Oak Ridge football coach’s son is a team captain. Together they face Folsom for section title
Casey Taylor isn’t just a program builder, he’s a finisher.
When he was hired in 2002 by Del Oro High School to keep the powerhouse football train rolling in Placer County, Taylor did just that while adding to the boilers in steaming to six CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championships, including in his final two seasons in 2015 when the Golden Eagles of Loomis reached CIF state finals. Taylor led Del Oro to four CIF state finals, winning one in 2015.
Taylor sought new challenges at Capital Christian in Sacramento, and of course he won a section Division III crown by his second season, in 2018. The chance to return to his alma mater and roots in El Dorado Hills was too good to pass up, so Taylor headed up farther east up Highway 50, rolled up his sleeves, opened up the weight room and went to work. He has the Trojans in their third consecutive large-school championship to face the familiar faces of the Folsom Bulldogs in Saturday’s Division I bout at Hughes Stadium.
Taylor knows the joys of winning and the anguish of losing title games, having reached 12 section finals. His resume is as decorated as any coach in regional history with no end in sight. His aim is to close the gap with Folsom and to pass up Folsom. In addition to bus loads of players and assistants who became life-long friends, Taylor’s delights include being able to coach his son, Jackson Taylor, a senior team captain who plays linebacker.
Jackson has grown up around this. He was a ball boy for some of those stellar Del Oro teams, and Taylor used to hit his stop watch to see how fast the kid could race from the sideline to mid field to fetch the kicking tee. Half the time, Taylor didn’t have the stop watch running, but he sure had his kid running.
Last season, father and son savored a memorable milestone moment. Taylor won his 200th career game in leading Oak Ridge past Del Oro, of all teams.
“It’s special to be able to coach your son and to have him with me all these times,” Taylor said.
A victory over Folsom would register as Taylor’s greatest feat. Some of his very best Del Oro teams either didn’t play Folsom or could not beat Folsom, but he did register a rally for the ages in 2009 against the Bulldogs that’s worth noting. In a section semifinal, Taylor’s Del Oro team trailed Folsom 35-7 at the half and then roared back with running back star Bryce Pratt and onside kicks to win 43-42.
Folsom has defeated Oak Ridge 22 consecutive times, dating back to 2006, though the last two section finals were down to the wire. Taylor is in his fourth season at Oak Ridge, and even Taylor has said that this isn’t a rivalry until Oak Ridge wins a game here and there.
“Folsom has been the standard, and we’ve been close (to beating them in the last two section finals), knocking on that door,” Taylor said. “We’ve got to play at a high level. We want to play Folsom. We’ll give them all we have.”
Folsom coach Paul Doherty has called Oak Ridge “a great team that is battle tested.”
Folsom seeks a section four-peat. All section champions advance to a CIF Northern California Regional championship. The CIF State finals are at Southern California sites on Dec. 13-14.
BC family pride
Bradshaw Christian coach Drew Rickert can relate to the challenges and joys of coaching a son. He has two of them on his 12-0 Pride team that is top seeded in Division VI and plays No. 3-seeded Sonora for the championship on Friday at 11 a.m. at Sacramento City College.
Pride quarterback Ethan Rickert is a senior team captain and a fourth-year starting quarterback. He expertly engineered a last minute, 99-yard drive to beat Sutter in an early season nonleague game. Sutter (11-1) takes on top-seeded Hughson (12-0) for the D-V crown on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at Hughes.
Coach Rickert gets emotional when talking about his sons, especially Ethan, a varsity performer since his freshman year in basketball and baseball. Ethan has played in a remarkable 202 varsity contests while maintaining perfect grades. His father also coaches the school’s championship baseball program. The two younger Rickerts are in the trenches - freshman Eli and sophomore Evan. Both are filling out by the week at 6-foot-4.
Coach Rickert has built a small-school powerhouse on the south Sacramento campus with an enrollment of 360. The football program is 19 years old, and with 18 returning starters from a team that lost a heartbreaker in the section finals last season, this figures to be the school’s finest team.
Rickert has 18 playoff teams and five section crowns, and this week marks his ninth finals appearance.
“Our playoff last year really motivated this team,” coach Rickert said. “We have great senior leadership. When your best players are your hardest working players, things happen.”
CIF Sac-Joaquin Section finals schedule
at Sacramento City College
Friday
▪ 11 a.m., Division VI: Bradshaw Christian (12-0) vs. Sonora (10-2)
▪ 3 p.m., Division V: Twelve Bridges (12-0) vs. Patterson (7-5)
▪ 7 p.m., Division II: Rocklin (10-2) vs. Grant (9-3)
Saturday
▪ 11 a.m., Division V: Hughson (12-0) vs. Sutter (11-1)
▪ 3 p.m., Division III: Vanden (10-2) vs. Oakdale (9-3)
▪ 7 p.m., Division I: Folsom (11-1) vs. Oak Ridge (8-4)
For the NFHS livestream links for all title games through ABC JAM Productions, go here.
For complete brackets and ticket information, click here.
This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 5:00 AM.