MVP QB Emma Coronado from Kimball of Tracy makes moves as a runner during first ever Lions All-Star Game for girls. At right, MVP Mason Eagal from St. Mary’s of Stockton looks to pass during 50th Lions All-Star Game for boys. Photos: Isai Gutierrez.
Two players who were key players on teams that won CIF state football titles last December — Mason Eagel from St. Mary’s of Stockton and Cash Byington of Sonora — led the North team to a big win over the South in Saturday’s 50th Lions All-Star Football Game played in Tracy. There also was a girls flag contest played for the first time and the North had an even easier time of it in getting a win.
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One of the main reasons that the St. Mary’s of Stockton football team won the CIF D2-AA state title last season and one of the main reasons that the Sonora football team won the CIF D2-A state title was the versatility of its players.
In this year’s 50th Lions All-Star Football Game that took place on Saturday at Wayne Schneider Stadium in Tracy, it was graduated senior Mason Eagal of St. Mary’s and graduated senior Cash Byington of Sonora who displayed their versatility in a myriad of ways. And by the end of the night, as the North team was putting the finishing touches on a 34-14 victory, the question wasn’t whether the two would be receiving a post-game award, but which one would be offense and which one would be overall MVP.
Eagal, who is the son of St. Mary’s assistant coach Blake Eagal, was named as the Wayne Schneider Game MVP. Byington, who was the Cal-Hi Sports State Small Schools Player of the Year, was selected as the Charlie Washington Offensive MVP.
Cash Byington of Sonora scores standing up during first half of Lions All-Star Game. Photo: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.
After he had already kicked a field goal, returned a punt for more than 40 yards and had made one tackle, Eagel had to take over duties as the North quarterback after starting quarterback Brad Blankenheim from Amador of Sutter Creek suffered an apparent ankle injury. It was feared, according to head coach Andrew Beam of Escalon, that Blankenheim had a broken ankle. Byington’s injury was especially difficult to see as he had just finished a record-breaking baseball season in which he batted .549 with 61 hits and 52 runs scored. His 61 hits is the most-ever for a player in the southern part of the Sac-Joaquin Section and is top 20 in state history.
Despite not having played as a quarterback at all last season for St. Mary’s, Eagal came in and did a more than commendable job. He had TD passes to Ciah Freeman-White of Stockton Stagg and Steven Morfoot of Sonora, and ran the ball effectively when he had to. Eagal also still took snaps on defense as a safety. He also ended with a second field goal and was 4-for-4 kicking PATs.
It seemed as if the defensive additions plus the kicking plus the offense was enough to make Eagal the game’s MVP. But it’s not as if Byington wasn’t doing double-duty as well. He scored on runs of more than 20 yards each to account for the first scores of the night. He played just like he did for Sonora’s 15-0 team from last season since he also made a lot of plays on defense, including a fourth-down stop on the South’s first series of the game at the 11-yard line. Byington ended with four tackles in all.
“I can’t say enough about Mason,” Beam said. “He was running almost the entire offense and took no more than two or three snaps the entire week of practice.”
Eagal said he never expected playing offense to happen, but said he was inspired to help a team that he had only been practicing with for one week.
“There were a lot guys everywhere who produced,” he said during an interview that was interrupted briefly with a hug from St. Mary’s head coach Tony Franks and his father. “This was a great team to play with.”
Eagal’s primary sport is lacrosse and he will be leaving for Tucson, Arizona, soon for his freshman year at the University of Arizona, where he will be playing lacrosse.
With the win, the North squad extended its lead in the all-star series to 26 wins with 20 losses and two ties. It was the second straight win for the North, but the South had won five of the previous six games before that.
The South team got a spark late in the second quarter when there was a botched handoff in the North backfield and after a scramble it was Mariposa’s Laten Butler who came up with the ball and ran it back for a 20-yard touchdown. Butler also was selected as the South’s team’s most inspirational player.
“It felt pretty good to score and I was hoping it would become a turning point but it wasn’t,” Butler said. “It was nice to just be hanging out with this team even though it took about an hour and 20 minutes to get to Escalon every day for the practices.”
Patty Judge, the mother of New York Yankees’ superstar Aaron Judge of Linden, waves to crowd after getting a No. 99 jersey as thanks from the Lions All-Star Game for the support of the All-Rise Foundation. Photo: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports
The South’s Raul Diaz also gained a big honor as the Bob Mattos Defensive Game MVP. Butler was considered but didn’t get into too many other plays on defense. Diaz, playing a deep safety, showed an ability to come up and make tackles. He was charted with eight on the night.
It was a tough call for defense, and Beam suggested afterward that one of his team’s defensive linemen or linebackers, who were often taking on double-teams, perhaps should have been considered. The North team’s tackle chart was very balanced and there also were no sacks, but there was a forced fumble from Sonora’s Morfoot (who also had the touchdown catch on offense) with a recovered fumble by Michael Gonzales of Stagg.
“We couldn’t do anything on offense all week against our defensive line and linebackers,” Beam said. “Our coaches were saying that the defense was whipping our butts. Tonight proved it. They were the difference.”
Presentations were made at halftime commemorating the 50th year of the game, including a jersey with the number 99 on it that was given to Patty Judge of the All-Rise Foundation and who is the mother of New York Yankees’ home run king Aaron Judge. She arrived early to see much of the girls game and stayed long after halftime. Wayne Schneider, the legendary former head coach at Tracy, had the game dedicated in his honor for all of the work he’s done on the game since the first one in 1974.
Ella Choen from Bear Creek of Stockton had some impressive gains on running plays in the second half for the North team. Photo: Isai Gutierrez.
TO SEE REPLAY OF GAME ON NFHS NETWORK, CLICK HERE.
The first-ever girls flag all-star game had a similar situation to the tackle contest that would follow in that there was an injury to a quarterback.
While the North team appeared to have an advantage with one of the state leaders in TD passes, Emma Coronado from Kimball of Tracy, paired with her head coach, David Rios Jr., the South team didn’t have either of the quarterbacks from Merced or Atwater. Those were both teams that had outstanding seasons last fall. The South, however, still had Audrey Pacheco from Gregori of Modesto.
Not long into the game, however, Pacheco bumped heads with a teammate on a handoff and while she didn’t seem seriously injured she did not return. Coronado and the North team already were ahead 6-0 at that point and by the time the South scored with second QB Olivia Costa of Livingston it was already 24-0. The North went on to roll to a 44-6 triumph.
Coronado, who was named the first Elizabeth Gibbs MVP Award winner, ended the night with four touchdown passes and one rushing score. She displayed quick feet in the pocket to avoid any pressure and ended 13 of 20 for 248 yards.
“This meant everything to all of us,” Coronado said after the game. “It was a funny experience to be playing with girls who were our rivals before. But at the end of the day, it was all love between us.”
Serafina Hunkin from St. Mary’s of Stockton, who is the younger sister of Samson Hunkin of St. Mary’s, the offensive MVP of the Lions Game on the boys side two years ago, was voted as this game’s Norma and Francis Bognuda Defensive MVP Award winner. She helped cap the game with an interception return TD, had at least four flag pulls at the line of scrimmage and she caught a TD pass playing offense.
Other honors went to Tracy’s Izzy Gutierrez of the North, who took home the Jane Williford Offensive MVP Award, Manteca’s Kiera McCulley, who was the North team’s Most Inspirational Player, and Ivy Butler from Pitman of Turlock, who was the South team’s Most Inspirational Player.
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