What a year: River Cats won it all, MLS commits to Sacramento and Kings showed ... promise
In the last year, the regional sporting scene was dotted with achievements on fields, diamonds and arenas and with a hire of a coach with promise.
And what a way to send out the decade.
The Bee takes a peek at storylines that shaped the year.
Kings new coach, new era (again)
There was optimism bursting out of Golden 1 Center for the Kings and their ever-loyal fans as the club had a winning record at the All-Star break. Then they lost steam, finishing third in the Pacific Division and ninth in the Western Conference at 39-43, the most wins since their last playoff season of 2005-06.
It wasn’t an overwhelmingly popular choice by fans that general manager Vlade Divac relieved Dave Joerger of his coaching duties with a year to go on his contract, but not a single Kings player went to social media or went public otherwise to voice displeasure with the move.
In came Luke Walton, the 18th coach since the Kings arrived in Sacramento in 1985 and the 10th since Rick Adelman was pushed out by the Maloof ownership group. Walton and Divac have history, and that’s why Walton is on board. The coach has vowed to make it fun and to make a run to the playoffs. There have been encouraging signs despite injuries and an 0-5 start, and there has been caution thrown to the wind.
Said Buddy Hield earlier this season, “We’ve all locked in — everybody, and that’s because of Luke. Luke’s calling out guys and just making sure we stay locked in.”
Said Hield after a double-overtime loss to Minnesota at home on Dec. 26, the latest five-game skid, “Seems like we’re all over the place — coaches and everybody. Trust issues going on, I guess. Guys stop believing in players. It is what it is. They have who they have playing out there and I just have to be supportive.”
A’s for 91 from the 916
Arik Armstead has had a breakout season for the 49ers, the one-time Pleasant Grove High School star out of Elk Grove a stalwart on the defensive line in his fifth season.
Armstead has 10 sacks for a team with visions of making a Super Bowl run. Said 49ers defensive back Richard Sherman after Armstead had two sacks in a rout of Green Bay on Nov. 24, “He’s playing All-Pro football week in and week out.”
Armstead is even better off the field. He is a giver to charities in Sacramento and Elk Grove as a lovable 6-foot-8 tower who likes to add a “6” to his No. 91 jersey number for promotional purposes to represent his home roots area code.
MLS moves in (soon)
When Sacramento Republic FC first hit the scene in 2014, there were questions on whether or not the region would embrace professional soccer. It did right away, and a loyal and loud fan base got the ball rolling to bigger and better things, right up to the announcement Marcos Breton wrote.
Sacramento first got a taste of the big time in 1985 when the Kings moved west from Kansas City. Then 30 years ago, Al Davis of the Raiders flirted with the idea of moving the NFL franchise to Sacramento, but that talk proved to be more leverage ploy than reality.
The MLS news is real, and FC Republic and the city of Sacramento area working on a $226 million stadium in the Railyards. The key was Republic FC CEO Kevin Nagle, who in January will be named “Sacramentan of the Year” by the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
Megan Moment
Megan Rapinoe was born and raised in Redding and learned to play elite soccer in Elk Grove, so she’s plenty home grown to make this list.
The 34-year old who powered the U.S. Women’s National team to World Cup success in 2019 was named Sports Illustrated’s 2018 Sportsperson of the Year because, as Bee columnist Marcos Breton said, she “was not so much a revolutionary act as it was an acknowledgment of Rapinoe as a revolutionary athlete.”
She is just the fourth woman to be picked by the magazine, which started in 1954. Her pick was not popular across the nation as plenty vented about her taking a knee during the national anthem, underscoring her solidarity with former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee to protest social injustice.
Explained Rapinoe in 2016, “I can understand if you think that I’m disrespecting the flag by kneeling, but it is because of my utmost respect for the flag and the promise it represents that I have chosen to demonstrate in this way. When I take a knee, I am facing the flag with my full body, staring straight into the heart of our country’s ultimate symbol of freedom — because I believe it is my responsibility, just as it is yours, to ensure that freedom is afforded to everyone in this country.”
River Cats Home Run Season
The season started April 4 in West Sacramento and ended 146 games, 319 player transactions and road trips near and far, right into the heat of September in Memphis.
There, in September, the River Cats beat the Columbus Clippers 4-0 in a one-game, winner-take-all Triple-A Championship. It was the third such achievement for the River Cats in their 20-year local history. And this team knew how to party.
When the River Cats secured the Pacific Coast League Northern Division, some 100 gallons of champagne and beer were sprayed in all directions. The manager was Dave Brundage, ended 146 games, 319 player transactions and road trips near and far, right into the heat of September in Memphis.
Stingers (way) up
Sacramento State had gone 30 football seasons without a playoff team, but that drought and others came to an emphatic end this fall.
Under first-year coach and homegrown star Troy Taylor, the Hornets surged at a record clip, their leader joking — maybe — to start wearing a custom-fitted gold grillz for kicks.
The Hornets won their first Big Sky Conference championship and just the fifth title in program history in addition to being ranked a program-best No. 4 nationally, which led players, coaches and even passionate school president Robert S. Nelsen to hold a pinkie up high to belt out the school motto of, “Stingers up!”
Sac State went from 2-8 in 2018 to 9-4 this season, setting scores of offensive records and landing key recruits.
Aggies to the Dance
Fresh off winning the Big West Conference tournament, the UC Davis women’s basketball team celebrated the announcement that it would take its 16-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament for its share of March Madness, never mind that ESPN spoiled the surprise while Dick Vitale was breaking down the men’s bracket.
The Aggies proved to be good sports, a credit to coach Jennifer Gross, the one-time Aggies star. This UCD group was led by another program all-time great in Morgan Bertsch, who went from one scholarship offer out of high school to program centerpiece. A biomedical engineering major, Bertsch is curious how the human body works, how it does what it does and how it heals.
Prep football new order
Folsom owned the decade for area high school football but not the final year of the decade.
That belonged to everyone else.
With Monterey Trail stunning Folsom with ball control and owning 40 of the game’s 48 minutes, new blood took over, a relief to those who had “Folsom Fatigue.”
Folsom was seeking its record 10th consecutive trip to a Sac-Joaquin Section final and its third successive CIF State trophy and fifth of the decade. No go. Folsom’s success forced rivals to get better, and they did.
Monterey Trail lost to Oak Ridge in the section Division I finals in a battle of stellar juniors. Oak Ridge quarterback Justin Lamson’s three rushing touchdowns held off the dynamic four-touchdown night by Prophet Brown in the wind and rain. Though no immediate Sacramento-area team reached a CIF upper-division state final for the first time since 2007, the season was anything but a failure.
State Gold
The 101st CIF State track and field championships in Clovis in May was again a showcase of Southern California depth, talent and medal hauls.
The Monterey Trail 4x100 relay team of Andre Crump, Camden Wheeler, Prophet Brown and Zach Larrier defied odds and terrific competition to win in 41.47 seconds. The Mustangs became just the third regional outfit to take this race — and just the second in Northern California since 2005.
Larrier also won the 400 in 46.73 to became the area’s first state winner in that event since Johnny Ware of Sacramento in 1975 and just the third all time (Rod Connors of Cordova, 1973). Sandwiched between those Monterey Trail wins was Matt Strangio repeating as the 1,600-meter champion in 4 minutes, 8.7 seconds.
Strangio hasn’t slowed down since, clocking a time of 14:43.5 at the state cross country meet, tying for the third-fastest time there ever. And sophomore Riley Chamberlain of Del Oro repeated as a cross country state champion, winning in 17:16.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 12:43 PM.