Here’s who headline The Sacramento Bee’s 2019 All-Metro high school football teams
One was especially gifted in passing, the other in running, the third in making stops.
Combined, Justin Lamson of Oak Ridge, Carter Harris of Elk Grove and Marcus Jones of Monterey Trail did their parts and then some in producing memorable and milestone-making moments that greatly impacted the 2019 regional high school football landscape.
For their relentless efforts and ability to play big under intense pressure, Lamson is The Bee’s 2019 All-Metro Player of the Year after quarterbacking the Trojans to their first Division I Sac-Joaquin Section championship; Harris is The Bee’s Offensive Player of the Year after slithering and sprinting his way to the end zone at quarterback in willing the Thundering Herd to the D-II section crown; and Jones piled on tackles at linebacker in staging a playoff upset of Folsom before falling to Oak Ridge in the D-I section final.
The Bee’s Coach of the Year could have gone to any number of worthy candidates. The Bee went with Zac McNally of Whitney, the first coach in section history to go from 0-10 his first season to a section final in his next since the section playoffs started in 1971.
McNally’s gritty bunch beat top-seeded Rocklin 28-6 in a D-II game, then beat red-hot Jesuit in a semifinal 20-17 before falling to Harris and Elk Grove 35-0 in the section finals.
Others on The Bee’s short list of Coach of the Year candidates included John Heffernan of Elk Grove, whose program won its first section banner since 2001; Steve Smyte of Davis, who led the Blue Devils to their best regular-season record since 1984; Jason Adams, who went from defensive coordinator to head coach at Rocklin and turned a 2-8 team into a 7-4 top seed; Matt Costa of Pleasant Grove, whose team went 0-10 in 2018 to the playoffs this season; Eric Cavaliere of Oak Ridge, which won its first D-I banner.
Lamson Legend at Oak Ridge
Lamson, only a junior, looked the part of the region’s next promising quarterback talent. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Lamson has a strong arm to go with strong legs, making him a dangerous duel threat. Oak Ridge coaches were high on him a year ago when he was a backup.
He passed for 3,114 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for 462 and five scores for an 11-3 team. He had a late-season win over Harris and Elk Grove and then engineered a 3-0 section run, punctuated by 35-27 win over Monterey Trail and Jones in the driving rain at Hughes Stadium to decide the D-I championship. Lamson carried a career-high 24 times for a career-best 129 yards and three touchdowns to steer Oak Ridge, and then he celebrated in the wind and rain.
Lamson embraced his role in all seasons.
“I try to set a good example, but I never wanted to overthink it and get in my own head,” he said. “I feel I’ve worked hard and that I can lead the guys and that they feel they can win with me.”
Harris a Hero for Elk Grove
The same weekend at Hughes, Harris fueled the Thundering Herd past Whitney 35-0 for D-II honors. In that game, Harris rushed 19 times for 218 yards and four touchdowns. Harris did this regularly, darting his 5-6, 155-pound frame through holes and downfield like a jet.
He rushed for 2,007 yards and 28 touchdowns, averaging 9.3 yards a carry in becoming the second area quarterback to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. (Ryan Dimino did so for Del Campo in 2009 when he led the Cougars to a section championship.)
“Great leader, great teammate, great player,” Elk Grove’s Heffernan said of Harris.
Elk Grove went 10-5, falling to Clayton Valley Charter in Concord 28-26 in the final seconds in the CIF Northern California Division 2-AA finals, the same night Oak Ridge fell to Central of Fresno in the D1-AA finals in El Dorado Hills, 38-32.
Clayton Valley and Central went on to win CIF State titles.
Hello, Mr. Jones
Jones at 6-foot and 190 pounds lived to tackle for Monterey Trail.
The senior had 134 tackles this season, 101 solo, to go with 5.5 sacks. He had key stops in a 35-23 victory over Folsom in a D-I semifinal, denying the Bulldogs a section-record 10th consecutive trip to a section final. And he went out in style, logging 14 stops in the D-I title loss to Oak Ridge. Monterey Trail finished 12-2 a year after going 12-1.
For his 37-game varsity career, Jones had 401 tackles – 10.8 per game.
“He made all the plays, a great player,” Monterey Trail coach T.J. Ewing said. “You can’t win without leaders.”
People’s choice for awards
In Bee online fan voting, Michael Wortham of Center edged Aaron Espero of Inderkum for the People’s Choice Player of the Year (both made The Bee’s first-team All-Metro).
Brad Ranklin of Casa Roble held off Christian Awwad of Rocklin for Defensive Player of the Year honors (both made The Bee’s first-team All-Metro), and the Team of the Year fan vote went to Center, which went 12-1, losing to a Ripon team that went on to win the CIF State D4-AA crown.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 4:00 AM.