Bee’s Best prep football: No. 9 Capital Christian sets aim on 10th straight league title
The Sacramento Bee will unveil our Top 25 football rankings from No. 25 to No. 1, at least a team every weekday, right up to the Aug. 19 kickoff.
NO. 9 CAPITAL CHRISTIAN
City: Sacramento
School opened: 1977
League: Capital Athletic
Division: III
Enrollment: 305
2021 record: 7-3
Coach: Saul Patu
Outlook: Capital Christian will have a great deal more to play for this football season.
In the offseason, a two-year playoff ban from the Sac-Joaquin Section over the school’s ties to club football was reduced to one year, and that was last fall after a 7-3 showing for the Capital Athletic League champions. The Cougars are playoff-eligible and appear to have the pieces to win the program’s 10th consecutive league championship and fourth in a row in the competitive CAL.
“We’re extremely happy about this,” Capital Christian coach Saul Patu said. “That’s definitely a win for the kids.”
The Cougars expect to keep on winning with skill players, some stoppers and some stout linemen. Bee Offensive Player of the Year Anthony Garcia is now at San Jose State, opening the door for his backup in 2021 in Eddie Brusuelas, whom Patu said is “ready to go. He’s fired up. He’s definitely a kid who’s going to do good things.”
Capital Christian will trot out an array of players to carry the ball, either by handoff or reverse plays or by the pass. The options include All-Metro receiver Kanye Clark and emerging star Malakai Keoni, a sophomore back, whom his coach says
“has all the talent to have his college education paid for.”
Jaden Nolan is a 6-foot-3 receiver who doubles as a cover cornerback, long and athletic.
“A lot of college coaches are drooling,” Patu said of rising recruiting interest. “He can be destructive on defense. He’s doing great, one of our leaders, and he comes from a competitive family, a good family.”
That family includes mother Danielle, who has been cheering on local prep stars for years, including older brother Matt Barnes, a Bee Player of the Year in basketball in 1997 at Del Campo who was an All-Metro receiver for catching 28 touchdowns in a single season. Barnes went on to a long career in the NBA.
And more family: Patu’s son Kayo Patu is a running back, cornerback and free safety, a 6-foot-1 junior who has scholarship offers from Washington State and Cal. His older brothers talk to him about the recruiting grind, as does dad, who played in the trenches at Oregon. Kayo’s brothers Orin Patu and Ari Patu are on Pac-12 rosters. Orin is a linebacker at Cal and Ari is a quarterback at Stanford.
Anchoring the lines is returning All-Metro center and defensive end Ty Kubicek, a lane filler at 6-3 and 275. Also on the defensive line is John Henry Rouse, a national champion in club rugby who can scoot across the field at 6-2 and 280 pounds.
“He’s so impressive, he has three names,” Patu said with a laugh.
Tito Mauve is a 300-pound run-stopper, whom his coach described as “amazing” for who he is and the challenges he has endured growing up.
“He didn’t have a home,” Patu said. “Went to different high schools. Finally got to a place with an aunt and uncle and their kids. He didn’t play last season (due to the CIF transfer policy) and he kept practicing and doing everything even though he knew he couldn’t play. That tells you about his grit and his character. When we found out he was CIF-eligible to play this season, we presented him with a jersey. Not a dry eye in the room.”