Pigskin preview: Ex-Badgers named to South team

Three Badgers set to play in Chowchilla

Mike Hackworth

(Updated: Friday, June 19, 2009, 10:56 AM)

The North will battle the South in the 24th annual Rotary football game. It's size versus speed in gridiron renewal.

Where: Chowchilla High School Stadium When: June 26, 7:45 p.m.

Weather: Temperature 90°-97° F during the day; Wind is from the west 10-15 m.p.h.

Series: The South All-Stars lead in the series 14 games to 9.

Last year, the South avenged a 14-7 loss from 2007 winning 34-6 by converting five North turnovers.

Yosemite Players: Three players made the roster this year as quarterback Jesse Lownsbury, running back Jayme Lee and offensive/defensive lineman Greg Smith suit-up for one last game together. In the 2008 contest four former Badgers participated.

Tyler Rasmussen, Shane Williams, Josiah Stansbury on defense collected more than 20 tackles between them and Shawn Hackworth played both offense and defense with six tackles and three catches, including a 17-yard touchdown pass.

The Matchup: There are 48 Central Valley high schools that participate in the all-star game and that is five more than in the past.

Some of the top football stars in the Central Section will take the field at Chowchilla Stadium June 26 for the 24th annual North/South Rotary All-Star Football Game with kickoff set for 7:45 p.m.

Three athletes from the Yosemite Badgers were selected to play in the prestigious contest, with one player, Greg Smith, having played in the 2009 City/County All-Star football game.

Jesse Lownsbury was the Offensive Player of the Year for the North Sequoia League and during the 2008 season was named player of the week by Fresno television station CBS47 and ESPN/CalHi Sports in leading the Badgers to a 19th place finish in the Central Section (MaxPreps).

The southpaw quarterback rewrote the Yosemite record book last season, completing 147 of 258 passes for 2,265 yards and 26 touchdowns.

Lownsbury will be joined with former Badgers teammates, running back Jayme Lee, who carried the ball 109 times gaining 644 yards and four touchdowns for the Badgers, and offensive and defensive lineman Greg Smith who led the team in tackles with 121 (57 solo tackles, 11.0 per game), both all-NSL selections in 2008.

"I'm really stoked about playing," Lee said. "It's an honor to be selected for the game."

Lee will be attending the University of California Santa Barbara in the fall.

This year the game has expanded to include 48 schools and from those schools, 104 players have been selected to play.

The North team will be coached by Dennis Stubbs, the Los Banos High head football coach. The South will be guided by Chris Imperatrice from Liberty. The South leads the series with 13 wins.

Stubbs coached the Tigers (Central California Conference) to a 6-5 record including a playoff appearance.

Imperatrice coached the Hawks (North Sequoia League) to a 6-6 regular season record and was 1-1 in the section playoffs.

"We are fielding great teams of athletes," said Chowchilla Rotary organizer Bob Green. "Affording the fans the best game of football possible."

As in years past, Chowchilla is the dividing line for player selection, according to Green. "The North team's players come from schools north of Chowchilla, while we select the South team players from schools that are south of Chowchilla."

Green travels the Valley during the regular football season to observe all the teams and then makes his decision on the coaches.

"I'm out there every Friday," Green said in 2008. "Sometimes at more than one game, if I have to.

"I select the coaches based on how they work with their players, they don't have to be winning teams necessarily, but they have to be there for the game and the players, not themselves.

I don't like the coaches that are screaming and yelling at the players."

The players are selected from recommendations made by the participating schools' coaches.

Coaches send in the nominations for their senior players who are best qualified to play in the all-star game.

Every position has players on both teams and every school has to be represented.

Last year, the South team had four players from Yosemite High School: Shawn Hackworth, Tyler Rasmussen and Shane Williams Former Badgers running back Josiah Stansbury was added to the South roster in May.

Odds and ends

The game is a Rotary Club fundraiser and 27 clubs from the Central Valley participate in the festivities. The goal is to raise money for scholarships to anyone that meets the qualifications and receives the recommendations of the committee for the high schools.

The game has raised more than $110,000 in scholarships. The scholarship program began in the early 1990s and every year, has given around $8,000.

"Eight of the 20-40 applicants can receive $1,000," Green said. "We can count on awarding eight or more. It depends on if we make more from the previous year's game. The most we have given was when we gave 10 students $1,000 scholarships each."