Trent Merzon: Oakdale football team will ‘move forward’ after sanctions

Trent Merzon and the Oakdale football team have accepted the sanctions handed down by the Sac-Joaquin Section for violating a CIF bylaw that prohibits full contact during the offseason.

The Mustangs will forfeit six practices before Sept. 30 after engaging in contact scrimmages at a Placer High School camp in Auburn in June. The other three camp participants – Placer, Inderkum and Sacramento – also were penalized.

“We’re not in 100 percent agreement with what transpired,” said Merzon, entering his 15th season at the helm of the Mustangs’ program. “Nevertheless, we accept the penalty, and we’ll move forward.”

State law prohibits California high school football teams from participating in full-contact drills and scrimmages during the offseason and limits the number of full-contact practices to two per week during the season.

Assembly Bill 2127 was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in July 2014, with hopes that it would curtail concussions and other head-related injuries that have gripped the game at every level.

In all, section Commissioner Michael Garrison dinged nine schools, including eight from the Sacramento region. Also punished were Del Oro, El Camino, Lincoln-Lincoln, Whitney and Woodcreek.

The penalty affects only the Mustangs’ varsity because the lower levels weren’t present at the camp featuring four of the section’s marquee medium-sized schools.

Placer and Inderkum boast Division I-caliber linemen. Placer’s Jacob Capra is bound for Oregon, while another Pacific-12 Conference program, Colorado, has expressed interest in Inderkum defensive end Josh Falo.

Merzon said the wide range of talent in the high school introduces a gray area the CIF must address if team camps continue to be a part of the summer landscape.

Simply, whose speed do teams play at?

“When we talk about the gray area and people not understanding what can and cannot transpire, it’s not necessarily the ball carrier getting taken down to the ground that got all of us in trouble,” Merzon said. “The No. 1 thing that got us in trouble was they said there wasn’t a definitive speed for the line play.

“There needs to be a definitive speed and a definitive winner on every play … in every drill. When our kids are seeing Inderkum, Placer or Sacramento, and our kids have to block kids committed to Oregon, Colorado and UCLA, what speed are they playing at, percentage-wise? What speed are their kids playing at, percentage-wise?

“The questions becomes: Can you run a team camp without having kids elevate their play?”

Garrison acknowledged there wasn’t a wanton disregard for the new policy by the offending programs, adding that the issue would be discussed in greater detail at the section’s next board meeting on Oct. 7.

Until then, Oakdale will take its medicine. Merzon has identified six practices and will submit a plan to the section.

The Mustangs will forfeit their first three Thursday walk-throughs beginning Aug. 27, the Monday practice before its game against Menlo-Atherton on Sept. 12, as well as two days of practice during its bye the following week.

Instead of dwelling on the punishment, the Mustangs have found a silver lining in the team camp controversy.

“Knowing what we know now and losing six practices, I asked the guys, ‘Would you have rather not gone to team camp?’ Every kid loved team camp,” Merzon said. “We felt like we grew as a football team … as a family.”

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Trent Merzon: Oakdale football team will ‘move forward’ after sanctions."