Lions All-Star Football head coaches Frank Marques of the South (Hilmar) & Andrew Beam of the North (Escalon) have experience going against each other in the Trans Valley League. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
Coaches are announced for this summer’s game in Tracy, which will be the 50th annual, and for the first time will include a girls flag all-star contest as part of it. ALLRISE Foundation also is coming on board as presenting sponsor.
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If the 50th annual Central California Lions All-Star Football Game is anything like the last two in the series, the excitement meter could be off the charts.
The South team won in the annual all-star game two years ago, 18-15, on a touchdown with four seconds left. Last year, a back-and-forth contest was won by the North, 42-37, which held off the South with the help of a controversial fourth down play that could have been called an illegal fake punt.
This year’s game, which will be the 50th annual of the series, will be played on Saturday, June 20 at Tracy High’s Wayne Schneider Stadium.
Schneider, one of the founders of the game and longtime head coach at Tracy who retired in 1994, still serves on the committee that puts on the game each year.
“No, not many things last 50 years,” Schneider said on Wednesday before the monthly Lions All-Star Football committee meeting. “It’s been such good support from the Lions and from schools in the area. We’ve struggled a little bit, but have kept to it.”
And in keeping with the theme of looking at the past while looking ahead, for the first time, there is going to be a girls flag football all-star game representing players from the same schools as in the north and south for the boys.
Coaches have been named for all four teams that will be playing in this year’s two games.
Andrew Beam (Escalon) – North Football
The Modesto Bee’s Coach of the Year after the 2023 season has been the head coach at his alma mater since 2019 when he took over for the retired Mark Loureiro, who at the time was the winningest head coach in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section history and is still No. 2 behind Modesto Central Catholic’s Roger Canepa, who was a coach in the Lions’ game two years ago. Beam’s first five teams (non-COVID) at Escalon went 14-1, 12-2, 13-3 and 12-2. His teams the past two seasons were not as successful but were in the SJS D4 playoffs.
“Coach Lou always said this game was something that he’s always remembered,” Beam said. “I still remember the crushing feeling of losing in this game (as a player). I’m happy that it’s still going after all these years.”
Frank Marques (Hilmar) – South Football
The acceptance by Marques to coach the South squad this year is reminiscent of the 2023 contest that was led by retiring Oakdale head coach Trent Merzon. Marques retired at the end of the 2025 season at Hilmar after a 23-year run as head coach. His work at the school with a final career record of 199 wins, four SJS titles and one CIF state title was more than just those totals and the Lions All-Star Football Game is honored he’s agreed to coach in the game once again.
“I played in the ninth game and it’s always been a passion of mine,” said Marques, who last served as South head coach in 2018. “It was such a big deal in the 70s and 80s and it’s always been a premier event. I’m really honored they asked me to do this for the 50th game.”
The first ever girls flag football head coaches for the Lions All-Star Football Classic this summer will be David Rios Jr. from Kimball of Tracy (center) who is flanked by the co-head coaches from Atwater, Nathan Ramirez & Capri Abbasi. Photo: Mark Tennis.
David Rios Jr. (Kimball, Tracy) – North Flag
After leading the Jaguars to a 10-0 record in the Tri-City Athletic League and to a second seed in the SJS D2 playoffs, Rios Jr. will be the first-ever North head coach in the Lions’ all-star game for girls. Although the team was upset in the first round of the playoffs, it still posted a 24-3 overall record.
“I think this is just a tremendous honor to be the coach in this game, especially for the first one,” said Rios Jr., who has been a girls soccer coach at Kimball for 10 years and completed his first season as head coach in flag football. “I’m excited to be a part of it with all of the girls, hopefully leading the North to its first ‘W.’”
Nathan Ramirez & Capri Abbasi (Atwater) – South Flag
The first-ever South all-stars will have co-coaches because that is what the team at Atwater had last season, which went to the SJS D2 semifinals and arguably was the second best team in the division behind league rival Merced, which won the title game 33-6 over Ponderosa of Shingle Springs after just getting past the Falcons in the semifinals, 13-7. Atwater also won in its quarterfinal game, 54-12, over Rocklin. Ramirez and Abbasi both have some experience with 11-man football as Ramirez has been coaching 15 years while Abbasi is married to Modesto Junior College defensive coordinator Eddie Abbasi.
“It’s definitely an honor and a privilege to be the first South coaches in this game,” said Ramirez.
“At the very first tryout at Atwater we had just five girls show up and it was very bleak,” said Abbasi. “To get where we are now is amazing.”
BIG NEWS:
ALL RISE FOUNDATION TO SERVE AS PRESENTING SPONSOR
For the first time in many years, the Lions All-Star Football Game has a presenting sponsor and it will be the ALLRISE Foundation, which is the charity funded by New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge. The Linden High grad was once selected to participate in the Lions game after his senior season, but respectfully declined to play via letter as he was getting ready to start playing collegiate baseball at Fresno State. Judge is still regarded as one of the best multi-sport high school athletes (football, basketball, baseball) in SJS history.
The Lions All-Star Football Committee is extremely grateful for this help. Specifically, the donation will go toward paying for all of the jerseys for all players (boys & girls) in this year’s all-star games.
Banquet: April 18 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
in Modesto (Father O’Hare Hall)
More details are still to come but this year’s all-star football banquet will be held on Saturday, April 18 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (Father O’Hare Hall) in Modesto. There will be a guest speaker and all players will have photos taken.
North & South Team Rosters
Those are not yet available. The plan is to have the teams selected by February 18, 2026. The coaches and the two team coordinators are the ones who primarily do the selections.
More History
The event matches top graduated high school football players primarily from the Stockton area against those primarily from the Modesto area. It is going into its fifth year after it was not held for three years due to the COVID pandemic. It has been played at Lincoln High in Stockton (2019), Tracy (2013-2018 & 2023-25), Modesto Junior College (2012) and at University of the Pacific’s Memorial Stadium.
The North team’s win last June broke a stretch of the South team having won in five of the six previous games. The North now has a 27-19-2 edge in the series.
Game Ticket Info
This year’s game will feature tickets that can be purchased through GoFan.com. Tickets are $15. Presale game tickets and t-shirts also will be available at the banquet.
Sadly, a Final Note
We would be remiss in not mentioning the recent tragic passing of longtime SJS southern region prep sportswriter/editor Richard T. Estrada. Mr. Estrada was just 63 years old when he died on Dec. 28 in Oakdale. He was the founder and editor of the Black Hat Football social media page and platform and selected the 14th annual All-Black Hat football teams (which comprises both north and south regions of the Lions game) the night before he suffered a heart attack. He had been a longtime high school writer with the Modesto Bee before that. We pass along our most sincere condolences to Rich’s family.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle.
