Laguna Creek rolls on senior night. Sheldon played without 8 two-way players, coaches
Laguna Creek had a senior night to remember, and Sheldon had an evening to forget.
The Cardinals crushed their fellow Elk Grove Unified School District member Huskies, 63-7, in front of a lively crowd for a Delta League contest at Cosumnes River College.
There were festivities galore including a halftime show with risers and all sorts of banners, flags and flips. But the real fireworks were on the field where the relentless Cardinals offense gave no leeway to the struggling Huskies, who endured a trying week as their coach, Chris Nixon, was suspended following a heated exchange with athletic director Jason Bumbaca after last week’s game, the issue rooted to a parent having no resistance on entering the field to angrily curse the coach about playing time for his son. It was the second time a parent confronted Nixon after a game.
Friday was Sheldon’s final contest with a bye next week. Sheldon was without eight two-way players, including four team captains, and the entire seven-man varsity staff. All of them sat this one out in support of Nixon, the longtime coach who still isn’t sure if it’s a suspension or a termination as he was ordered to turn in his keys to the stadium Monday. Bumbaca and one assistant coached Sheldon on Friday, a thinned-out group that wanted to compete out of school pride.
Armon Thorntona rushed for 203 yards in the first half and six touchdowns to spark Laguna Creek. Thorntona, a senior, stood tall for a program that is inching closer toward securing a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berth.
Sheldon did not practice Monday or Tuesday, with just 11 or 12 players showing up as they expressed frustration and anger about the Nixon situation, prompting Laguna Creek to look into a last-minute, fill-in game.
“The biggest victory, in my opinion, was just playing this game,” Laguna Creek coach Ryan Nill said. “And for a while we didn’t know if it was going to happen. It’s such a big game with playoff implications and all these different things. We wanted to play, and we’re just happy Sheldon was able to figure it out on their side.”
Mitchell Labrado passed for two scores, one to Thorntona. Those two stars have missed time due to injuries but were good to go Friday.
“It’s tough missing those two guys,” Nill said, “Huge leaders, huge captains. We didn’t get them back for a long time. They got knocked out early. They each missed four or five games. We lean on them a ton when we need to and they are just so important.”
Thorntona has been a starter since his freshman year, while Labrado has started since his sophomore year. Nill is Laguna Creek born and bred. He played football there, graduated in 2006, returned as the school’s junior varsity coach in 2018, and took over the varsity program in 2019.
“He was actually a water boy in the first ever season of the school, back in 1994,” Laguna Creek athletic director John Ussery said. “He is such a great leader for this program and he’s been awesome to have back. It’s a privilege to have a guy like Ryan as our head coach.”
The team’s other touchdowns came from junior Dereus Counts and seniors Owen Burke and Julian Patino. The Cardinals’ final regular season game is on the road against Pleasant Grove, coming off a big win over first-place Elk Grove.
“Pleasant Grove is going to be a great opponent,” Nill said. “They are a great team. We know they want to get us back for losing to us last year. So our kids need to stay poised, stay confident, and prepare for the game.”
Nill was also thankful to Sheldon for playing the game under difficult circumstances.
“Very appreciative of them,” Nill said. “We don’t know all the details of what’s going on over there so we just had to focus on ourselves and are really just happy that our seniors could get that tenth game in. Their seniors got their tenth too and I just have to credit them for fighting in a tough environment.”
Sheldon player speaks
Bumbaca was cordial to The Sacramento Bee but declined to comment on the situation otherwise. The Huskies fielded only 19 players of the 30 listed on their roster.
The team often seemed dejected, with one player saying “we’re done” and another “the game’s over” as they walked over to a huddle at halftime, when Laguna Creek led 49-7.
After the game, players hugged each other and even took a team picture with full smiles.
Senior lineman Andrew Lopez told The Bee, “They are all my brothers. I have respect for every single one of them. I have respect for them coming out and playing. I have respect for those who didn’t play too. They are still my brothers at the end of the day.”
Lopez said neither he nor his teammates were around when the incident between Bumbaca and Nixon took place.
“We don’t know what happened,” Lopez said. “But I have a ton of respect for Coach Nixon, and I am thankful to Coach Bumbaca. We don’t know what happened and we can’t really sit around wondering. We have to just go out and play football and I am happy we were able to get this game in tonight.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2024 at 11:47 PM.