This California town has a population under 500 — and a proud NFL tradition

Football games are big events in Clarksburg.

Delta High School’s stadium has just five rows of seating, but they were mostly full with a few hundred fans a few weeks ago for a tilt with Woodland Christian. Smoke billowed off the charcoal grill behind the concessions stand. Old telephone poles held up candescent lights that gave the field a yellow hue.

High school games mean a lot everywhere, but there’s a kind of charm at Delta High that you don’t find at any of the Sierra Foothill League powerhouse schools.

A reporter walking on the practice field before Friday’s game faced stern-but-playful questioning from neighbors who wanted to know whether he was a “creeper,” because they didn’t recognize him. Clarksburg is a town of fewer than 500 people; after awhile, you know pretty much everybody.

The parents wanted to know whether the principal had upped the ante in a small-town drama. Their kids have been caught sneaking into the stadium to avoid the $4 entrance fee (the kids had the money, but it’s more fun to jump a fence). Was this new guy a security guard sent to catch scofflaws?

Delta co-head coach Tim Rapp laughed when told about the incident. Yeah, he was pretty sure he knew those parents. Rapp grew up in West Sacramento and went to school in Clarksburg, proudly stating he met his four best friends in life when he transferred into the school for fifth grade. Now, he teaches sixth grade.

The school is only about a 15-minute drive from the state Capitol, but it’s easy to feel a world apart. AT&T cellphones get a lonely bar of fickle 4G service in Clarksburg — hope you weren’t planning on tweeting score updates from the game.

“That’s kind of a great part about it because you’re 15 minutes away from downtown, but when you’re out here, you definitely feel like you’re in the country, living life,” Rapp said. “Clarksburg has a post office, one store, a couple diners and volunteer fire department. It’s pretty old-school.”

It also might have the best football history of any Sacramento-area school, on a per-student basis.

Delta has sent four players to the NFL. Quarterback Tony Eason, a first-round pick who played seven years in the NFL, is the obvious headliner. His brother Bo Eason played defensive back for the Houston Oilers. Dan McQuaid was a lineman for Washington. And Scott Barry was drafted by the 49ers after playing at UC Davis.

Not bad for a high school that usually has fewer than 250 students.

Things haven’t changed a ton since the football team’s heyday in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Clarksburg. The locals say that’s the norm. Delta had some down years recently, but the team is back among the best in Division VII. The only difference Rapp sees between his high school days and now is the caliber of young athletes he sees.

“I teach sixth grade, and when I see kids come in, there’s not a lot of athletes,” he said. “Kids don’t play pick-up games anymore. When I toss a ball at them, you’d think there was a hand grenade coming at them. Doesn’t anyone play catch with you at all?”

Rapp and co-head coach Ed Call are in their first year leading the program. On the sideline for games, Call wears his old letterman’s jacket, a little frayed in spots but still regal. He also wears a headset on the sideline, the only coach to do so. The football teams in their division are so small that visiting Woodland Christian didn’t even have an observer in the press box.

With 33 boys on the roster, the Saints are always in danger of not fielding a JV team. While they’re 5-2 in varsity play this year, 10 seniors will graduate in the spring. There’s about a dozen eighth-graders who want to come out to play next year, Rapp said, but the parents won’t send them out to play if they’re going to get sacrificed to varsity play.

The stadium could use some upgrades, Rapp said. That yellow field lighting, for starters. Rapp’s no bumpkin; he’s seen and coached in nice stadiums with artificial turf and he doesn’t like it. For one thing, it feels like you’re walking on the surface of the sun in the heat of summer. And it’s just not right playing on rubber.

“There’s something about the comfort of playing football and tackling on grass. It just feels more natural,” he said.

That’s perfect for Clarksburg.

It would be easy to dismiss this as small ball. The five rows of seating in the stadium weren’t full at the Woodland Christian game, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Many of the few hundred fans at the game were wearing hats or shirts with a Detroit Tigers-style “D” in large print. Seemingly everybody grew up there, went away for college, then settled back in town. People just like it here.

“I just know there’s a lot that are ‘get me out of this small town,’” Rapp said. “As much as they like it here, they’re ready for something else. I don’t know if it’s a personality thing or what, but some people are drawn to small towns. Some people prefer San Francisco, New York or L.A.; I like it here.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.