64th Optimist All-Star Football Classic gives graduating seniors one more time to shine
Saturday represents the final time Sacramento-area players can wear their trusty old high school helmets, to block and tackle, to engage in this grand game of football for a cause bigger than themselves.
The North All-Stars of graduating seniors will take on the South All-Stars at American River College at 1 p.m. in the 64th game for local charities such as Camp Ross Relles and the Shriners Hospital.
There will be no Division I scholarship-signed players on the field as college coaches who have binding letters of intent in hand implore their student-athletes to avoid such events. But this doesn’t mean there will be a shortage of talent and motivation, or that some of the players could eventually wind up playing past this weekend.
“There are still a ton of really good and great football players out here, and both teams still have the best of the best,” said Ron Barney, the North coach who echoes the sentiment shared by South coach Dave Johnson.
The rosters include a host of Bee All-Metro players, seniors who aspire to play in college - somewhere and anywhere, please - with one last hurrah to hang out with teammates. And the Optimist means rivals can suddenly pull for the same side.
The North team includes All-Metro quarterbacks Whit Kruse of Twelve Bridges and Austin Katapodis of Woodcreek, and they will look to throw to All-Metro targets such as Isaiah Langham of Rio Americano, Gavin Correia of Rocklin, Ryan Sisson of West Park, Joel Bradley of Roseville and Trevon Watson of Antelope, among others.
The North will also look to run the ball with All-Metro backs such as Hakeem Anderson of Woodcreek or Nathan Crawford of Twelve Bridges. Crawford rushed for 1,958 yards and 39 touchdowns for a 12-1 team. Kicker Ryan Eisert of Whitney is an All-Metro leg who may have a busy day.
The South features All-Metro leaders in quarterbacks John Koett of Vista del Lago and Marino Fragata of Cosumnes Oaks, All-Metro runners in Jayden Tinker of Union Mine, Vontrelle Waffer of Monterey Trail, Michael Cherry of Rosemont and the powerful Zaydon Learson of Sheldon, who can also knock people around as a 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker. Cherry rushed for 1,901 yards and 25 touchdowns for a playoff team, a blur in the open field.
Waffer rushed for 1,355 yards and 19 touchdowns for Monterey Trail, reminding that this sport helped him grow as a player and young man.
Scholarships hard to come by
Versatility is the name of this game. Everyone can play more than one position.
But some are specialists. Take Koett. He passed for 2,655 yards and 35 touchdowns for a 10-2 Vista del Lago team, and he looked the part of promising passer at 6-2 and 185 pounds. He’s not done growing in body or performance.
Koett is like so many others in this game: good enough to play in college somewhere, seemingly, but stuck in a numbers crunch unlike any time before. The NCAA Transfer Portal is the new rage in college football, where teams reload and retool with transfers over the concept of going to the high school ranks.
Portal players have already, in effect, been vetted and are college qualifiers. They are, in many aspects, a sure thing over a prep prospect. The junior college rosters in California are deeper than they have ever been, and some prep stars can’t make those rosters due to the stout competition.
“Playing in college is definitely on my radar,” Koett said. “It’s been a dream of mine. I wouldn’t say this game is a chance to be seen any more, but just taking it as an opportunity to play one more game. Most of us are all in teh same boat and are excited to play.”
The 3.42 student added that he has a visit at state junior college powerhouse College of San Mateo on Jan. 20. The JC route has worked for scores of players, including locally at American River College, Sacramento City and Sierra College.
“And yes, the portal is brutal,” Koett said. “Not a fan of it.”
Old coaches and lasting glory
The Optimist also allows for old coaches to continue to do their thing.
Max Miller was a coaching lifer, winning 264 games, mostly at Cordova. He coached coached recent Optimist games in his early 80s but now serves as game director. Miller remains all personality and good cheer.
He first coached in the Optimist game in the early 1960s, then carried it over into 1970s and the 1980s when the game was a summer fixture and featured big crowds. The game lost a lot of its luster by the 1990s and 2000s when a lot of graduated seniors moved on or lost interest. Some of the summer games ended with bad blood, prompting the game to be moved to the winter nearly 10 years ago for a change of pace.
“We don’t want to see the game get lost, dropped, so we’re all working as hard as we can to keep it going because it is for a good cause, and it’s football, and that’s always fun,” Miller said.
Among the North coaches are the ageless Al Hooker, a classy coaching fixture or league commissioner for decades. The North also has active coaches of note in Joe Cattolico of Granite Bay and 2023 Bee Coach of the Year Chris Horner of Casa Roble, who coached against Twelve Bridges in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division V finals, a win, and can now hug those guys as they’re all on the same side now.
Ron Barney, from a chopper to more HS sports
Barney, the North coach, is also a coaching lifer. He played three sports at Bella Vista High in the early 1970s, graduated from Sacramento State and poured himself into coaching and teaching at Mesa Verde, including eight years as a basketball coach, 38 years as a football coach and 32 as a baseball coach, winning a string of championships.
Barney, 70, used to get his kicks off the field by tooling around on his custom chopper “Big Dog” before his body and family pleaded for a cease and desist ride order.
“Now the bike is in the garage,” Barney said with a laugh. “I promised my sons (Mike and Nick) I’d stop riding it. I’m a baseball guy and was down to my last strike. I got hit head on once, not my fault, and still have a lot of soft-tissue damage. Then I got T-boned another time and broke five bones.”
Of late, Barney pours himself into athletics. He is the president of the local chapter National Football Foundation, the commissioner of the Pioneer Valley League and the athletic director for the San Juan Unified School District. Anyone who doesn’t like Ron Barney doesn’t know the man.
“I’ve got work to do, every day, and I always wake up wondering what I can do to help make the world better,” Barney said. “I have a calling to do this. What makes me happiest? Helping people, sports. I smile, tend to be positive and make a difference. That’s my purpose.”
Barney before and after North practices will address the North players.
“I keep it short because no one wants a long speech,” Barney said. “I talk about the history of the Optimist game, guys who went on to play in college or the NFL, and that it’s an important game. We’re doing something positive and good with this game, and we’re doing this for all the right reasons and for our love of football.”
What: 65th Optimist All-Star Football Classic.
When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
Where: American River College:
Tickets: $13 at the ARC gate or through players on these teams.
Broadcast: NFHS Network through ABC Jam Productions
NORTH OPTIMIST
1 Carson Perry-Smith, Granite Bay, DB
2 Isaiah Langham, Rio Americano, WR
3 Gavin Correia, Rocklin TE/WR
4 MarQuay King-Johnson, Grant, DB
5 Joel Bradley, Roseville, WR
6 Dylan Richards, Casa Roble, DB
7 Kahirre Louis, Natomas, LB
8 Baron Taylor, Inderkum, DB
9 John Correa, Rocklin, DL
10 Beaux Sauve, Del Oro, DB
11 Evan Combs, Casa Roble, LB
12 Brody DeSario, Rocklin, DB
13 Ryan Sisson, West Park, WR
14 Nathan Crawford, Twelve Bridges, RB
15 Trevon Watson, Antelope, WR
16 Austin Katapodis, Woodcreek, QB
17 Whit Kruse, Twelve Bridges, QB
18 Mason Shindelbower, West Park, WR
19 Michael Hendricks, Natomas, WR
20 Trevor Soares, Granite Bay, LS
21 Danny Kirkpatrick, Inderkum, LB
22 Hakim Reynolds, Grant, LB
23 Christian Harris, Inderkum, DB
24 Hakeem Anderson, Woodcreek, RB
25 Kayden Fleming, Jesuit, RB
26 Chase Carry, Rio Americano, DB
27 Mekhi Duboise-Cain, Antelope, LB
28 Ryan Eisert, Whitney, P/K
29 Will Walker, Granite Bay, LB
32 Logan Farren, Bella Vista, LB
34 Broc Daily, Granite Bay, LB
44 Bodey Eelkema, Nevada Union, LB
45 Spencer Patton, Rocklin, DL
51 Brady Spencer, Woodcreek, OL
53 Koen Bell, Rocklin, DL
55 Jacob Disney-Taylor, Bella Vista, DL
57 Tino Arrostuto, Placer, DL
62 Michael Burkhart, Casa Roble, OL
64 David Minor, Granite Bay, OL
66 Mike Ruiter, Rocklin, OL
68 Joe Dexter, Casa Roble, OL
71 Jason Teater, Inderkum, OL
73 Doug Smith, Woodcreek, OL
75 Sawyer Kundin, Twelve Bridges, OL
77 Applebaum Faaliga, Mira Loma, DL
Head coach: Ron Barney
SOUTH OPTIMIST
1 Sione Paongo, Elk Grove, LB
3 Isea Lie, Elk Grove, RB/LB
5 Max Ellison, Capital Christian, RB/LB
7 Jayden Tinker, Union Mine, RB
9 Xavier Bryan, Vista del Lago, RB/LB
11 John Koett, Vista del Lago, QB
13 Camden King, Vista del Lago, DB
15 Randy Chalmers, Wood, RB/LB
17 Jeremiah Archie, Cosumnes Oaks, WR/DB
19 Nick Braver, Vista del Lago, WR/DB
20 Nolan King, Oak Ridge, LB
22 Jaydon Anderson, Oak Ridge, WR/DB
24 Gavin Molloy, Oak Ridge, TE/LB
26 Grayson Link, Franklin, RB/LB
28 Donte Jacobs, Monterey Trail, WR/DB
31 Vontrelle Waffer, Monterey Trail, RB/DB
33 Arik Phillips, Monterey Trail, WR/DB
35 Sammie Outlaw, Christian Brothers, WR/DB
37 Kirk Brown, Johnson, WR/DB
39 Zayden Learson, Sheldon, RB/LB
40 Marino Fragata, Cosumnes Oaks, QB
41 Jayden Ryce, Cordova, WR/DB
42 Sebastian Perez, River City, RBLB
43 Tre’von Edwards, Burbank, WR/DB
44 Kolten Graef, Dixon, RB/LB
45 Kayson Jones Galt, WR/DB
46 Brannon Cathey, Liberty Ranch, RB/LB
47 Michael Cherry, Rosemont, RB/LB
51 CK Knight, Monterey Trail, OL/DL
52 Markus Hoffman, Oak Ridge, OL/DL
55 Declan Follette, Laguna Creek, OL/DL
59 CJ Millican, Davis, OL/DL
63 Mo Othman, Pleasant Grove, OL/DL
64 Zane Roeder, Oak Ridge, OL/DL
65 Nezziah Poole-Alston, Cordova, OL/DL
72 Andrew Powers, Vista del Lago, OL/DL
73 Holden Grieger, Cosumnes Oaks, OL/DL
76 Jason Ma, Sheldon, OL/DL
79 Zaryan Hall, Valley, OL/DL
80 Jordan Sengmany, Dixon, WR/DB
Head coach: Dave Johnson
This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 5:00 AM.