‘One of those magical years’: Center hunts first-ever section championship
They named this place Center because it was in the middle of nowhere when the school district was founded back in 1858. It started as a one-room schoolhouse with enrollment ranging from four to 20, depending on how many of the older students were needed on their farms and ranches during harvest season.
Over the past 160 years, neighborhoods and shopping centers were constructed, forming a diverse community now known as Antelope. The community embraced a boy from Lebanon. The boy became a quarterback. The quarterback married a cheerleader, came back to coach the team and raised two daughters who still work the snack bar on game nights now as adults. And in all those years, the Center High football team has never won a section championship.
“Not yet,” coach Digol J’Beily said.
The top-seeded Cougars (12-0) will have their chance next week when they play second-seeded Ripon in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V final. They advanced to the championship game for the third time in school history with a 47-12 victory over fourth-seeded Bradshaw Christian (9-3) on Friday night at Gerety Stadium, where the lights have never shined so bright on the boys in blue and gold.
“It’s just one of those years,” J’Beily said. “It’s one of those magical years where you have the right mix and everything falls in line. Everyone has bought into this family atmosphere. We eat together like family. We watch film like a family. They look at each other like brothers. I know that sounds mushy, but in a team sport like football, that goes a long way on the field.”
Center has never come this far with an unblemished record. J’Beily has led the Cougars to the championship game twice before, first as their quarterback in 1987 and again as their coach in 2017. That first team finished 9-3 under longtime former coach Bob Eason, losing to Galt in the section final. The last one finished 7-6 under J’Beily, falling to Placer in the championship game.
“We’ve been close before, but this group is special,” J’Beily said.
Going into Friday’s contest, the Cougars averaged 43.2 points per game while holding opponents to 9.6. Their first-team defense hadn’t allowed a touchdown since the first week of October.
Center’s spread option offense features electric dual-threat quarterback Michael Wortham, who completed 7 of 7 passes for 175 yards and four touchdowns against Bradshaw Christian. Wortham also rushed for 203 yards on 12 carries, scoring on runs of 66, 85 and 22 yards.
Wortham has trusty receivers in Brandon Fernandes and Latrell Harris, and a burly power back in Legend Young, who tips the scales at 215 pounds. An experienced, cohesive offensive line is anchored by Kelvin Jackson and Tyler Anderson.
The Cougars have seven three-year varsity players, all of whom felt the sting of that 2017 loss to Placer. They were close then, but they’re closer now.
“The losses we had, the hardship we had, those types of things really brought us together,” Wortham said. “We’re more connected now. We all love each other.”
Winning a section championship might be the only thing they haven’t done together.
“That would be amazing,” Wortham said. “My heart’s beating fast for it already. We’re ready.”
Young agreed that the Cougars share a special connection, saying: “There’s something about this team. We have a bond that will never be broken. We will always be brothers. We’re like one big family.”
All of which brings the story back to J’Beily, his staff of dedicated assistants and the community they serve. There was a revolt in 2005 when two school board members voted J’Beily out after six seasons, allegedly because he wouldn’t start one of the board member’s sons at quarterback. Students protested, two dozen coaches quit and the community organized a recall, throwing those board members out in a resounding vote that cleared the way for J’Beily to return the following season.
“I couldn’t see myself playing for any other coach,” Young said. “He always has his door open at lunch for life, for football, anything. I can go to him for whatever I need and I usually do.”
J’Beily’s coaching staff includes Mark Petersen, Jeremy Figueroa, Ivan Calhoun and Ernesto Torres — all Center graduates — as well as Matt Chamberlain and Larry Davenport. Chamberlain, who has spent most of his 30-year teaching and coaching career at Center, is retiring at the end of the year.
“I would love to go out on a perfect season,” he said. “That would be sweet.”
Some wish Ray Bender could be here to see this. Bender was J’Beily’s father-in-law, a longtime member of the Center school board and one of the biggest boosters the school’s athletic department ever had.
The Benders were one of the families that welcomed J’Beily into their homes after his family moved here from Lebanon when he was 7. Eventually, he married one of their daughters and they started a family of their own.
“Ray was a terrific father figure for me, even though I had a father,” J’Beily said. “I called him my American father. First professional game I ever went to, Ray took me. No. 1 cheerleader in the crowd — that was Ray. A lot of the things I say today, to my daughters and my players as well, those thoughts come from Ray.”
Bender was a fixture at Center games for decades, always smiling and cracking jokes. He died weeks after Center’s championship-game loss to Placer in 2017, but J’Beily still feels his presence.
“The family atmosphere of Friday night games we’ve always demonstrated for our girls came from Ray and (his wife) Linda,” J’Beily said. “Friday nights are a family matter. We take it a little harder when we lose, but when we win, we all win.”
So after all these years, here come the Cougars, marching unbeaten into the championship game. Some might say they’ve come out of nowhere to become championship contenders, but they know exactly where they came from.
“We take a lot of pride in this community,” J’Beily said. “There’s a feeling of giving back to a place that’s given me a lot already, a lot of pride in the school, the program, and the blue and gold. It feels good to help these kids have success in a place that helped you have success yourself.”
This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 4:44 AM.
