Prep football 2021: Four storylines sure to shape the Sacramento area’s season
Every sports season features storylines, the movers and shakers, the coaches, the favorites, the underdogs and the overwhelmed trying to find their way.
How teams respond is what shapes any high school football campaign, and that’s been a big deal in the Sacramento region for decades. In the 1950s, Sacramento High and McClatchy High were two of the few regional programs, well before expansive growth, and those schools capped seasons with the Turkey Day Game at Hughes Stadium, sometimes in front of a packed house of 23,000. Sac High reemerged as a power last decade. McClatchy remains an academic boot camp but the football program has not tasted a winner since 1994, and it last reached the playoffs in 1996. Better days ahead, insist those in Lions colors.
In the early 1960s, Folsom towered as a small school doing big things, including being ranked No. 1 in Northern California in 1962 under coach Dewey Guerra.
In the past decade, Folsom swelled to a large-enrollment school, fast closing in on 3,000 students. It still does big things such as collecting Sac-Joaquin Section championships, some CIF State hardware (four since 2010) and ushering off boat loads of kids off to the college ranks via full scholarship. Some have landed in the NFL, be it quarterback Jake Browning, safety Jordan Richards, tight end Josiah Deguara or lineman Jonah Williams.
Top players loom from programs all over, not just at Folsom.
Some storylines to ponder as Kickoff 2021 looms:
How long can Folsom remain top dog?
There appears to be no end in sight with 19 returning starters from a Bulldogs team that went 6-0 in the spring, and for as much complaint that the top players came from other schools such as national recruits Rico Flores, a junior receiver, and Walker Lyons, a junior tight end, the core of the team is still home grown. That includes twins Josh and Tyler Tremain, the team’s leading tackler in the spring and the program’s next star quarterback. They grew up as Junior Bulldogs. Yes, Folsom is a destination school, and kids will continue to transfer in, but as long as the youth feeder programs are rolling, then so will the high school Bulldogs.
Folsom will be tested outside the rigors of the Sierra Foothill League that includes No. 3 Rocklin, No. 6 Granite Bay, No. 9 Grant, No. 16 Whitney and No. 18 Del Oro. The opener is at No. 2 Monterey Trail, the last area team to topple the Bulldogs, in the 2019 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs. Nonleague games include national powerhouse De La Salle and Bay Area heavy Pittsburg, both at Folsom.
“I’m not sure we’re deserving of No. 1 because we aren’t the defending champion — Oak Ridge is, and Monterey Trail beat us — but we’ll play hard,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said. “Really, we haven’t done anything. Walker Lyons hasn’t won a section title yet. Rico Flores hasn’t won a section title yet. The Tremain brothers haven’t won a section title yet. That’s our goal. Until we do so, we haven’t done a thing.”
How will the referee shortage affect games?
Officiating games is no easy task, especially when they are taken to task by coaches and fans, leading to dwindling numbers on that front. With some 90 area schools and not near enough bodies to man junior varsity and varsity double-headers, the traditional five-man crews are down to four-man crews this season. Calls may get missed. The officials will do the best they can, and no, they have not been bought, nor are they haters or homers. They’re human.
“We need help, and we’re looking for the one-time high school player who may still be in college, or is already out and just wants to remain in the game, and we’ll train you,” said longtime area official Terry Lockett. “Former players know the game, understand the game, respect the game.”
Some teams are opting for Thursday or Saturday games in an effort to ease the referee crunch, and to also ensure getting some top-notch officials.
For more information on how to become a regional official, email Jim Jorgensen at: jimjorgensensports@gmail.com
Can programs in decline turn it around?
In a cyclical sport such as football, yes, and it takes a good coach. We’ve seen it happen plenty.
Kennedy suffered mightily before Matt Costa turned it around in quick order, and his successor, 2020 Spring Coach of the Year Brian Lewis, kept it going. Lewis played at Kennedy and graduated there. Costa then overcame an 0-10 season at Pleasant Grove to reach the playoffs, and his team is a Delta League contender this season.
Johnson dipped after years of success, and Alex Gomes-Coelho worked wonders to get his program into the 2019 playoffs, the first time in nearly 20 seasons. He’s an alum of the school. Laguna Creek hit the skids after years of success, then climbed back with a 7-3 showing in 2019 under coach Ryan Nill, an alum of the school and the son of Mark Nill, who coached the Cardinals years earlier.
Mesa Verde has struggled over the years with low player numbers and has a new coach in place in Lenny Casillas, and it pays to schedule accordingly. Mesa Verde and similarly struggling McClatchy meet in an opener on Saturday.
And there’s Bella Vista, a nationally recognized academic school that has not won a football game since 2016. The Fair Oaks school has nice football facilities, scholars right and left, and good-sized enrollment, just over 2,000. And the school has a leader. Second-year coach Jim Gray, a coaching lifer who is in this grind for all the right reasons.
He explained, “It does not happen overnight. Our amazing group of young men never quit. Coaches we played (in the spring) saw a huge turnaround in Bella Vista football and the intensity. Very proud. There is excitement at BV to play football.”
How much pressure is there on the big-name first-year coaches?
Plenty, and that’s exactly the way these lifers would want it. Each expects to be in a Sac-Joaquin Section championship game much sooner than later.
Cosumnes Oaks ushers in Martin Billings, the one-time title winner from the Bay Area. Joe Cattolico takes over at Granite Bay after championship success at various other schools, from San Jose to the Elk Grove district.
Sam Pulino moves up from the Rocklin junior varsity and inherits a powerhouse with kids he knows well, all while previous coach Jason Adams remains on staff. Casey Taylor is back where it all started for him as a player, at Oak Ridge, where the Trojans stand as defending Division I section champions (from 2019) and still have previous coach Eric Cavaliere on staff.
Carl Reed, a Grant Pacer to the core as a player and graduate, takes over for the famed Mike Alberghini. Willie Burns, a coaching mainstay in Yuba county, assumes command at Yuba City, ranked 12th. Reggie Harris, a glowering fixture at Grant for 12 years before a stop in Florida, is now in charge of Inderkum. And at Bear River, Tanner Mathias and Mike Profumo take over for retired coaching greats Terry Logue and Scott Savoie.
Attention Coaches
To ensure publication of your game results, please email who scored touchdowns or made the most tackles to jdavidson@sacbee.com late Friday night or by Saturday morning. This also helps us track Prep of the Week candidates.
THE BEE’S TOP 25
(With spring-season records)
1. Folsom (6-0)
2. Monterey Trail (5-0)
3. Rocklin (4-0)
4. Elk Grove (0-1)
5. Vacaville (5-0)
6. Granite Bay (4-2)
7. Jesuit (3-2)
8. Oak Ridge (2-4)
9. Grant (2-0)
10. Capital Christian (1-2)
11. Placer (2-1)
12. Yuba City (3-1)
13. Cosumnes Oaks (2-1)
14. Christian Brothers (3-3)
15. Pleasant Grove (2-2)
16. Whitney (1-4)
17. Sacramento (2-2)
18. Del Oro (0-5)
19. Inderkum (3-3)
20. Nevada Union (1-1)
21. Casa Roble (4-0)
22. Sheldon (2-1)
23. Roseville (2-2)
24. Oakmont (3-0)
25. El Dorado (3-0)
Bubble (alphabetical): Bear River (2-3), Bradshaw Christian (1-1), Center (0-3), Colfax (3-0), Cordova (2-3), Davis (1-3), Del Campo (2-1), Dixon (2-2), East Nicolaus (1-2), Foothill (2-2), Franklin (2-1), Johnson (0-1), Kennedy (2-1), Laguna Creek (1-3), Lincoln (3-2), Natomas (4-2), Pionoeer (3-1), Ponderosa (1-4), Rio Linda (2-3), River City (1-4), River Valley (2-3), Sutter (5-0), Union Mine (2-2), Vista del Lago (4-1), Winters (4-1), Wood (2-3), Woodcreek (2-2), Woodland (2-2). - Joe Davidson
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 7:04 AM.