Oh, baby! Sheldon Huskies are 4-1, and it’s a family affair

Coaches often say the most rational and sane time to have a baby is in the offseason.

So what did the Cattolico clan do?

Hello baby, on the virtual eve of this high school football season.

Giovani Cattolico arrived on Aug. 15, all nine pounds of him, days before the Sheldon Huskies kicked off a season of championship aspirations. Sleep remains a rumor in this house, including mom Natasha Cattolico, an English teacher at Monterey Trail, also in the Elk Grove Unified School District.

“We lost our minds!” Sheldon coach Joe Cattolico said amid laughter. “No, really, it’s been great. It’s a whirlwind.”

The whirlwind continued right into Friday night. Tyrell Smith scored from a yard out in the closing seconds to lift the No. 8 Huskies past No. 9 Franklin 28-24 in a typical fun and frantic Delta League contest. Sheldon (4-1, 2-0) is in the thick of the early league race that includes Franklin, No. 10 Jesuit, No. 11 Elk Grove, No. 15 Grant and No. 17 Monterey Trail.

Among those celebrating were Cattolico’s other two sons who double as ball boys – 10-year-old Joseph and 8-year-old Dominic. And showing he still has some celebration moves in his legs was Joe’s father, assistant coach Butch Cattolico.

“They’re having fun with this,” Cattolico said of his ball boys. “That’s what babysitting looks like for them: Come to a game on Friday night and spend time with their grandfather, too.”

Del Oro coach Jeff Walters and wife Lindsey welcomed their 8-pound, 1-ounce son Logan earlier this season.

“What were we thinking?” Walters joked last month.

Football has long been a family affair for Team Cattolico.

Joe Cattolico grew up with the sport, jotting down notes during coaching clinics as a boy and starring at quarterback at Leigh High in San Jose, and Butch became one of the most accomplished coaches in Bay Area history.

In 26 years as head coach at Los Gatos High, Butch won 266 games, 16 league championships and 12 Central Coast Section crowns in 17 title-game appearances.

He retired following the 2012 season so he and wife Berit could move to Elk Grove and tend to grandsons. Joe Cattolico quickly lured his father back into coaching, first at Pleasant Grove and the last two seasons at Sheldon.

The Cattolicos have always stressed offensive simplicity and discipline on defense. The Huskies this season have been anchored by their offensive line, which includes three returning starters from last season’s playoff team: Koby Barrett, Louie Lewis and Jack Middleton. Junior quarterback Francisco Salinas has shown glimpses of promise and has been steady all season.

The line coach is Dale Ellingsworth, who has come full circle. He was the founding football coach at Sheldon when the school opened 20 years ago and worked along side Joe Cattolico at Pleasant Grove.

Jason Tenner, the head coach at Ponderosa from 2007-2015, is also on board, giving the Huskies a wealth of experience.

The defense has been led by returning starters in the secondary, Austyn Hurts and Ian Moore.

Sheldon lost to Reno 28-21 on Sept. 8. Reno is 6-0 and ranked fifth in Nevada. Cattolico and staff challenged the Huskies to respond. They have, beating Monterey Trail 35-20 (pitching a second-half shutout) and Franklin. But every coach in teal, black and white is preaching focus in a game of inches.

Every yard, every touchdown, every victory is to be cherished, and all of it validates the coaching plea to lift weights, to condition, to pay attention, to play as if every game might be your last.

“We feel fortunate to have pulled it out against Franklin,” Cattolico said. “We end up winning it somewhere between a foot and a yard, and that’s your margin of victory. It’s funny how sports are. That little tiny bit of yardage determines your mood following the game and the perception of fans.

“Everybody involved is happy with us because we won by a few inches. If we lost by a few inches ... The challenge with teenagers is trying to keep the kids from being too high and not too low. But wins like this, that’s our evidence, why we ask them to do all the work. We don’t want to become too big for our britches.”

Sheldon started 4-0 last season, then filled their britches, losing to Franklin (20-17) and Davis (24-21) before beating Jesuit (43-32), Grant (20-14) and Pleasant Grove (35-18). Then the britches again, a 35-0 loss to Elk Grove in the regular-season finale before recovering to beat Napa in a Division I playoff opener, 37-28. After that, Sheldon fell to powerhouse Folsom, 41-14.

“We’ve got an interesting group,” Cattolico said. “We’re still putting all the pieces together.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Oh, baby! Sheldon Huskies are 4-1, and it’s a family affair."