47th Lions All-Star Football Game reunites local coaching legends in ‘full circle’ moment

The way Trent Merzon’s coaching career started is the same way it will end.

A California high school football coaching legend, Merzon had his first season as Oakdale High School’s head coach in 2000. That summer, he coached in the Lions All-Star Football Game. Now, 23 years later, after stepping down as the Oakdale head coach in the winter, he will be a head coach one final time in this weekend’s 47th Central California Lions All-Star Football Game.

The game features a matchup between teams made up of some of the best recent graduates from the northern and southern parts of the Central Valley. It returns Saturday, June 24, after a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at Tracy High School’s Wayne Schneider Stadium.

Tickets can be purchased for $10 on GoFan. Game-day tickets will be available for cash purchase, as will T-shirts, concessions and game programs. Gates open at 5 p.m., pregame photos and lineups will be announced at 6 p.m., and kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Each team has begun practicing 5-7 p.m. daily, the North at Edison High in Stockton and the South at Gregori High.

The North won the last All-Star game in 2019 in the final seconds, 19-18, to snap a six-game winless streak. The North leads the overall series 25-19-1. The South was the home team in 2019, so the North will be the designated home team this year.

Both teams feature a number of members of The Bee’s All-District football teams. Playing for the North is Ryker Peters, The Bee’s Player of the Year, Sac-Joaquin Section Division V Champion and Division 4-AA California State Champion from Escalon High. He will take the field with teammates Owen Nash and Samuel Vigil. Division II section champion Manteca will be represented by Alijah Cota.

Playing for the South are state champion Liam Bridgford of Hughson and All-District honorees Gabe Hernandez of Downey and Jaelen Nichols of Central Catholic. They will be joined by representatives from Oakdale, Davis, Pitman, Turlock, Ceres and other Stanislaus District schools.

“It’s a great game,” Merzon said. “We could use a lot of community support going out to Tracy. It’s a game with a lot of history. I’m glad it’s back and I hope it stays back. It’s a game to showcase the talent in the area and have a good time celebrating great team football.”

Merzon will serve as South Team co-coach with Davis High coach and 2021 Bee Coach of the Year Tim Garcia. Walking the sidelines will be another pair of big local coaching names, Mark Malone and Mike Glines.

“It’ll be a great way to spend a Saturday night,” Merzon said. “There’s a lot of history that’s going to be on that sidelines with coach Glines, coach Garcia and myself and coach Malone. A lot of history and a lot of years of experience.”

Booker Guyton from Edison High of Stockton was named the North head coach.

Malone, also a former Oakdale High head coach, is flying in from Texas for the second time to assist Merzon. He served as the defensive coordinator in 2000 and will help out again in the same role this week. The Oakdale coaching legends will call the South team’s defense.

“Mark Malone, the guy that taught me how to coach, is coming back from Texas to do the defense,” Merzon said. “He was the head coach at Oakdale that helped me get hired and helped me learn how to coach. When I did the game in 2000, he came out of retirement to do the game then as the D-coordinator. I reached out to him … and he needed a day to think about it, but he’s coming out to do the defense again.”

Glines and Garcia are in charge of the South’s offense.

Glines is a Modesto coaching legend and helped introduce Garcia to football at a young age. Garcia never left the game, enjoying a successful high school and college career and returning to Davis High as a coach. He led the Spartans to a perfect regular season in 2021. The pair coached the past few seasons at Davis.

“He started coaching me when I was 6 years old,” Garcia said. “He and my dad coached me in the YMCA flag football league, I’ve been around him my whole life. … It’s all about relationships and treating people the right way, coaching the game the right way and, at the end of the day, really trying to develop respectful young men that are going to be successful people in the community.”

Glines and Merzon are among the top coaches in California football history, going by winning percentage for those with 150 wins or more. According to CalHi Sports, Glines is still No. 2 on the all-time state list at 214-31-3 (trailing Bob Ladouceur of Concord De La Salle) at 86.3%. Merzon ended with a 225-62-2 record and a winning percentage of 78.3.

“It’s kind of full circle,” Garcia said. “It’s just really, truly an honor to be surrounded by not only such great football coaches but great people in Mike Glines, Trent Merzon and Mark Malone. Those three individuals are icons in the community and the football world and true legends. And more for me than anything, they’re better people. To be surrounded around them and get this opportunity, I’m really excited to have a great week and coach a football game around some special people.”

Merzon and Garcia were both Lions All-Stars.

Merzon, a 1985 All-Star Game alum, will now see his son Mick participate in the game.

Garcia remembers the week leading up to the game in 1999 as a time to get to know some of the people he competed against during his high school career. He will coach Mick Merzon, who plays receiver, as well as former Davis High players Tito Tutonu and Cobi Twist.

“It was ‘the show’. Coming up as young young athletes, this is what you wanted to participate in,” Garcia said. “This was one of the goals that you wanted to accomplish as a football player in the area.”

Lions All-Star Game Rosters

North Team

OL/DL Aveon Brown (Kimball, Tracy)

TE/DE Joshua Chavez (Stagg, Stockton)

LB Alijah Cota (Manteca)

RB Joe Cowan (Linden)

DL Jaiden Crawford (Chavez, Stockton)

RB Tyrone De Loney (Lincoln, Stockton)

DB Freezandren Dosty (Edison, Stockton)

LB Kai Elkins (Summerville, Tuolumne)

TE/DE Mohamed Kamara (Franklin, Stockton)

DE/FB Jacob Lanticse (Linden)

LB Zachary McMartin (Kimball, Tracy)

OL Michiel Marsh (Linden)

WR Kurtis Maynor (Tracy)

QB Jayden McKey (Kimball, Tracy)

OL Hector Meza (Lathrop)

OL/DL Aidan Monarrez (Tracy)

WR Owen Nash (Escalon)

QB Kenyon Nelson (Lincoln, Stockton)

P Braeden Orlandi (Calaveras, San Andreas)

RB Ryker Peters (Escalon)

RB Johnel Pettus (Edison, Stockton)

QB Jerry Raguindin (Stagg, Stockton)

PK Eric Rodriguez (Edison, Stockton)

OL/DL Tyler Sells (Sonora)

LB Simon Smiley (Stagg, Stockton)

OL Samuel Vigil (Escalon)

South Team

LB Bryant Austin (Merced)

OL Diego Barajas (Livingston)

LB Kai Brazil (Orestimba, Newman)

LB Liam Bridgford (Hughson)

Roland Brown (Central Catholic, Modesto)

DB Mark Carreiro (Los Banos)

LB Michael Edmond II (Johansen, Modesto)

DB Kailin Frade (Buhach Colony, Atwater)

DL Manvir Gakhal (Pacheco, Los Banos)

QB Eleazar Garza (Golden Valley, Merced)

QB Cole Gilbert (Turlock)

OL Cornell Gilkey (Buhach Colony, Atwater)

OL Landon Gomes (Hilmar)

OL Isaac Haro (Merced)

WR Gabriel Hernandez (Downey, Modesto)

RB Tarrell Lee-Gill (Ceres)

WR Vincent Lopez (Orestimba, Newman)

DB Nicholas Mendoza (Atwater)

WR Mick Merzon (Oakdale)

DB Jaelen Nichols (Central Catholic, Modesto)

DL Brock Osmundson (Oakdale)

OL Dorian Ramirez (Gregori, Modesto)

Jahkylle Smith (Golden Valley, Merced)

LB Kahmi Smith (Ceres)

DE LeBron Stallworth (Ceres)

WR Joey Stout (Pitman, Turlock)

DL Tito Tutonu (Davis, Modesto)

LB Cobi Twist (Davis, Modesto)

OL Nathan Valenzuela (Atwater)

DB Luis Vargas (Hilmar)

OL Fermin Villegas (Le Grand)

WR Kayson Welch (Los Banos)

High Schools Represented In District 4A-1 of Lions International

North – Amador (Sutter Creek), Argonaut (Jackson), Bear Creek (Stockton), Bret Harte (Altaville), Brookside Christian (Stockton), Calaveras (San Andreas), East Union (Manteca), Edison (Stockton), Escalon, Franklin (Stockton), Jim Elliot Christian (Lodi), Kimball (Tracy), Lathrop, Lincoln (Stockton), Lodi, Manteca, McNair (Stockton), Merrill West (Tracy), Millennium (Tracy), Mountain House, Ripon, Ripon Christian, St. Mary’s (Stockton), Sierra (Manteca), Sonora, Stagg (Stockton), Summerville (Tuolumne), Tokay (Lodi), Tracy, Weston Ranch (Stockton).

South – Atwater, Beyer (Modesto), Big Valley Christian (Modesto), Buhach Colony (Atwater), Central Catholic (Modesto), Central Valley (Ceres), Ceres, Chowchilla, Delhi, Denair, Dos Palos, Downey (Modesto), El Capitan (Merced), Enochs (Modesto), Golden Valley (Merced), Grace Davis (Modesto), Gregori (Modesto), Gustine, Hilmar, Hughson, Johansen (Modesto), Le Grand, Livingston, Los Banos, Madera, Madera South, Mariposa County (Mariposa), Merced, Modesto, Modesto Christian, Oakdale, Orestimba (Newman), Pacheco (Los Banos), Patterson, Pitman (Turlock), Riverbank, Stone Ridge Christian (Merced), Turlock, Turlock Christian.