Tokay, Liberty Ranch and Galt evaluating players
Three of the four Lodi area high football teams will have their players take part in controlled scrimmages starting tonight.
The Tokay High football team makes the trek to Edison High to compete at Edison’s four-way scrimmage that is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. The Tigers will compete against Grant of Sacramento on the south side of Edison’s field to start the scrimmages. Then Tokay takes on Atwater at 7:40 p.m., also on the south side and closing out against Edison on the north side of the stadium’s field at 8:20 p.m.
Tokay coach Michael Holst and his assistant coaches will be looking at players on both sides of the ball. All of the Tigers’ 37 players listed on the roster are expected to play against the Pacers, Falcons and host Vikings.
“It’s a big evaluation for us,” Holst said. “We’re young. Even some of our older players with not a lot of experience will go through the evaluation. Receivers, offensive line — those are two big ones, offensively. We’ve got a couple of different running backs that will be pretty solid.”
One of those running backs for Tokay (4-6 last season) is fullback Nathan Branco, who is one of the team captains. Behind Branco are junior Luke Millan, who started at running back and outside linebacker as a sophomore last year.
Tokay quarterback Chase Howell will be taking the majority of the snaps. But also running the Tigers’ pistol spread option offense in the scrimmages will be senior Marcell Norwood, who is one of the Tigers’ wide receivers, plus juniors Colby Baker and Xavier Santoyo.
Holst notes that Grant, one of the top teams in the Sacramento area, plus Atwater and Edison will be very competitive at the scrimmages.
“There will be some good athletes out there,” Holst said.
Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for senior citizens.
One week from today at the Grape Bowl, Tokay opens the season against Patterson in a non-league game.
Liberty Ranch
Today at 6 p.m., Liberty Ranch (3-7 last season) will break in Hawks Stadium, which is Galt’s second high school’s on-campus stadium, against Bear Creek and Linden.
Some of Liberty Ranch’s returning players who should be seeing playing time in the triscrimmages are quarterback Matt Hopper, running backfree safety Gabe Nino, wide receiver-running back-linebacker Wyatt Weaver and lineman Gabe Fernandez.
Galt
On Saturday, Galt (3-7 last season) will travel to Ripon Christian to compete in a fiveschool scrimmage at 10 a.m.
The Warriors, under firstyear coach Tim Cobleigh, will see action against host Ripon Christian, plus Golden Sierra of Garden Valley, Bret Harte and Waterford.
The scrimmages were originally scheduled to take place at Bret Harte. But because of poor air quality due to the wild fires in the foothills, the scrimmages were moved to the Knights’ fields in the south part of San Joaquin County.
Lodi
On Saturday, Aug. 18, Lodi will host Calaveras in a controlled scrimmage. Then the Flames will kick-off the season on Friday, Aug. 24 at Ceres in a non-league game.