Golden Valley High School’s Veterans Stadium is set to host on Saturday the Merced County All-Star Football Classic, a showcase created last year after the Rotary Bob Green Football Classic was canceled in 2020 and never returned. But don’t let the name fool you, stepping onto the field for the event’s second edition will be a contingent of players from Turlock-area high schools.
As part of the North team this year will be three players from Turlock, four from Pitman and one from Denair — all programs out of Stanislaus County that would typically be represented at the Lions 4-A1 Central California All-Star Football Game. Four female student-athletes between Turlock and Pitman will also participate in the pregame flag football all-star contest, also in its second year.
The brains behind the new games are former Golden Valley High principal Kevin Swartwood and Central California Conference commissioner Lou Souza, who wanted to give Merced County athletes the deserved recognition that they had missed for four years. This year, they added the teams outside of the county (expanding north to Turlock and south to Madera) with the intention of offering more opportunities for star athletes to play and represent their schools one final time.
“The Lions 4-A1 game does a great job, and they cover such a big area, and with that you only have so many spots, so our game is just a way to get more kids involved,” said Souza. “I reached out to tell them to assure them we weren’t stealing their kids or anything like that and letting them know why we’re doing it, and everybody understands we're on the same page. We just want to see kids play. We want to give them one last chance to put the pads on and play.”
Aside from putting a spotlight on local talent, the festivities will be used to generate and award scholarships through gate money and concessions operated by the Merced Breakfast Lions Club. Organizers handed out $7,000 in scholarships last year, and are now anticipating to give out $25,000.
Receiving invitations to local schools were Turlock’s Junior Silva (WR), Bradlee Green (LB) and Ben Leota (OL/DL), Pitman’s Syncyr Sanders (DB), Chase Martin (OL/DL), Tristan Fuentes (LB) and Isaac Padilla (K), and Denair’s Jesse Ruelas (DEF).
Silva was also a late invitee to the 49th Lions 4-A1 All-Star Game in Tracy slated for June 21 at Tracy High’s Wayne Schneider Stadium. He confirmed to the Journal that he will be playing in both.
Last year’s flag football game was the first of its kind in the state and came as the sport had just wrapped its first season in the Sac-Joaquin Section. The Central California Athletic League, where the Turlock and Pitman programs play in, held their inaugural season this past winter.
“Flag football is exploding. It’s really taking off.” Souza said. “Since it was brought into the section last year, the number of teams has doubled, and there’s some real talent in our area that we want to put a spotlight on.”
Invited is Pitman’s Elexi Pulido (QB/WR/S) and Turlock’s Isis Cosio (WING/DB), Kealani Solis-Coelho (RB/RUSH) and Karley Wool (RB/LB).
The Merced County Girls Flag Football All-Star Game is set for Saturday at 5:15 p.m. The Merced County All-Star Football Classic is slated for 7:15 p.m. or immediately following the conclusion of the flag football contest.
General admission tickets can be purchased for $10 at GoFan.com by searching for the Merced Breakfast Lions Club.
