Elk Grove (MPG) – The 2024 high school soccer playoffs will kickoff this weekend with two local teams seeded No. 1 in their respective divisions. The Franklin girls, champions of the Delta League and defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division I winners, are the top seed in the Section playoffs. The Wildcats open the playoffs Saturday when they host No. 16 Franklin of Stockton

In Division III, Valley’s boys team is the No. 1 seed while Elk Grove’s boys are the No. 2 seed in Division II. The Vikings will host 16-seed Manteca Friday while the Herd hosts No. 15 Kennedy. Both matches are scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m.

Elsewhere in the boys’ Division I No. 5 Pleasant Grove will host No. 12 Enochs, No. 9 Franklin will travel to No. 8 Central Valley and Monterey Trail, a 14-seed, will travel to No. 3 Whitney on Friday.

The other local girls soccer squads who have made the post-season are Pleasant Grove and Cosumnes Oaks. The Eagles are the nine-seed and will travel to No. 8 Gregori Saturday while the Wolfpack drew a 10-seed and they’ll face No. 7 River City.

Basketball brackets to be announced Saturday

Franklin’s girls basketball team pulled out a 43-36 win over second place Cosumnes Oaks on Feb. 7 to win the Delta League championship. The Wildcats are figured to have a high seed in Division I when the Section basketball brackets will be released Saturday at 1:30 p.m. There will be a “Bracket Show” streamed live from the Section office on NFHS Network.

The Wolfpack should also get a high seed once the brackets are drawn up by Section officials.

In the boys ranks Sheldon will probably have to share a Delta League championship with Jesuit following its 55-39 loss to the Marauders Feb. 7. Maxpreps has the Huskies ranked fifth in Division I with Franklin sixth and Cosumnes Oaks 15th. The Wolfpack plays at Sheldon Friday in the regular season finale.

Monterey Trail suffered just its third loss of the season Feb. 7 in a 106-101 non-conference overtime barnburner at Inderkum. Still, the Metro Conference champions will likely be a two-seed in Division I behind Modesto Christian with the Tigers likely a three-seed.

Football NLI

Holden Grieger, Cosumnes Oaks’ big offensive tackle, announced this week he

Photo by John Hull

Holden Grieger, an offensive tackle at Cosumnes Oaks, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play football at Western Illinois University in the fall.

  had signed a National Letter Intent at Western Illinois University. This past week the NCAA signing period opened for football and another former Cosumnes Oaks player, Anthony Grigsby, announced he signed with Nevada. Grigsby had an outstanding season last fall quarterbacking the College of San Mateo. They were 11-2, losing to Riverside College in the CCCAA Championship game, 24-21. Grigsby was 19-of-26 passing for 236 yards and a touchdown in that game.

“He was a tenacious player at C.O.,” current Cosumnes Oaks football coach Martin Billings said. “I coached him on the freshman basketball team and he was an outstanding leader and player and he made his players better by his leadership and expectations.”

By the way, the “High School Transfer Portal” has hit the Wolfpack program during this football off-season. Billings confirmed two of his top players from a year ago have already transferred to other area schools to continue their football careers next season. Kam Totten is now at Folsom and running back Brandon Lambert has transferred to Grant.

“We just move on,” Billings said. “They transferred and I have so many guys I work with at C.O. I have to focus on them. This is what I told (Totten and Lambert): ‘Thank you. It’s a pleasure to work with you over the years and good luck.’ I have a lot of young men at C.O. who are outstanding and I have to place my energies on them.”

And, the movement of high school players, particularly in football, who move on to schools with a recent history of success? Here’s what Billings said: “This is what is happening. That’s something I cannot control, but what I can control is working with my guys at C.O. and I am having a great time doing it.” 

Terry Chapman Gymnasium

Monterey Trail High School's gymnasium will now be named the W. Terry Chapman Gymnasium after approval came Feb. 7 from the Board of Trustees of the Elk Grove Unified School District. Chapman was founding principal at Monterey Trail.

"He was a great team builder and exceptional in enabling problem solving and inclusion of ideas to grow a stellar learning community," associate superintendent Chad Sweitzer said to the Board.

Chapman was also founding principal at Harriet Eddy Middle School, associate principal at Joseph Kerr Middle School and principal at Florin High School.

Super Bowl Trivia

The average cost of a ticket to the Super Bowl the last five seasons has been $6, 680. On the resale market the cheapest ticket to Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII went for $8,586 each.