Local sports roundup: Tokay's Mendonca, Lodi's Bishop and Stout top All-TCAL football team
Nov. 15—The Tri-City Athletic League released its all-league team over the weekend, and a trio of local players earned high honors.
Lodi High's Nathan Bishop was named the TCAL's offensive lineman of the year, Tokay's Richard Mendonca was named defensive lineman of the year, and Lodi's Brayden "Bubba" Stout was named co-utility player of the year along with Tracy's Kurtis Maynor.
Bishop was the anchor of a Lodi offensive line that paved the way for an explosive run game, which racked up 2,403 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns as a team. He also played on the defensive line, with 56 tackles and 4.5 sacks.
Mendonca was a sack machine on a fearsome Tokay defensive line, setting a school record with 10.5 sacks in 10 games. He finished with 52 tackles and 3 fumbles caused.
Stout played on both sides of the ball for the Flames, racking up 540 yards and 5 touchdowns on 53 rushes, plus 6 catches for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns on offense, while recording 76 tackles, a sack and 3 interceptions on defense.
The rest of the league's special were MVP Camron Ross (Tracy quarterback), offensive player of the year Kenyon Nelson (Lincoln quarterback), defensive player of the year Omari Gayles (St. Mary's defensive back), kicker of the year Matthew Kain (St. Mary's), and coach of the year Jeff Pribble (Tracy).
On the first-team offense, Tokay quarterback Zack Filippini shared the QB spot with St. Mary's signal-caller Samson Hunkin. Filippini completed 58% of his passes for 711 yards, 9 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, sliding over from the running back position after starting quarterback Timmy Karagounis tore his ACL. Filippini also had 111 carries for 593 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Joining him on the first team are Lodi running back Kaiden Merryman, who led the Flames with 118 carries for 1,086 yards and 15 scores.
On the first-team defense are Lodi linebacker Nico Lombardi, who led the Flames with 93 tackles and added 2 sacks and 2 interceptions, Lodi defensive lineman Dane Judson (43 tackles), and Tokay defensive back Andru Melgoza (29 tackles, 1 fumble caused).
The second team included Lodi quarterback Matthew Shinn (50% for 355 yards and 4 TDs, plus 39 carries for 250 yards and 5 TDs), Lodi receiver Luke Leggitt (6 catches for 208 yards and 3 TDs), Lodi offensive linemen Austin Bronson and Asher Schroeder, Tokay offensive linemen Juan Soria and John Dillon, Tokay linebacker Jason Evans (54 tackles, 1 sack, 2 fumbles caused), and Tokay defensive back Barrett Crosby (38 tackles, 1 interception).
Honorable mentions for Tokay were linebackers Elijah Martinez and Jacob Zentner, defensive lineman Jaxon Diede, defensive backs Jeremiah Rodriguez and Marcus Castro, and offensive lineman Matthew Gabriel-Vasquez. Honorable mentions for Lodi were defensive backs Tyler Naulkins and Jordan Diaz, linebacker Jordan Diaz, offensive lineman Matt Gobel and kicker Nick McDonald.
Cross country
Sac-Joaquin Section Championships
The Lodi High girls cross country team finished just short of qualifying for the CIF State cross country championships with a fifth-place finish in the Division II race on Saturday at Willow Hills in Folsom.
The section sends the top four teams, plus a maximum of five unattached individuals in the top 16, to the state meet. Whitney (33 points), Granite Bay (71), St. Francis (72) and Vista Del Lago (130) took those four spots, leaving Lodi (151) on the outside looking in.
Individually, Zoe Aitken led the Flames with a 19th-place finish, running the hilly 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 56.5 seconds. The last individual qualifier was River Valley's Neveah Brown in 15th at 19:41.4.
Lodi's remaining runners were Samantha Stone in 26th place (20:15.2), Laena Burke in 33rd (20:34.1), Keeli Reinken in 34th (20:36.5), Estrella Lopez Zavala in 53rd (21:31.4), and Sienna Aitken in 67th (22:11.6).
In Division 4 boys, Galt's Kitto Gonzalez was the only local runner to qualify for the state meet, placing fourth at 16:58.8. Liberty Ranch's Kyle Oltmanns placed 15th at 17:30.9 to finish out of the running for the state meet.
In the Division 2 boys race, Tokay's Joshua Young placed 20th at 17:15.4, and Lodi's Charles Starr placed 40th at 17:45.0.
In the Division 4 girls race, Galt finished toward the back of the team standings, with runners Cheyenne Ullrich in 23rd at 21:59.2, Emilyann Sheldon in 27th at 22:15.6, Catalina Mejia Beas in 57th at 24:09.5, Nora Werdon in 66th at 25:59.1, Ysabella Sosoa in 68th at 26:12.5, Gloria Arana in 69th at 26:20.6, and Adamary Herrera in 72nd at 26:44.8. Liberty Ranch's Steevie Ruiz was 38th at 22:42.6.
