The first football season for the new San Joaquin Athletic Association might have been its worst.
As part of a sweeping league realignment across the Sac-Joaquin Section, the SJAA dropped Lincoln, Tracy and Lodi and added Franklin, Chavez and Bear Creek.
Last year, one SJAA team (Chavez, 7-4) finished above .500, and the league as a whole went 0-10 against the Tri-City Athletic league, which produced a pair of section finalists in Division I (Tracy) and Division II (St. Mary’s).
Yet, as Stagg presents newfound depth on both sides of the ball, as McNair’s already electric offense gets even better and as Chavez embarks on a new era of a winning culture, things look brighter for the all-Stockton, six-team league.
Don Norton, the Delta Kings’ coach for the past decade, complemented the depth and balance in the SJAA. His team has lofty goals, especially on the defensive side, in a league which produced little besides scoring a year ago.
James Green, a senior linebacker, said Stagg is attempting to keep its opponents at 21 points per game or less.
That’ll be difficult, given McNair averaged 37 points, and has senior wide receiver Derrion Grim (35 catches, 637 yards, 10 touchdowns) around for a full season — not half like 2014.
“Just getting to the playoffs — that’s our whole mentality,” Eagles senior quarterback Osai Brown said.
Only Stagg topped Chavez in SJAA play last season, as the Titans captured the program’s first league championship.
Gone, though, are the primary playmakers from that run: quarterback Julius Davila, running back Priest Jennings, wide receiver Lamar Housely and defensive backs Darryl Kapule and Sergio Fernandez.
New leaders like seniors in quarterback Keith Dosier, running back Terrance Ritzow and 6-foot-4 tight end Danny Goodacre-Lopez are pivotal to continued success.
“Nobody’s giving us a chance, that’s for sure,” sixth-year coach John Ward, a Franklin High product, told The Record. “They put us in the underdog role. I’m good with that, but I think our league is going to be pretty good this season.”
Ward’s alma mater has a new coach in charge in Larry Thompson, a former arena football defensive back. Thompson is hoping to spark optimism and discipline in a program that’s been drowning for the better part of a decade.
Prideful seniors Jovon Woods, a wide receiver, and Shamar Shaver, a linebacker who transferred from Fresno, and junior safety Julian Serrano want no part of last season’s 1-9, 0-5 SJAA performance.
“You’ll see the change when we go out to that field,” Thompson said.
Franklin’s rival Edison has continuity in its coaching staff, as Andre Horace enters his seventh season, but a vastly different roster. None of the returners scored a touchdown in 2014, and only 23 yards worth of offense return.
The Vikings will run the triple option, hoping to give the players the best opportunity to succeed through instinctive decision-making.
Bear Creek, which boasted the stingiest defense in the SJAA in 2014, is relying on seniors in defensive back Darius Livingston and lineman Tevita Esau to keep that tradition alive. Coach Reggie Camp, a former NFL defensive end, is yet to divulge who the Bruins’ quarterback will be.
SJAA competition begins Oct. 9, as defending champion Chavez plays at Bear Creek and its renovated Podesto Field with new synthetic turf, McNair entertains Franklin and Stagg hosts Edison. McNair hosts Stagg the following week, in a matchup that could decide the eventual SJAA champion. The slate concludes with rivalry games Nov. 6: Stagg-Chavez, McNair-Bear Creek and Edison-Franklin.