TRACY — Football stars from across the Central Valley came together at Tracy High’s Wayne Schneider Stadium on Saturday for the unofficial end of the 2024-25 prep sports season with the playing of the 49th annual Lions All-Star Football Game.
Competing for the South team donning yellow jerseys were a handful of local standouts — Turlock High’s Joseph Delte, Time Sitala Jr. and Dylan Fontes, Pitman’s Chase Martin, Hilmar’s Caden Bailey and Hughson’s Colton Taylor.
Delte, a late addition to the South roster, was the owner of some of the evening’s most explosive plays despite the South losing, 42-37, and kept the team’s hopes of making a late comeback alive.
Trailing 35-23 with nine minutes left on the clock, South head coach and Downey High skipper Jeremy Plaa reached into his bag of tricks, calling a double pass in which Knights quarterback Carson Lamb tossed a lateral to Delte. The Turlock star then unloaded a missile 25 yards down the field to Patterson’s Noah Cozart, who sped to a 54-yard touchdown.
After the North answered with a 14-yard touchdown rush to extend their lead to 42-30, Lamb turned to the lengthy and elusive Delte again. Rivals during the Central California Athletic League regular season, Lamb and Delte made magic happen together, this time connecting for a 47-yard touchdown to make it a 42-37 game.
Needing a defensive stop, the South got it. With Martin and Taylor on defense, the North offense was pushed back inside their own 20-yard line. But what nearly everybody in attendance thought would be a punt turned out to be a pass down the field for a first down to ice the contest. Fake punts aren’t allowed in the game, but because the team transitioned out of their punt formation, it was fair game, and the North milked the clock and celebrated a victory.
Delte was the lone player from the local teams to put points on the board, though Taylor may have well been credited with seven of the South’s points. Late in the third quarter, Taylor broke through protection and blocked a punt attempt (though blocked kicks aren’t allowed, either), but with no flag on the play, the South punched in a touchdown from five yards out just minutes later.
Taylor, a rock at defensive tackle for Huskies over their section title-winning seasons, also got in on four tackles and totaled four rushes.
Behind him at linebacker was Martin, who played in his second All-Star Game in as many weeks. The Pitman captain assisted on a pair of tackles and helped set up the South in slid field position over the course of the contest while blocking on special teams.
Offensively, Fontes and Sitala Jr. did a bulk of the blocking as the South ran for two scores and Lamb threw for 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Bailey also came close to finding the end zone late in the first half, taking the handoff on a jet sweep and racing 24 yards to the house, but it was negated after a block in the back. The South ended up getting those points back three plays later. The speedy Yellowjacket rushed five times for 33 yards and also had a 10-yard reception and 20 return yards.
The North now leads in the all-time series, 27-19-2.
In the postgame awards ceremony, Sitala Jr. was named the game’s Most Inspirational Player. The senior played through the sudden loss of his father, Time Sitala Tagomailelagi Sr., in early October.
Also invited to compete but not suited up were Turlock’s Junior Silva and Hughson’s Malakai Sumter and Travis Harkrader.
