Prep notes: Rocklin coach faces cancer fight for his life; scholarship offers for Edwards
Mike Cunningham is built like a bouncer, regal and strong. He’s a hand shaker and a hugger, and you feel every bit of his embrace and grip.
Cunningham is the junior varsity football coach at Rocklin High School, a thunder bolt of encouragement for Thunder players, including those in the varsity ranks who went 13-2 in 2023 to win the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship.
But for all of his optimism and good cheer, the 44-year-old coach has been slowed by forces he cannot game plan for and is not quite sure how to explain. Cunningham was hospitalized Dec. 13, shortly after Rocklin’s season ended, and now finds himself in the fight of his life. He is battling acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, a type of cancer that starts in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow, the spongy tissue inside bones where blood cells are made.
But to know Cunningham is to understand that he is a fighter. Ever catch a glimpse of the man’s game-day scowl? He’s showcasing his glower to the disease now and vows to beat it. There are football seasons to coach, kids to raise, a wife to enjoy life with.
With the first phase of chemotherapy treatment complete, Cunningham over the weekend was allowed to go home to rest and to be with his wife, Demelza, and their four kids.
“Finished up two rounds of chemo and now just watching the numbers and getting me ready for a bone-marrow transplant,” Cunningham said in a text to The Sacramento Bee. “I’m pushing hard but it’s not easy.”
What has moved Cunningham to tears is the outpouring of support from people within Placer County and beyond. Football is a family affair for the Thunder. That includes Cunningham beaming over the season his son, Mikey, had for the varsity team, earning All-Sierra Foothill League honors for his work in the secondary for a defensive-minded squad under head coach Jason Adams. Cunningham was also delighted to read from his hospital bed that his son made The Bee’s All-Metro team.
Cunningham was not able to attend Rocklin’s football awards banquet Tuesday night, so the event was brought to him via livestream through the efforts of Matthew Bessette of ABC Jam Productions. Cunningham asked Bessette if this could be done and Bessette said he would find a way. Cunningham said he felt like a part of the event.
Cunningham on Wednesday said in a text to The Bee: “I am at a loss of words about the overwhelming support from my family, the community and the Rocklin family. I have spent many nights in the hospital trying to understand how this happened, and the only positive thing I have been able to pin point is that I have the love from so many people. The support of my wife and kids with meals and just dropping off supplies has been truly breathtaking.
“My family is my rock and motivation, but the way this community rallied behind us has provided me with an additional fire to push hard and fight this ugly cancer. AML, this disease, doesn’t care who or what you are. It’s relentless and pure evil. But it messed with the wrong dude! I will give it a fight right back!”
Sanders leaving Rio Americano
Reid Sanders vowed to turn Rio Americano football from sad sack to player. He delivered as the Raiders went 9-3 in 2023, their best showing in nearly 30 years, but now he’s moving on.
Sanders accepted the running backs coaching gig at the University of West Georgia, which will transition from Division II to Division I this fall.
“He made the decision with a heavy heart,” Rio Americano athletic director William Taylor said. “His tenure created a culture of discipline, detail and all-out effort. I am proud of him for turning Rio into a playoff program. He is going to go far in football and look forward to following him.”
Said Sanders to The Bee: “I’m making the move because it gets me closer to one of my goals, which is being a college head coach. Plus, it gets me closer to my family. My grandparents are in their 70s. I’m five hours from them and 50 minutes from home in Atlanta, so it checked a lot of boxes.”
As for what the Raiders accomplished, Sanders said he was beyond proud. He vowed to get the player participation numbers up and that his teams would play hard, and it all happened as the Raiders were one of the feel-good stories of the season.
“We accomplished so much,” Sanders said. “Forget the wins. I’m most proud of the people the players became. Seeing them gain confidence each day, seeing them really buy in and understand that they control their futures ... in football and in life, good things come to those that work hard, those that have discipline, those that face adversity head on. So, the life lessons that we were able to instill is what matters most to me. I knew we’d win. I wanted to do it the right way. I can sleep easy knowing I helped them become better men.”
Scholarship offers for Edwards
Kaleb Edwards may end up as the most heavily recruited athlete to come out of Oak Ridge, which opened in El Dorado Hills in 1980.
The 6-foot-6 national tight end recruit and Bee All-Metro first-teamer who has more than held his own in basketball recently attended the All-American Bowl combine in San Antonio. A junior, Edwards turned plenty of heads. He looked the part and played it.
“It was all combine-like events, and then we ended the day with 1-on-1’s,” Edwards said. “I thought it went very well, and I’ve already received (a scholarship) offer from that camp.”
That was from Auburn. Then came an offer from Tennessee, then from Texas. He also has scholarship offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Miami and scores of others with more sure to come.
Other Oak Ridge big-time football recruits over the decades include 6-6 tight end Tyler Ecker, who played at Michigan from 2003-06 and had a taste in the NFL, and Austin Collie, The Bee’s Player of the Decade for the 2000s, who starred at receiver at BYU and played in the NFL from 2009-13.
Del Oro faced Green Bay’s Love
Jordan Love will lead the Green Bay Packers into Saturday’s NFC playoff game against the 49ers at quarterback, and if his name rings a bell on the local football front, it should.
Love quarterbacked Liberty of Bakersfield to the 2015 CIF Northern California regional final against Del Oro before his stardom at Utah State and first-round selection by Green Bay in 2020. The Golden Eagles of Placer County beat Love and Liberty 28-24, overcoming Love’s 188 yards passing and three touchdowns.
Del Oro quarterback Stone Smartt, now a tight end with the Los Angeles Chargers, passed for 222 yards and a score to Mason Hurst, and he ran for two. Del Oro went on to win the state championship that season, beating a 15-0 Camarillo High of Ventura County at Sacramento State behind coach Casey Taylor, now at Oak Ridge. The Golden Eagles in 2015 were led by Bee All-Metro grinders such as Smartt, Hurst, runners Dalton Gee and Camrion Davis, linemen such as Dalton Heryford and Hunter Halverson and all-purpose senior Trey Udofia, The Bee’s Player of the Year that season.
Del Oro had to win its final three Sierra Foothill League games just to qualify for the playoffs. The Golden Eagles ended the season with an eight-game winning streak. It remains one of the great turnaround seasons in regional prep history for any sport.
This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 12:10 PM.