No denying St. Mary’s two-way starters

STOCKTON -— Tony Franks doesn’t love the idea of his players starting on both offense and defense.

But the St. Mary’s football team’s current quartet of Popo Aumavae, Tre Jenkins III, Marcus Aponte and Keaton Hampton are so skilled, so fast and so strong that the Rarms’ longtime coach can’t deny them.

Those four are pivotal, as they are every week, as No. 2 St. Mary’s entertains No. 3 Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at Sanguinetti Field.

“It’s kind of unprecedented. I think that’s the most that maybe we’ve ever had” starting two ways, Franks said after Monday’s practice. “In a perfect world for us, we’d start 22 different guys.”

All four of the current players were just too good to bench half the time, Franks said. Jenkins, for one, is part of the first unit for several groups -on offense, defense and on punt and kickoff teams.

Jenkins is a safety, slot receiver and kick returner who had two interceptions and a fumble recovery in St. Mary’s 44-7 win over Turlock-Pitman in last week’s quarterfinals. On the year, Jenkins has 69 tackles, five interceptions and four fumble recoveries.

“We’re going to try to take him off the punt team this week, and get him off the field at least a little bit to get him a drink of water,” Franks said.

Jenkins, though, would rather be active at all times.

“For me, it’s not that difficult to play both sides,” said Jenkins, a junior. “I like always being on the field.”

Aumavae is a 6-foot-4, 315-pound senior who recently announced a verbal commitment to the University of Oregon. He came up as a sophomore and started only on offense, but his dominance on defense has been obvious the past two seasons. Aumavae has four sacks through 12 games.

“How do you keep Popo off the field?” Franks said. “He’s such a dominant lineman on both sides of the ball -- so clearly dominant.

“I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell either the defensive or offensive line coach that he wasn’t available to play for them.”

The senior Hampton (36 catches, 893 yards, 14 touchdowns, nine pass deflections) and junior Aponte (38 catches, 747 yards, 10 TDs) are both receivers and cornerbacks, and combined for five touchdown catches against Pitman. Both were starting receivers, but not starting corners a year ago. But the graduation of Ontario Johnson and Brandon Sanders left those spots open.

Aponte said staying focused on cardio and endurance helps two-way

players like himself, especially “6 second drills” — which simulate the speed and intensity of an in-game play.

“It’s just in the summer, getting those extra reps after practice. And during practice, going as hard as you can,” Aponte said. “Keeps us going the whole game.”

On gameday, not much changes, Hampton said. He just tries to stay hydrated, and add a few more carbohydrates to prepare for 2-plus hours of work.

“You’ve just got to keep a high motor,” he said.

Franks and his staff have to keep a constant eye on their multi-use players. Even this week, before St. Mary’s 13th game of the season, Franks and his assistants discussed and reinforced “management” to keep those four fresh:

“Just to keep them healthy and keep them playing at a high level.”