Cosumnes Oaks dedicates season to ailing head coach: ‘A positive man, husband, father’

The Cosumnes Oaks Wolfpack carried heavy hearts without their beloved head coach Martin Billings in their 38-14 loss to Sheldon High School on Friday night in Delta League play in south Sacramento County.

Billings is a world history and social science teacher on the Elk Grove Unified School District campus and has coached the varsity program for three seasons. He announced early this season that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS.

He hasn’t been able to be with his team this season because of his condition.

Javelle Ford is in his third year at Cosumnes Oaks as an offensive coordinator and has been the acting coach. Ford was brought in by Billings in 2021, after turning down a coaching opportunity at Grant of Del Paso Heights.

“He’s a huge mentor, a member of our community, and especially for our Black community,” Ford said about Billings’ influence. “He’s a positive man, husband, father. So his diagnosis just really hit us hard, because we look up to him. He’s an example for not only us as adults, but also for these boys. So it’s been hard, man.”

The condition, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. According to the ALS Association, the average survival time is three years, about 20% of people with ALS live five years, 10% survive 10 years and 5% live 20 years or longer.

Ford said Billings has been having difficulty with mobility. Last week, he said he had an incident where he lost his balance and was unable to catch himself.

“He ended up having a laceration on his head,” Ford said. “It just shook the kids up a lot. It shook all of us up. He’s such a great man, and we all look up to him so much. It just tells you how fragile life is, to count your blessings and realize how blessed we all are. So we’re just praying for him and his family right now.”

Ford said prayers are the best thing to do right now.

“We’ve been trying to respect the family and not overwhelm them with contact,” he said. “The best thing that everybody can do for them is just pray for them, rather than reaching out because we want them to be able to spend time together and figure things out.”

Despite the team’s 1-6 record, Ford said the Wolfpack are playing inspired football, honoring Billings by playing as hard as they can, teaching them to battle through adversity.

The rest of the season is defined by pride and integrity and effort, he said.

“This is a microcosm of what life is, right?” Ford said. “You learn how to get through adversity, you learn how to deal with hard times, and you learn how to have some grit and just keep working no matter what the outcome looks like. Football is a game, but it’s also a teaching tool, and the more that we understand that and we use that, the better these young men will be and be able to grow up to be great men, great fathers, great husbands and great members of our community.”

Defensive coordinator Andrew Ghio, like many coaches on the staff, joined Cosumnes Oaks because of Billings.

“Billings is a great man. I’m here because of him. This season is for him,” Ghio said.

Senior Timothy Amons said what happened to Billings is “really tragic.”

He recalls first meeting Billings when he came to high school and how Billings welcomed him with open arms.

“He introduced me to the whole team. Sophomore year he gave me the chance to play up at varsity, a high level. I really respect coach Billings for that. He’s an amazing man, amazing father and everything,” Amons said.

A memory that always sticks out for Amons is seeing Billings celebrate team wins.

“He was so happy that we won and actually played as a team, as a unit, as one. He was just jumping for joy and stuff. Just seeing him all happy and stuff, it really puts the team together and makes us a family,” Amons said.

Sheldon coach Chris Nixon recalled seeing Billings in early August during their league meetings where he said he looked to be in “good spirits.”

“It was good to see him, good to talk to him, because I hadn’t seen him for quite a while,” Nixon said. “He’s a great coach, and I know he’s a players’ coach. He’s a coach’s coach. Everybody loves Martin. Always have. I’ve never run into anybody in this district that’s had one single negative thing to say about the guy. He is always positive. Positive as can be and it’s always fun to get to see him.”

They don’t cross paths often, Nixon said, but he’s one of the first people he looks for. Billings spent some time at Sheldon before finding his way at Cosumnes Oaks.

“I know a lot of guys here that are very close to him. Our prayers are with him.”

Sheldon prevails

The Huskies kept their playoff hopes alive following a big win that included rising-recruit star Zion Johnson scoring a receiving touchdown and one on a 55-yard interception return. Sophomore Rayshawn Cannaday rushed for two scores, and Ja’king Williams had two interceptions, one returned for a score.

Sheldon attempted just two passes. The Huskies are 4-4 overall and 2-2 in Delta League play. They are playoff eligible with four wins, but another win seals it. Elk Grove closes the regular season with games against Elk Grove and Laguna Creek.

Nixon is hopeful for another playoff team, saying: “Yeah, we hope so. Defensively, I think we’ve been strong all season long. We’ve done a good job defensively. We’re going to work on eliminating mistakes on offense, not turning the ball over, playing sound offense and run the ball a little bit better than we have.”