It’s HOT, but the prep football season begins on Friday, and this young Rio Linda Knights Football Club are looking to make trouble for the other teams in the Golden Empire League.
Don’t let the purgatorial temperatures fool you. It’s mid-August, Twin Rivers kids are back in school tomorrow, and another season of prep football begins on Friday.
Our Rio Linda Knights Football Club, led by second-year Head Coach Jeff Freeman, will open the season on the road at Center High School where the temperature is forecast to be 102 degrees around game time.
The 2022 schedule isn’t going to be kind to the Knights. Migration from the Foothill Valley League to the Golden Empire League brings a whole host of fresh challenges, including three league teams ranked in the SacBee top 25.
The GEL teams are:
- Casa Roble
- Dixon
- Mesa Verde
- Pioneer
- Woodland
- Rio Linda
Last season, Casa Roble went 7-5 and is ranked #21 going into this season. Likewise, Dixon was 7-4 and is just behind, ranked at #22. Pioneer of Woodland had an impressive 8-2 season and is SacBee’s #25. Woodland had a 9-3 season last year, playing two weeks into the playoffs before being eliminated by Escalon. They are bubbling just underneath the top 25.
Beginning the season in non-league action, the Knights will face Center to open and will follow that up on the road versus Kennedy in week two.
Week three finds the Knights at home for a two-game homestand, welcoming Cordova and Foothill into Marion Adams Memorial Stadium.
Week five, the last week of non-league play, hands the Knights perhaps their stiffest challenge of the season when they go on the road traveling to Auburn to face the #12 ranked Placer Hillmen. This begins a three-game stretch of ranked teams that will be a real challenge for this ball club, as they face Placer, Dixon, and Casa Roble, all ranked teams, all on the road.
Coach Freeman says that “That will be a very tough stretch” but it’s nothing but opportunities for his squad.
The Knights will finish up the season with a three-game homestand versus Mesa Verde (Homecoming), Woodland and Pioneer.
I asked Coach Freeman what he’s hoping to see this season:
We’re looking forward to seeing all the hard work during the off-season pay off. Several players on Varsity and JV have been putting in work on and off the field since December. We are looking forward to a big year from Anthony Grahn, Malik Lugar, Arturo Zacarias, Marques Martin, and Domislo Jackson.
Rio Linda Knights Head Coach Jeff Freeman
The Knights travel to Center High School on Friday to take on the Center High School Cougars. Game time at Gerety Stadium is 5pm for JV, 7pm for Varsity.
(With this heat, game times MAY be shifted back an hour. We will be sure to update if that happens.)
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