High school football: Tokay gets West, Lodi is at St. Mary's to open TCAL play
Sep. 29—The second phase of the high school football season begins tonight for local teams when they begin league play, and two uniquely different challenges away Lodi and Tokay.
Tokay (3-2) will begin Tri-City Athletic League play at home tonight, hosting West (4-1), a team that has compiled a solid record against dubious competition.
The Wolf pack has wins over Franklin-Stockton (1-5), Beyer (0-5), Millennium (1-4) and Argonaut (1-4). The team's one loss came against Kimball, which holds a 2-3 record.
West does have dangerous players, with a two-headed rushing attack of Jamani Hampton (260 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns) and Matthew Jacklich (257 yards). Quarterback Christian Chacon has completed 55% of his passes for 379 yards, with Sean Wilson and Mckye Valdez as his top targets.
Tokay, meanwhile, has had some time over the bye week to stew over its past two losses, to West Park and Gregori by a combined five points. Those losses came after the Tigers opened the season with three blowout victories.
Tokay's offense will feature running backs Barrett Crosby (69 carries for 494 yards and 5 touchdowns), Herman Barba (31 carries for 167 yards) and Marcus Castro (11 carries for 136 yards).
The passing attack starts with Timmy "TK" Karagounis, who has complete 35 of 68 passes for 524 yards and 9 touchdowns against 2 interceptions. His favorite targets are Julian Rodriguez (9 catches for 194 yards and 3 touchdowns) and Castro (6 catches for 87 yards).
And the Tigers' defense will play its role after racking up 17 takeaways through the first five games.
Lodi (2-3) will have a tall task on its plate tonight when it travels to Stockton to take on perennial league champion St. Mary's. The Rams are 4-1 against a very tough non-league schedule, with the one loss a 24-10 decision against De La Salle.
The last time St. Mary's lost a league game was a 40-32 loss to Stagg on Nov. 1, 2013.
St. Mary's brings quarterback Samson Hunkin (57 of 103 for 818 yards and 6 touchdowns), running back Asante Carter (79 carries for 404 yards and 10 touchdowns) and receiver Kenneth Moore III (30 catches for 372 yards and 3 touchdowns) among their top athletes.
For Lodi, quarterback Matt Shinn leads the rushing attack with 428 yards and 7 touchdowns on 53 carries, though he was stymied during last week's loss to Manteca. Jordan Sandoval adds 210 yards and 3 touchdowns on 44 carries, and Jackson Handel had 188 yards and 3 touchdowns on 35 carries.
Under center, Shinn has 25 completions in 58 attempts for 361 yards and 7 touchdowns, with Brody Mackey the top target at 11 catches for 220 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Farther north, Liberty Ranch is 2-2 following last week's 14-14 nail-biter over Ripon, and will host El Dorado (1-4) to open play in the Sierra Valley Conference. El Dorado's lone win came on Sept. 15 over Woodland.
Liberty Ranch is led by running back Joseph Brown, who has 472 yards and 5 touchdowns on 62 carries. Quarterback Kymani Fenika has 50 carries for 22 yards and 4 scores, and Brannon Cathey has 33 carries for 196 yards, though most of those came in a 40-28 win over Nevada Union on Sept. 15.
Fenika also has 264 passing yards, but just one touchdown through the air. Brown has the lion's share of those yards, too, with 10 catches for 145 yards.
Galt fell to 2-3 with last week's 35-20 loss to Calaveras, and will travel to play Rosemont (3-2) tonight.
Rosemont is led by running back Michael Cherry with 101 carries for 746 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Galt is led on the ground by running back Kayson Jones with 420 yards and 5 touchdowns on 54 carries, along with Hunter Freeman with 262 yards and a pair of scores on 46 carries. Quarterback Roman Tapia has 230 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, but also 5 interceptions.
