Roseville Tigers maintain their staying power with old-school cool and 6-1 start
With the pride of a young boy parading his new bike around on Christmas morning, Hank DeMello late Friday afternoon showed a visitor the upgrades on a campus nestled in Placer County.
DeMello is the athletic director at Roseville High School, home of the Tigers, and is an impossible figure to miss: the stout guy with his customary school-issued T-shirt, wide-brimmed hat with the orange trim and perpetual smile to match the good cheer. New tennis courts there, new classrooms over there and a swimming pool in the works over there, all upgrades that have a school that was founded in 1912 looking spiffy and up to date.
“Isn’t it great?” a beaming DeMello said, the setting sun splashing on him.
DeMello is Roseville pride to the core, a multisport grinder and 1980 graduate of the school. His father, also named Hank, was a 1962 Roseville High graduate, as were scores of other relatives.
“I grew up with Roseville history,” DeMello said.
Football is the sport that sets a school-spirit tone, and the Tigers have done their part, trotting out another contender with visions of making a deep CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoff run behind a prolific wing-T offense and a stout defense. Behind senior mainstays in running backs D’marcis Gresham, Cole Takahashi and Colton Wolfe, quarterback Mason Susnara, receiver Duane “Peanut” Hawkins and do-all Jack Walker, The Sacramento Bee-ranked No. 12 Tigers defeated the Nevada Union Miners of Grass Valley, 28-3, to keeps the Tigers in the Foothill Valley League championship chase.
Roseville plays defending champion Twelve Bridges of Lincoln next.
Roseville churned out 319 yards of offense and had 26 first downs. Gresham rushed for 88 yards and a score, and Takahashi had 57 yards. Susnara was crisp on timing passes and had touchdown strikes of 31 yards to Wolfe for a 21-3 lead and 24 yards to Walker to make it 28-3. Wolfe’s 1-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter pushed Roseville ahead 14-3.
Old timers attend Roseville games, offering a contrast to the spirited student section in the “Tiger Cage” that is as good as it gets in the section. Some fans squeeze into their letterman sweater or jackets that date back to the 1950s. The gray beards keep coming back because football games are the thing to do here, and they talk shop: teams from yesteryear to the current edition that is 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.
“The amphitheater here for years was where the end zone for the first stadium was,” Roseville coach Adam Reinking said, adding with a laugh, “It used to be a field that ran north and south. Now it runs east and west, and when we tell the kids that it used to be the other way, it gets them out of balance. There are some cool, quirky things here. We’re an old school but it looks really nice, and you can’t really replicate tradition and character. Our community base here is cool. Our student section is cool. Our band is cool. All of it is cool.”
Even the principal is cool.
Ashley Serin is so involved on campus, including frequent stops to the culinary class for a food sample, that she has been known to do push-ups on a board in the middle of the student rooting section after scores. But if it’s a high-scoring affair, the boss may find less strenuous things to do while soaking in game atmosphere and mingling with students, parents and alums. Serin is a seventh-generation Placer County resident and the first female principal in the 113-year history of the school.
She embraces her role and what extra-curricular events can do for a student and a campus.
“She’s smart,” Reinking said. “She does push-ups after early touchdowns.”
Said Serin, “I love this school. Love to see all the involvement. I don’t mind doing pushups after a field goal.”
Roseville is home to all-time greats
Roseville is rounding into form after injuries stalled the start to key players, including Susnara, a third-year starting varsity quarterback. The momentum of victory is needed with Twelve Bridges, Del Campo and Placer remaining on the league schedule before the postseason starts.
“Mason makes our offense go,” Reinking said. “He gets it. He understands this and makes good decision. It started out as a frustrating season, and we were ready to cok and light up the scoreboard but we had the injuries. We’re getting there.”
The oldest school in the Roseville Unified School District has fielded a lot of strong football teams over the decades, including under longstanding coaches Bob Jellison and Larry Cunha and the past six seasons with Reinking. The Tigers have also fielded some remarkable all-time players.
One of them was Tedy Bruschi, a late-bloomer to football at Roseville who ransacked backfields as a defensive end/linebacker in 1990 and ’91. In 2000, The Bee named Bruschi as the No. 1 player in a Top 100 all-time local football player list based on prep achievements only — though his record-setting career with the Arizona Wildcats and playing in three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots may well keep him fixed on any such lists now.
Bruschi has visited his old campus over the years and has donated money to the football program. So has Kolton Miller, a towering 6-foot-8 lineman who starred at Roseville in 2012 and 13. He played at UCLA and became a first-round draft choice of the Raiders in 2018. He remains a starter at left tackle for the NFL team, and he hosts with Reinking and staff a youth football camp on campus.
“It’s great when players give back,” Reinking said. “Really kind of cool.”
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 10:58 PM.