Sac-Joaquin Issue 171 October 2019 by Sport Stars Magazine

SAC-JOAQUIN EDITION OCTOBER 2019 VOL. 10 ISSUE 171

GOING BIG

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hat do Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist water polo player Maggie Steffens and Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon all have in common? They all played high school sports in Northern California during the SportStars Magazine Era. That era will reach 10 full years in length this coming June. Beginning this November we plan to begin an eight-month long celebration of our decade of covering Northern California’s best high school athletes and teams. The project will be called The Big 10. The goal of The Big 10 Series will be naming the top 10 athletes of the SportStars Decade in each of the sports that end in CIF regional or state championships. In many of the sports we’ll name the top 10 teams as well. We’ll build these lists through interviews with coaches, conversations with other journalists and our own research. What each athlete accomplished within their high school career will be balanced with his or her success at the higher levels. Our plan is to involve our readers as well. In certain sports, we’ll be hosting regular voting contests for you to choose who you believe were the top athlete and team of the decade. They will not be easy decisions. We promise.

Our tentative schedule for the fall season rollout will begin with The Big 10 for girls golfers in mid- to late-November exclusively at SportStarsMag. com. They’ll be quickly followed by our list for boys and girls cross country runners, and then our first big vote will come after the CIF State Girls Volleyball Championships wrap up. With your help, we’ll produce The Big 10 girls volleyball players and girls volleyball teams. Girls tennis and boys and girls water polo will also be part of the celebration. Football will come after the new year. The Big 10 Series will run all the way into next July and August before we finally finish. Our 10th Anniversary issue in June will feature The Big 10 overall male athletes, and The Big 10 overall female athletes. The issue will also have The Big 10 overall boys teams and The Big 10 overall girls teams. Those should be real easy lists to put together, right? We’re filled with anxiety just thinking about it. Pretty sure Goff, Steffens and Gordon will have even more in common after those are produced. Keep an eye on at SportStarsMag.com and our social media channels for more on The Big 10 as we get closer to the start of the series. ✪

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max rodarte CAPITAL CHRISTIAN-SACRAMENTO - FOOTBALL - SENIOR Rodarte plays both wide receiver and linebacker for a Cougars team which finished its nonleague season 3-2 after a 56-17 win over Christian Brothers-Sacramento on Sept. 20. Rodarte played a big role in the win as he caught three passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. The senior has now caught four touchdowns on the season and has 13 catches for 318 yards (an average of more than 24 yards per reception). He’s on pace to easily top his junior season totals of 21 catches for 471 yards. Capital Christian opened Capital Athletic League play on Sept. 26 against El Camino. The Cougars will be CAL favorites with their toughest challenge coming Oct. 4 at Del Campo-Fair Oaks.

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CIF Bowl Crystal Ball

ot even halfway through the football regular season, it’s already very possible to start penciling in teams for this year’s CIF Northern California regional championship games. And we aren’t just talking about the top two teams. At the No. 1 position — which is the team automatically sent to the CIF Open Division state final — there is of course De La Salle-Concord. After the Spartans defeated Folsom 42-27 on Sept. 13 and then Buchanan-Clovis 35-0 on Sept. 20, they face only CIF North Coast Section competition the rest of the regular season and playoffs (other than a matchup against one-win St. Mary’s-Stockton on Sept. 27). They haven’t lost in an NCS playoff game since 1991 and none of the other teams in the NCS have shown they can offer much of a challenge so far. If recent history is a guide, the De La Salle matchup at Folsom probably determined which team goes to the CIF Open Division state final and which one will host a CIF NorCal 1-AA title game. Folsom won the CIF 1-AA state title last year after losing in the regular season to De La Salle 14-0. The Bulldogs also won that title in 2017 and finished 16-0. DLS hasn’t lost to a team north of Fresno since 1991, and as long as that streak is going, it doesn’t make any sense for the CIF to consider any other team for the Open Division. Following the loss to the Spartans, Folsom bounced back to beat Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills 36-33. Oak Ridge was the second highest-ranked team from the Sac-Joaquin Section in Division I so the odds of the Bulldogs not losing again through the SJS playoffs are high. Assuming De La Salle and Folsom are locked in, the only major question mark for the top of the NorCal bowl board is whether the Central Coast Section Open Division champion or the Central Section Division I champion would join the Bulldogs in the 1-AA bracket. In the CCS, the two leading teams over the first few weeks of the season have been Serra-San Mateo and Valley Christian-San Jose. Serra’s first few games on the schedule have been a little bit tougher, but the two teams will meet in the West Catholic Athletic League and could play again in the CCS Open final. Central-Fresno is going for a third straight Central Section Div. I crown and was the team which played Folsom in last season’s NorCal 1-AA game (losing 84-46 in a game that featured more than 1,400 yards). If Serra or Valley Christian were to defeat the other team twice, it would appear that team would be the choice to face Folsom. If those two split and Central completes its section playoffs with a perfect record, then another Folsom-Central matchup is likely. There also are other slots on the NorCal board that can be filled in, too. On the same night De La Salle played Folsom, McClymonds-Oakland topped Campolindo-Moraga 41-21.

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Mack has won CIF state titles the last three seasons in 5-AA, 5A and 4A. This year, it’s a guarantee that the Warriors are going to be in a much higher division if they, as expected, win another Oakland Section crown. But how high? The assurance of Mack going much higher is because the CCS will no longer be getting Open Division runner-ups or two other Open Division champions qualified for the CIF bowls. It’s just going to be one CCS Open Division winner. The next CCS champion (Division I) will essentially only be that section’s ninthbest team. Last year, McClymonds was on the NorCal board behind CCS teams Valley Christian, St. Francis-Mountain View, Menlo-AthertonAtherton and Wilcox-Santa Clara. The Warriors will only be behind the Open Division winner this year. Plus, they’ve already got a win over CIF North Coast Section Div. III contender Marin Catholic-Kentfield and Div. II-power Campolindo. McClymonds still has a tough game against San Leandro, but it should cruise to the Oakland Section title after that. The Warriors might be behind Clayton Valley-Concord on the NorCal board if the Ugly Eagles were to win the NCS Div. II title, especially based on Clayton Valley’s solid showing in a one-point loss to Liberty-Brentwood. Other than that, though, head coach Michael Peters’ team probably will be either draw a CIF 2-AA or 2-A berth come December. That’s high for a school with low enrollment like McClymonds, but for competitive equity purposes it’ll be hard to be any lower. Peters obviously couldn’t tell his players to go out and lose to Campolindo and Marin Catholic for a lower (and easier) state division. At the bottom of the NorCal board, it already doesn’t look like San Francisco will have a team like last year’s Lincoln — which won the CIF 6-A state title. That would put the eventual SF champion at the very bottom of the board (where Denair was last year). And with the NCS getting one more team into the field, that last division this year probably will have an actual game played instead of a bye. Let’s just hope all of this speculation will be fun and can continue through the section playoffs. No natural disasters or smokey skies please. ✪ Mark Tennis is the co-founder of Cal-Hi Sports and publisher of CalHiSports.com. Contact him at markjtennis@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @CalHiSports

Behind the Clipboard by Clay Kallam

Playing Favorites? We’ve got a lot of guys on the football team, but the coach plays his four or five favorites both ways. They can’t help but get tired, and maybe a couple of them are better than me no matter how tired they are, but I know I’m better than guys he plays ahead of me when they aren’t 100 percent. Why does the coach play people all the time when there are fresh people ready to go? A.B., Sacramento

irst, let’s talk about this hard truth: We all think we’re better than we actually are. Confidence is important, no question, but it’s human nature to think we can do things that we really can’t — so to say you’re better than the coach’s “favorites” isn’t necessarily true. Of course, the coach could be playing favorites and what you say could be true, but for the sake of argument, and to widen the scope of your question, why do high school coaches play guys both ways when they have plenty of reserves who are almost as good on the bench? What it comes down is that there are two competing agendas at work here, and they don’t always point to the same conclusion. Agenda No. 1: Win as many games as possible. This would seem like the only agenda, but in high school sports it really isn’t — well, maybe for Folsom and De La Salle-Concord and those kinds of teams, but really winning is far from everything at the high school level. Still, winning games is very important, and if the coach feels that his best four kids are better, even at 80 percent because of fatigue, than their backups, he’s going to play them because that will help him win. (Of course, that also increases the chances of injury for those players, but that’s a risk the coach might have to take.) Agenda No. 2: Make sure the players, their families and the school community get the most out of the season as possible. So really, what’s the difference between going 6-4 and 7-3? OK, postseason seeding, yadda yadda, but 10 years from now, who will remember? What players and families will remember is whether it was a good experience. Ask someone in their 50s who played high school football what the team’s record was when they were a junior — and unless it was special, one way or another, they probably don’t know for sure. But ask them if they had a good time, and they’ll know right away. From this angle, having kids go both ways doesn’t make as much sense. By getting more players involved, more young men will get more out of their athletic experience, and even if it costs a team a game, it would be worth it in terms of the benefits of high school sports to those who participate. (And, of course, if the star quarterback doesn’t play safety, maybe he doesn’t dislocate his shoulder making a tackle in game 5, and the team wins three more games …) You may think head coaches of high school football teams don’t think about Agenda No. 2 at all, but you would be wrong. Many don’t, but those who have been around a while know that wins and losses are far from the only way to judge the success of a season, and that sometimes the price of an extra win or two is simply not worth the cost. In your case, the coach is clearly putting Agenda No. 1 ahead of Agenda No. 2, which means to justify his decision, your team needs to win games. If the two-way kids stay healthy, other things don’t go wrong and if you get a little luck, it could all work out for him. But if the situation goes south, and the losses pile up, your coach will soon discover that Agenda No. 2 is more important than he thought, and that he may reconsider playing a lot of guys both ways when he gets his next job. ✪ Clay Kallam has been an assistant athletic director and has coached numerous sports at a handful of high schools throughout the Bay Area. To submit a question for Behind the Clipboard, email him at claykallam@gmail.com.

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Story And Photos By Ike Dodson

A Dominant State Champion Cross Country Runner As A Freshman, Del Oro’s Riley Chamberlain Isn’t Shy About Her Olympic Aspirations

he prefers to train in a chatty group, but in competition, Riley Chamberlain has only the trail and her thoughts for company. “I will think about school, or where I am running and how pretty it is,” California’s reigning all-division cross country champion from Del Oro-Loomis said on Sept. 18. “I’ll think about how my breathing is, and how I’m feeling. “I never get bored, even on the track. It just makes me happy.” All that running would drive most people crazy. Even Chamberlain is sometimes led astray by the occasional talking rabbit. In August, Chamberlain opened the new campaign by bolting for a blistering 5-minute, 25-second first mile at the 4,000-meter Oakmont Invitational at Maidu Park in Roseville. She was so fast, that she began to lap trailing runners in her second mile. Not realizing she was the leader, one of the tournament’s student volunteers assigned to guide runners (cross country calls them rabbits) erroneously directed her to complete a lap she had already finished. She ran 400 meters off course, and connected with the main pack at the last moment, albeit still winning the race by six seconds. Only one of California’s most prolific distance runners could overcome a 400-meter gaff. And — imagine Del Oro’s “Black Hole” chanting this — She’s A Sophomore! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap). Chamberlain delivered the third-fastest time by a freshman in California Interscholastic Federation history last year when she led all divisions with a 17:19 finish at Woodward Park in Fresno. “It was pretty awesome,” Del Oro coach Dustin Fee said. “She was heavily favored in Div. III, by over 50 seconds, but no one was talking about her at state. The fact that she had the fastest times among all divisions is pretty cool. “We found out last year she is the real deal, and can compete statewide, nationwide.”

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ON A MISSION Powerful but lanky, loaded with talent and ultra-dedicated to her sport, Chamberlain is a physical gift to the trail and track. And it’s outrageous luck, or perhaps divine intervention, that she is at Del Oro instead of Sierra Foothill League rival Folsom, where she spent her early youth. The Buffalo Chips Running Club alumni, not yet arrived on the national stage, wandered into Loomis when her grandparents departed for a church mission trip. While house-sitting, her family fell in love with the area, and soon moved to the green hills of Placer County. This is where Chamberlain’s running career really took off, thanks to her father, Damon Chamberlain. Damon, who was third in the 1,600 at the 1990 track and field state championships, ran at Weber State and even qualified for the United States Olympic Trials in 2001 (steeplechase). Nearly 10 years later, Damon began training to run the Ragnar Relay Series. Needing a sport anyway, Riley tagged along, and soon realized she shared her dad’s passion for covering the earth in fleet feet. Training the hills of Loomis, Rocklin and Roseville with her dad, mother Amy Chamberlain, younger sister Karissa (now 13) and brother Ronin (now 7), Riley quickly became a bonafide national talent. She introduced herself at the 2016 USA Track and Field Junior Olympic Championships, finishing second in the 11-12 division 3,000 meters. When she introduced herself to Coach Fee, he had no idea what was coming. “I had heard murmurs about her being a good runner, but really had no idea to what extent or what she would be,” Fee said. “At the time we had Cathilyn McIntosh (2018 800-meter state champion in track and field), a big racehorse for us, and I learned quickly that Riley didn’t have overall top speed like Cathilyn, but that she was a legitimate distance runner.”

FRESHMAN SENSATION Riley’s time on the sub-18-minute 5K waiting list was short-lived. She met her season goal by the fifth event of the season — only her second shot at the 5K — at the Stanford Invitational, where she ran a 17:58.2. Ten days later, she stunned even her own coaches when she ran a 17:12.7 to finish second at the 40th Annual ASICS Clovis Cross Country Invitational, finishing second to only Great Oak-Temecula runner Tory Gaitan in a field of 158 runners from top West Coast programs.

Riley would cruise to wins at the Bella Vista Bronco Cross Country Invitational (17:43.1) and the SFL Championships (18:17.5) before setting her new best time (17:57.0) at Willow Hills in Folsom, known for its daunting elevation changes. A week later, she won the state meet with a 17:18.6, beating Gaitan’s winning time from Div. I by just under one second. “That was a great season and it made me super happy,” Riley said. “It was amazing.” The next week, Gaitan would go on to finish a high school All-American (top 21) at the NXN Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, while Riley struggled to a 62nd place finish. It’s why Riley named Gaitan, along with Buchanan’s Corie Smith (both seniors) as her rivals to watch in 2019. Smith is the only non-graduate to beat Riley in a 3,200-meter race during California’s 2019 outdoor track season. Riley won the 15th Annual CSUS HS Track Classic, the SFL Championship Finals, Sac-Joaquin Section Div. I Championships and SJS Masters by an average winning margin of over 28 seconds. At state, her 10:21.31 was good enough for a lifetime personal best, but Kristin Fahy (now at Stanford) won the race with her own personal best of 10:11.38. Smith (second) also hit her top mark at 10:17.39 in second.

OLYMPIC HOPEFUL Riley said she sets small goals and progresses by hitting those marks, but admits the ultimate prize is an Olympic medal. It’s the holy grail for track and field athletes and each little step in Riley’s career pushes her toward it. This fall, Riley wants to break the 16:40 mark on a 5K course. Even within that goal are some littler ones still. “I split it into miles so it seems more achievable,” Riley said. “So it’s a 5:20 first mile and 5:20 second mile. “I’d also like to be an All-American at NXN. I was really nervous there last year.”

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She has some help on that. Fee explained that running coaches carry the load of managing peak performances from athletes. Riley was trained to peak at state last year, and purposely reduced her vigorous training in the days leading up to it. This year, she will keep pushing through state, with her heart set on AllAmerican status. It’s within her grasp. “When you get kids with special talent that also put in a lot of work, they are going to be excellent and shine like no other,” Fee said. “I don’t think there is a single girl in the state of California that could outwork Riley Chamberlain. “Her attention to detail to maintain a healthy body and continue to improve is absolutely phenomenal, and she has a strong mindset that will carry her far.” It helps that Riley’s body seems to have a “make me a runner” mind of its own. She’s allergic to dairy and gluten, and her stomach is upset by sugars. “I don’t even remember what most of that stuff tastes like, so I don’t miss it,” Riley said with a laugh. “It’s been six years since I had a chocolate milk.” A good finish at nationals will make recruitment a little easier. Riley isn’t committed to a collegiate program, but she has her top three schools — Oregon, Colorado and BYU. Counting this year, Riley has six seasons of running at Del Oro (three each of cross country and track) before she can plan a move to TrackTown USA. She doesn’t mind. “I’m really close with all the varsity — Coach Dustin Fee girls on my team,” Riley explained. “We do everything together, go swimming and get smoothies after practice. “Everybody at Del Oro is really encouraging and I have a lot of friends who tell their friends what I have done, so cross country gets a lot of recognition.” “She is an extremely humble runner, and better yet, loves her team.” Fee added. When she isn’t running, Riley is still-life drawing, playing the ukulele and playing the piano even better. She loves that her entire family is consumed by the same sport (Ronin and Karissa are already on the Buffalo Chips) and likes nothing better than a great conversation over about 12 miles of trail. Her coach expects to see her excel as a collegiate steeplechaser, but there isn’t a distance that seems out of her reach. She would run to the moon if a rabbit told her to. ✪

“When you get kids with special talent that also put in a lot of work, they are going to be excellent and shine like no other. I don’t think there is a single girl in the state of California that could outwork Riley Chamberlain.”

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NCVA Salutes CEO Donna Donaghy On 25 Years Of Regional Leadership

hris Stanley knew what the Northern California Volleyball Association was getting when it hired Donna Donaghy as its commissioner back in October of 1994. Stanley, the long-respected college volleyball coach who held tenures at Cal and UOP, had hired Donaghy to help him at his youth tournaments in the mid- to late-80s. He’d also held the job of NCVA Commissioner, and he knew Donaghy would excel. “She’s an incredibly hard worker,” Stanley said in a phone interview from his home in Oregon. “She’s intensely detailed. … She’d get to work an hour early and leave an hour late.” When Donaghy took over, the NCVA’s business operations were still being run out of a residence. The Far Western Nationals Girls Qualifying tournament — a tournament founded by Stanley — was held at Stanford and featured approximately 100 teams. Twenty-five years later, the NCVA is a thriving business with an executive staff of more than 10 people. The Far Western Nationals tournament is now held in Reno and welcomes more than 1,250 teams over two weekends. And the NCVA recently jumped from USA Volleyball’s fifth-largest region to its third-largest. Donaghy still oversee it all as the region’s Chief Executive Officer. “She has molded everything that NCVA is,” NCVA Director of Business Development Evan Orlando said. Donaghy shepherded the region to an office, developed and facilitated some of the state’s best-run tournaments, and established the NCVA as a regional model that USA Volleyball touted to other portions of the country. Judy Praska was interning for USA Volleyball when she first met Donaghy in 1998. Not long after, she became Executive Director for the North Country region representing Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Upper Michigan. “(Donna) took me under her wing at the national tournaments. Taught me the ropes,” Praska said in a phone call from Minnesota where she now operates a drug testing business after 18 years of running North Country. “When I became director, any time I had a question I knew I could just pick up the phone and call Donna.” Perhaps Donaghy’s most lasting legacy will be the vast amount of opportunity she created for the expansion of youth volleyball for both girls and boys of Northern California. “These exceptionally run tournaments created space for volleyball to grow throughout the area,” Stanley said. Donaghy, whose husband Tom works as the Chief Operations Officer at NCVA, is also in her final year of a four-year team on the USA Volleyball Board of Directors. She’s been the recipient of several distinguished service awards, including the Neville A. “Doc” Booth Commissioner’s Award this past May. “She built everything,” Stanley concluded. “She deserves all of this success.” ✪

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Donna Donaghy, left, is presented with an award by USA Volleyball Follow us on Twitter & Instagram, like us on Facebook!

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t almost seems unfair. The size Rio Americano-Sacramento bolsters on its front line — a group that seemingly towers over the competition — gives the team a unique advantage. Instead of hitting against the block opponents put up, the Raiders volleyball team has the luxury of simply hitting over them. Just ask Del Campo-Fair Oaks coach Tim Reilly. “They’re a strong team, and they have a lot of size. We tried to get in front of them, but when we did they just went right over the top of us,” Reilly admitted following his team’s 3-0 loss to the Raiders on Sept. 18. The T-2G trio of Annabelle Thalken, Kira Givans and Paige Gwaltney — all of whom are 5-foot-11 or taller — is an intimidating frontcourt. This triple threat has led the team to a 15-7 overall record this year and a 2-1 start in league play. Thalken is the most touted. The junior middle blocker and setter has a 10-foot, 5-inch vertical reach, which is simply mind-blowing for an underclassman. “There’s no one we’ve played so far that she can’t hit over,” Rio Americano coach John Grix pointed out. To top it off, Thalken is a lefty. She can elevate higher than anyone, and swing at an angle few can imagine. She’s constantly painting the corners with nasty kills, and leads her team with more than 200 this year (223) — good for seventh in the SacJoaquin Section through Sept. 23, according to MaxPreps. “A lot of teams don’t expect (a lefty). They’re used to right-handed hitters,” Thalken said. “I’ve been working on hitting a lot of hard cross balls, and I’ve been working on a lot of different shots at practice, trying to work those into my arsenal.” Across three matches during the week of Sept. 16, Thalken totaled 19, 16 and 20 kills as Rio Americano picked up wins over Vista Del Lago-Folsom, Del Campo and Placer-Auburn. She has been hard to stop this year, and could continue to improve as the team looks to make a playoff run. “There’s just not a lot of lefties out there who are that big and physical,” Grix said. “So it creates a lot of confusion for defenses because they haven’t seen it before.” Thalken is a standout in the classroom as well. She owns a 4.3 GPA and has already committed to Cal Poly to play volleyball and study engineering. Givans and Gwaltney have also gained attention of collegiate scouts, and Grix positions his triple threat advantageously, using a pyramid strategy. That way, the team will always have one or two of them in the front row and one in the back. That helps with the team’s block at the net, and it’s allowed Thalken to play at multiple positions on the court as a middle blocker and setter. “We use her in a lot of different situations, a lot of varied attack patterns,” Grix said. “She’s just a dynamic kid.”

CHOOSING RIO Thalken is making a name for herself with the Raiders, but it almost never came to fruition. Annabelle’s older brother, Nathan, attended Rio Americano and went on to play volleyball at UC San Diego. But Annabelle had long sought to attend St. FrancisSacramento. In fact, she told coach Grix that fact at a volleyball camp before heading into her freshman year. But to Grix’s surprise, the team held open gym and in walked Annabelle — even towering over her peers as a freshman. That decision made Grix a very happy coach. But he was even more impressed later that season when his 6-foot-1 gangly freshman touched the rim of the basketball hoop. “I was harping on a defensive player for not doing their job, and then all of a sudden, in the background, Annabelle jumps and grabs the rim,” Grix explained. “My jaw dropped.” Now 6-foot-3, Thalken is a star with an incredible wingspan and huge upside. She’s helped lead her team to wins in eight of its last nine contests.

Story By Steven Wilson | Photos By James K. Leash

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Paige Gwaltney delivers a powerful spike.

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One of those was win No. 300 for Grix — a 2-0 victory over Pioneer-Woodland at the Davis Fall Classic. “It’s one of those things where you start looking back and thinking of the kids that got you there,” the longtime Raiders coach said. “Just how hard they worked and what they meant to this program. For me, this was a big source of pride. I’m an El Camino grad and they didn’t offer me a spot. I wanted to coach immediately after high school, and that was one of the options. But they said I was too young.” Nineteen years later, Grix is still coaching at the spot where he first landed, Rio Americano. After five seasons helping coach freshmen and junior varsity teams, he moved into the leading role for the varsity team in 2006. He’s seen plenty of success since, but that came with a lot of challenges. He says it’s shaped who he is today and how he coaches.

MENTORING AND MENTALITY Over the years, Grix has learned to devote time to his players off the court. Last season, the program implemented a new 30-minute regimen prior to all games and practices where the team and coaches talk about their days. It’s become a valued tradition. The girls even show up early to work it into their practice schedule. “I really enjoy that,” Givans admitted. “It gives us a gauge for where everyone is at that day. And you know if someone is having a bad day or a great day, which I think is really beneficial for our practices.” “It creates another layer for the girls to feel connected to each other,” Grix added. The players’ closeness has led to more chemistry on the court. They’re trusting each other, and making plays. “We’ve created a very positive culture, which has taken a few years to build but the girls are 22

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absolutely crazy about each other,” Grix stated. The team believes this is one of their best chances to make a deep playoff run. And while a playoff berth is likely, the Raiders would need help to garner a league title this season. The team dropped a 3-1 match to rival Christian Brothers-Sacramento early in September and would need an upset victory from another league squad to climb back into that race. A co-championship is still on the table, but the team has higher expectations. “The last two years, we made it to the second round of playoffs, but we seem to get stuck there,” Givans explained. “We lost to Del Oro last year even though we probably could have beat them. But I think we can go a lot further this year. We have a lot of potential and I really believe we have a better connection this year. So I think if there’s a year where we can go really far, this is it.” After spending most of her time at middle blocker in 2018, Givans made a switch this season and has rotated at outside hitter as well. It’s paid off as she’s collected more kills per set than any of her previous seasons. Through Sept. 23, she ranked in the top 15 in the section with 179 kills. Just ahead of Givans at 12th in the section with 184 kills is Gwaltney, who also believes in Grix’s mentoring sessions before practices and games. “I know every girl’s life on this team, and they know mine — my personal life, my family life,” Gwaltney said. “It’s a community and it’s more than just volleyball. All of my best friends have come from this program. It’s not just a team — it’s a family.” After one practice this week, Gwaltney was reminded that the team is down to just 12 guaranteed practices left, and it stopped her in her tracks. “That was crazy,” she admitted. “But the further we go into playoffs, the longer we have together.” ✪

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October 2019

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October 2019

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Kyle Christensen

efore the monster under your bed goes to sleep at night, he first checks to see if Hans Grassmann is hiding in the closet. The hulking senior fullback on the Placer-Auburn football team inspires nightmares, and not just because of his punishing up-the-middle runs. Grassmann is a sensational blocker, and in Placer coach Joey Montoya’s Wing-T offense he is the vital lead attacker on a bevy of outside runs. You know it’s coming when Grassmann sprints for the edge at top speed, looking for someone, anyone to lay his hands on. Some defenders choose to opt out of this encounter. “I wouldn’t want to be out there with him coming at me,” Montoya said. “That’s a 6-4, 230-pound statue coming at you. He’s a devastating blocker. “I know our running backs appreciate that.” Grassmann certainly has the help of Placer’s perennial application of beefy linemen, but his lead blocks helped Placer rush for 5,269 yards (No. 5 in California) last year. “You have to have a mindset that you are going to get out there fast and seal the edge with your block,” Grassmann said. “Your block matters. You have to stop the guy who can make the difference between a five-yard run and a touchdown.” If you see Grassmann with the ball near the sideline, Placer had to have lined up on an outside hashmark. He’s a no-nonsense runner that initiates contact and only goes north. He might lead the state in consecutive rushes within the boundaries. Through two-plus seasons, that’s also 303 carries for 2,431 yards and 39 touchdowns. He played mostly defense his sophomore season, and broke out with 1,632 yards and 24 scores last year. He’s averaging 165 yards a game and three touchdowns after four games in 2019. “I want to go over 2,000 yards this year,” Grassmann said, only admitting the goal because he was directly asked about it. “I want to improve upon last year.” It’s just not in him to boast, and in fact, you will rarely hear Grassmann even speak or crack a smile. “I would never try to make a kid be something he’s not, and Hans is one of those lead-byexample guys,” Montoya said. “He’s one of the quietest kids I have ever coached. He doesn’t say a word in practice. “Rarely, if you get him into a super comfortable situation with his closest friends or his girlfriend, all of the sudden you will hear his deep, booming voice. When he does speak, it carries a lot of weight.”

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October 2019

Grassmann has a scholarship offer from UC Davis and is also in talks with the University of Montana. He was considered one of California’s top rugby players until he left the pitch last year to focus on football. Since then, he’s developed his next-level tools, especially his speed. He anticipates a future role on the defensive side of the ball, since most collegiate programs don’t support a traditional fullback. Montoya will deploy him in defensive packages, but he doesn’t overwhelm his workload. It’s important that Placer has Grassmann at full strength for a gauntlet of Foothill Valley League games against teams that already look special this year. There are no easy games. Oakmont-Roseville, Nevada Union-Grass Valley, Rio Linda, Lincoln and Ponderosa-Shingle Springs combined for 16 wins and just six losses through Sept. 21. Rio Linda is the reigning CIF 5-A State Bowl Champion and Oakmont delivered a statement win by shellacking returning Sac-Joaquin Section Div. IV finalist Casa Roble-Orangevale 44-0 on Sept. 20. Lincoln plays a tough schedule and beat Whitney-Rocklin 22-17 two weeks after the Wildcats upended Placer 47-34. The Hillmen were unbeaten FVL champions last year, and would have been big favorites in an SJS Div. IV bracket that propelled Rio Linda to section, NorCal and CIF honors. However, the SJS has a postseason alignment rule that designates league champions to compete in the divisional bracket that most closely matches the enrollment of conference teams. Instead of meeting public schools of similar sizes, Placer landed in Div. III and fell 25-22 to Capital Christian-Sacramento — a private program often bolstered by the strength of transfers. The Hillmen faithful are used to hard luck endings. Though Placer has won seven straight conference titles, made the playoffs in 11 consecutive years and reached a section championship game five times in the last 10 years (including the last three), postseason alignments have made playoff success incredibly difficult. Hillmen fans could point to at least two state bowl wins earned by area teams that could have easily been posted in the rafters at Earl Crabbe Gym, if not for wacky enrollment moves. In 2015, a magical undefeated season went awry when Placer was bumped into Div. III and eliminated from the playoffs by arguably the best Central Catholic-Modesto team in the history of the private school juggernaut. Sierra-Manteca advanced from a weak Div. IV bracket and won a CIF bowl game. Last year, the Hillmen watched Rio Linda, a team Placer nearly beat with a running clock,

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Hans Grassmann roll to state lore from Div. IV. “We don’t shy away from the challenge of being moved up,” Montoya said. “We embrace it and try to make the most of it.” A 2019 bump into Div. III is a long way away, considering the obstacles in Placer’s own conference, where teams average an enrollment that exceeds Placer by 518 students. Vital to that effort will be wins in the trenches, easily the hallmark of Placer teams. The Capra brothers — Johnny, Jacob and Joey — are all departed (those last two are at San Diego State) and Blake Baughman is at Nevada. Eddie Vanderdoes was recently released by the Oakland Raiders and Jackson Tate just wrapped up his career with McKenna. The latest prestigious Placer lineman is one of the obvious leaders of this team, Kyle Christensen. Yeah, he’s 6-4 and 263 pounds, but even more impressive are his academic numbers: a 4.25 GPA and a 1300 SAT. “I learned the importance of being an intelligent football player from Blake Baughman. He had an amazing mind,” Christensen said moments after a heartbreaking 30-27 final-second loss to Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa on Sept. 6. “I think I learned to be calm under pressure from Joey Capra and I admire all the other big-time linemen that came before me here because of their strive for success and selfless attitude with the team.” Christensen is entertaining scholarship offers from UC Davis, Cal Poly, Oregon State and San Diego. “Kyle is maybe the smartest kid I have ever coached,” Montoya said. “He is like having a coach on the field, and he and I make in-game adjustments together. “His feedback is something I really trust.” That relationship means a lot to Christensen. “I love my coaches to death,” he said. “It’s nice to be surrounded by a program with so much passion.” It’s great to be Hillmen, partly because of the obvious investment coaches make in their players. Montoya spent the weekend in San Diego during the team’s Week Five bye, and watched Jacob and Joey Capra play Utah State. He will miss them both when Placer faces Rio Linda Oct. 11, on the road. “We have a great tradition to build on, and I think our kids know and understand that, and want to keep the legacy going,” Montoya said. “We want to continue getting better and better.” ✪ Follow us on Twitter & Instagram, like us on Facebook!

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October 2019

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Prairie City

punchout On Sept. 13, De La Salle and Folsom met for the fourth time as the top-two ranked teams in NorCal. With the Bulldogs hosting the Spartans on their own campus for the first time, we made sure to be on hand for the action. We had photographers David Gershon and James K. Leash roaming the sidelines to capture the action and atmosphere. De La Salle prevailed once again, but there was no shortage of drama. 28

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October 2019

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