Prep football at an all-time high level in Sacramento

High school football in the Sacramento area has never been better.

Not only are the teams a source of civic pride in the schools’ communities, the players and teams are faster, more prolific and more entertaining. And the game has never been safer, with the understanding that if played correctly, concussions and serious injuries are more a rarity.

There are powerhouse teams across the region, from Folsom, Del Oro, Elk Grove and Oak Ridge in the suburbs to Grant, Burbank and Sacramento in the heart of the city.

And with the season kicking off Friday, there might not be a better entertainment value for a family.

“There isn’t a better game,” Kennedy coach Matt Costa said. “I don’t know what else there is to do in Sacramento on a Friday night in the fall than to catch a high school football game. This is the thing to do.”

The region has a history of strong football programs over the years, from Cordova’s wishbone attack in the 1970s to Grant, which in 2008 became the first area team to win a CIF state championship. The Pacers will honor longtime coach Mike Alberghini on Friday when their stadium in Del Paso Heights is renamed during a ceremony before kickoff against Rocklin.

In recent years, the spread formation has spread across the region, with no team more successful than Folsom, which won state titles in 2010 and 2014. And Del Oro proved last season that slow starts don’t have to doom a season. After opening 2-6, the Golden Eagles won eight in a row and became the latest area team to hoist a CIF state trophy.

High school football also has helped students and communities heal. Del Oro was rocked when popular reserve lineman Ronny Andrews died in a car accident weeks after Loomis celebrated the Golden Eagles’ state title.

“Football,” Del Oro coach Casey Taylor said last week, “helped us get through that, to cope.”

The game also is helping Bear River in Lake of the Pines cope. Running back Toran Maronic was injured in a 7-on-7 passing drill over the summer when he landed awkwardly and suffered a serious brain injury. His recovery has inspired the Bruins.

Inspiration also can be found at Kennedy, where the football program has struggled. Costa increased participation and helped the Cougars improve from 0-10 in 2012 to an 8-3 playoff team last fall.

“If you love what you do, and the kids buy in, anything is possible,” Costa said.

Yet there remain areas of concern. With concussions an issue at all levels, states and districts nationwide have limited tackling in practice, and some schools have dropped freshman teams as participation falls because of parents’ fear of catastrophic injury.

In California, 100,205 high school students played football last fall – nearly double track and field, the sport with the second-most participants – but the total represented a decrease of 3.39 percent since 2013.

The emergence of social media has given football more exposure than ever, but not always in a positive way because of often boorish behavior, including taunting, on Twitter.

And the obsession of parents and players to land a Division I scholarship continues to grow. There are far more high school players than D-I scholarships, but there are plenty of opportunities to play beyond high school, from D-II and D-III programs to community colleges.

This story was originally published August 22, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Prep football at an all-time high level in Sacramento."