt sorry for ourselves, but we reset, and we said, ‘all right, let’s go after the second goal. We want to leave a legacy for other teams to follow and winning a section championship does that. Anytime you can be the first to do something, it’s pretty special. And I’m so happy for our kids.”

The team got together Thanksgiving morning for a special breakfast feast, Melendez said. It was fuel for the Friday fight.

“We got together yesterday, and all the boys were eating, and we’re so grateful to the parents and to the community, they all showed out for sure,” Melendez said. “We had the regular breakfast items, pancakes and what not. It was great, it was great being together.”

Did the offensive linemen go last? Because if they go first, there’s often no food left.

“No, they go first,” Melendez said of his line. “They’re going to go first. Got to feed the big boys.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 9:31 PM.