Senior quarterback CJ Lee helps Jesuit top Elk Grove to clinch share of Delta League title

CJ Lee still remembers the blunders from last season’s most critical Delta League game.

Two interceptions. Only four rushing yards. A 13-point loss. But, above all, the bitterness of seeing rival Elk Grove celebrate a league championship that could have belonged to the Jesuit Marauders.

“(Butt)-whooping,” Lee said. “They handed it to us last year.”

Fast-forward to Saturday afternoon at Jesuit High School in Carmichael. Lee used last year’s loss as fuel to power the Marauders to a 28-8 win and at least a share of the Delta League championship with one game remaining in the regular season.

“We had this game circled on the calendar,” said Lee, who set the tone offensively for the Marauders by completing 8 of 13 passes for 112 yards and rushing 13 times for 57 more.

Lee grew up on the Jesuit field. As a Junior Marauder, he used to lead his team out of the inflatable Jesuit football helmet before games. He continues to do so as a varsity Marauder at Jesuit, where he led his team onto the field Saturday for Senior Day.

“It’s very special. It’s like my second family,” Lee said. “I’ve been roaming this field since I was probably 6 years old, so it’s great.”

Lee continued to roam the field Saturday, tight-roping down the sideline for a 35-yard touchdown run that gave Jesuit a 7-0 lead near the end of the first quarter.

After a Caleb Dixon interception with 1:24 to go in the first half, Lee fed Dixon for a 39-yard catch to get across midfield, allowing Jesuit to march toward the end zone. Lee then found tight end Cooper Babb for a 15-yard strike to make it 14-0 at halftime.

If Lee was the Marauders’ spark plug on offense, then Drew Vassar and Payton Coss brought the same energy on the defensive side. Vassar had four tackles for loss, including two on Elk Grove’s opening possession. Coss, meanwhile, tallied nine tackles with seven going for a loss.

“We wanted to make sure we were ready for this because (Elk Grove) is really tough, physical, and their offense is disciplined,” Jesuit coach Marlon Blanton said. “To hold them to eight, wow! That’s really impressive.”

Johnnie Brannon IV was set loose in the second half for Jesuit. The 5-foot-7 senior running back scooted for a 25-yard TD run in the third quarter. He punctuated Jesuit’s scoring with a 96-yard scoring burst late in the fourth, saying later he felt like San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey.

“That felt like a Madden play, to be honest,” said Brannon, who finished with 122 yards on eight carries. “I just juked out and juked back in, and then I was running. I felt like C.M.C., dude.”

Elk Grove avoided being shut out for the first time since 2010 by finally reaching the end zone with 1:32 left in the game. David Hale connected with Micah Williams for a 15-yard TD pass and again with Dylan Archuleta for a 2-point conversion to make it 28-8.

Saturday’s game was the final Delta League matchup between Jesuit and Elk Grove for at least the next few years as the Marauders are set to join the Sierra Foothill League as part of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s 2024 realignment process.

“I’m gonna miss Heff and competing against his teams,” Blanton said of Elk Grove head coach John Heffernan. “I’m not gonna miss playing against his offenses though.”

Historically, the winner of the Delta — classified by the section as a Division I league — would be bumped up to the D-I playoff bracket. However, the section altered its format before the 2023 season so that D-II enrollment schools, such as Jesuit and Elk Grove, remain in the D-II bracket, a field considered to be the strongest of the section’s seven postseason brackets.

So, Jesuit and Elk Grove could potentially see each other again this season with even higher stakes. The Marauders are likely to secure a first-round bye as a top-four seed while Elk Grove seeks at least a first-round home game.

Jesuit is only a failed 2-point conversion away from potentially being 9-0. A fourth-quarter rally against Central Coast Section power St. Ignatius of San Francisco last month fell just short in a 28-27 loss, the only blemish on Jesuit’s season thus far.

Jesuit (8-1, 5-0 Delta) will conclude its regular season Friday at Davis while Elk Grove (5-4, 4-1) visits Franklin.

“We are one play away from being 9-0 right now,” Blanton said. “We’re not taking any team for granted. We’ve got one more to go.”