High School Sports

Bee’s Best: Elk Grove lineman is area’s first trenchman to win Prep of Week honors

Games are still won and lost in the trenches. At Elk Grove High School, that means a formidable group of linemen who block to lead the rushing attack and then tackle to defuse opponents.

That’s Soni Finau to the core.

The 6-foot-4, 310-pound senior two-way lineman star for the Thundering Herd earned Bee Prep Football Player of the Week honors for his good trench work - and for having a lot of friends. He won the voting poll and is the first lineman to do so this season.

Finau had two sacks and four tackles in Elk Grove’s 56-6 rout of Gregori of Modesto in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoff game, advancing the Herd to tonight’s showdown at Vacaville.

Finau helped led the offense that rushed for 435 yards, averaging 9.7 yards, and eight rushing touchdowns, four by Zeke Burnett and two by David Hale. Finau is a third-year starter for the Herd, highly regarded by his teammates and his coaches.

Said Elk Grove offensive line coach Mo Loller, “He’s the best athlete of the group. Plays both sides of the ball with speed and quickness.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 1:07 PM.

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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