High School Sports

Bee’s Best: Rocklin’s Rio Patton wins football Prep of the Week vote

Del Oro’s Aiden Parry runs the ball with Rocklin’s Rio Patton defending during the first quarter in the game at Rocklin High School in Rocklin on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. Rocklin won 38-3.
Del Oro’s Aiden Parry runs the ball with Rocklin’s Rio Patton defending during the first quarter in the game at Rocklin High School in Rocklin on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. Rocklin won 38-3. snevis@sacbee.com

Rio Patton doesn’t take any games for granted because he isn’t sure how long this will last.

The Rocklin High School senior linebacker who also wrestles in the winter and spring seasons is pondering the student-athlete life in college or joining the Navy. For now, Patton is making plays on a defense that has played a big part of the Thunder’s 7-0 start.

Patton had 13 tackles in No. 2 Rocklin’s 21-0 win at Oak Ridge in El Dorado Hills last week, and he won Bee Football Prep of the Week honors through fan voting. He has a lot of them, garnering more than 60 percent of the votes.

Patton started playing football when he was 8 years old. He got into wrestling while in the seventh grade. He is one of the school’s top two-sport athletes, including a football team that plays Folsom Friday night and has championship aspirations beyond the Sierra Foothill League.

Joe Davidson
The Sacramento Bee
Joe Davidson has covered sports for The Sacramento Bee since 1989: preps, colleges, Kings and features. He was in early 2024 named the National Sports Media Association Sports Writer of the Year for California and he was in the fall of 2024 inducted into the California High School Football Hall of Fame. He is a 14-time award winner from the California Prep Sports Writer Association. In 2021, he was honored with the CIF Distinguished Service award. He is a member of the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Davidson participated in football and track in Oregon.
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