photo by Charlie McDonald (charlie.mcdonald@surewestsports.com)
by Mike Finnerty (mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com)
After a week of waiting, Del Oro head football coach Casey Taylor received the official call on Sunday informing Taylor that his Golden Eagles have been selected to play in Saturday's Division II CIF State Bowl game.
Del Oro will take on Helix of La Mesa (San Diego) at 4:00pm at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
"It was a long week, but it was great to finally get the official word," said Taylor. "We can't wait for the opportunity to play for a State Championship."
With Del Oro's selection, this now makes it four straight years that a Sacramento area team has been invited to play in a State Bowl championship, starting first with the Grant Pacers in 2008 when their win over Long Beach Poly in the Open Division game.
Rocklin followed in 2009 with an impressive showing in the Division II game against Servite of Anaheim where Servite beat Rocklin on a last second field goal.
Last year, Folsom rolled Serra of Gardena to capture the Division II State Championship.
"We are excited and honored to represent our school, community, league and section," said Taylor. "We have a great group of guys that have worked really hard on and off the field and they truly deserve this opportunity."
Many teams were considered for a State Bowl invitation, including Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champion Vacaville, as well as Division I champion Granite Bay.
In the end, Del Oro likely got the nod due to an impressive 13-1 record with the lone blemish coming on an overtime loss to Westlake of Southern California. Westlake will compete in the Open Division game against De La Salle of Concord.
Said Taylor, "We felt we should be selected on our body of work this season. We played a tough preseason, won the toughest league in NorCal (SFL), and won a section title. We have been ranked No. 1 all season and we answered the bell every week this season."
Del Oro is as good on offense as they are on defense.
Starting with the offense, it's a group that looks to establish the running game behind a backfield nicknamed "Thunder & Lightning". Junior running back Brandon Monroe led the team in rushing with 1,605 yards and 22 touchdowns and is the "Lightning" of the pair.
O'Sullivan, a senior, is considered the "Thunder" part of the tandem rushing for 1,342 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Senior quarterback Bobby Heatherington has only one loss in his entire four years at Del Oro, and you'll be hard pressed to find a better offensive line, a group that consists of Zach Heath, Logan Lamb, Kevin Love, Dalton Hudec, and Ashwin Cardenas.
On defense, and coached by long time coordinator Steve Birch, Del Oro is led by guys like Alex Bertrando, Tanner Huber, Blake Covey, Austin Soldano, O'Sullivan, Monroe, and Dudec.
Del Oro will be taking on a team in Helix that has size, speed, and depth, but Taylor's group will be ready.
"We will prepare hard this week and hopefully we can put together our best performance of the season," said Taylor.