‘Our kids are fired up to win’: River City hopes to build some winning ways

This was supposed to be the season. The River City High football team had a bunch of seniors coming back. The Raiders finished last season with three league wins and a narrow loss. With a good year, coach Gabe Jimenez could maybe shut down the pipeline of good players leaving his program to play at other schools.

Instead, well, you know what happened.

After a long shutdown, the Raiders started padded practices last Friday on their West Sacramento turf. A couple of those seniors were on the track instead, working for potential college scholarships with the running team. Jimenez didn’t grumble about it. He has 22 varsity players and he’s eager to finally see what his team can do.

“We plan on going out there just like it would be back in August,” he said. “Our kids are fired up to win, we’ve been doing conditioning and whatever we can to get ready. We plan on going out there and playing like it’s not a COVID year. It would be easy to just have all the JV come up because a couple months away we start the next season. But that’s not fair to the seniors, they deserve to play.”

Wins have been in relatively short supply for River City, which went 4-6 last year (3-2 in the Metro Conference) and 2-8 in 2018. But there’s a chance the Raiders could equal last season’s win total in just five spring games.

River City will stay in Yolo County for games with Woodland, Winters and River Valley. A short jaunt to Sacramento’s Kennedy High is in some doubt as that school hasn’t started padded practices.

The Raiders are led by shifty Jerale Griffin Jr., a senior who will see time at both running back and receiver. Senior quarterback Isaiah Aguilar will helm the offense. Senior fullback Jacob Medina, a bruiser at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, will lead the way out of the backfield, and he’s expected to make a dent as a linebacker. Senior Jack Hansen will lead the defensive effort.

Lineman Josh Ngaluae, a Cal Poly commit, will miss the spring season as he plays club football instead. His absence isn’t the only thing players might notice.

Amid a pandemic, a coach greets them before they enter the practice. “Do you have any fever, chills, loss of smell or appetite?” they are asked, while a temperature scanner checks their forehead for signs of a fever. No? You can go in.

Games will be different, too. There will be no fans allowed at River City, or at least that’s the plan for now. Not even parents.

That’s tough, Jimenez said, but whatever. At least they have some games to play.

“We’re still planning to win every game, football as usual,” Jimenez said. “The first thing is safety, and the next is to play football. … I think they needed it. They’ve been begging to play.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2021 at 8:08 AM.