18 local athletes make college commitments
Highly-touted seniors Isiah Foskey (left) and Henry To’oto’o made their choice of college known live on ESPN last week on National Letter of Intent day. The Spartan standouts over the past three years racked up a room full of awards and helped their team to State Open Division finals every year, finishing fourth in national rankings last fall. Foskey is going to play next fall at Notre Dame while To’oto’o surprised the recruiting world by picking Tennessee over Alabama and Washington in front of a jam-packed DLS gymnasium.
To’oto’o seemed headed to Alabama until former DLS star Tosh Lupoi stepped down as the Tide’s defensive coordinator after the National Championship game to join the Cleveland Browns staff.
“Tosh was everything to me. He was a De La Salle brother, basically. Me going there under his wings, him being defensive coordinator, would have been perfect. But going down to Tennessee now, it’s a new journey, start something new for my family and everyone else here in California.” At Tennessee he’ll be with another great former Spartan. Kevin Simon is on the Vols’ football staff.
Nine other DLS seniors, including six more football players, also committee last week. The Spartan signees were, seated, Jhasi Wilson (football Northern Arizona University); standing from left, Jack Napper (lacrosse Kenyon College), Justin Barton (lacrosse Roanoke College), Shea Grosz (water polo Occidental College), Christopher Abbes (football UC Berkeley), Clayton Ingram (football Northern Arizona University), Gunnar Rask (football UC Berkeley), Amir Wallace (football University of San Diego) and Zamir Wallace (football University of San Diego).
CVCHS lucky seven: Clayton Valley Charter had seven seniors make their college commitments last week. The Ugly Eagles signing NLI were, from left, Justin Wolfe (soccer San Francisco State), Cameron Reynolds (track and field UCLA), Daylon Hicks (track and field Washington State), Kaylie Hartuickson-Krupa (rugby Central Washington), Mackenzie Tobin (soccer Westmont College), Cade Carter (football Air Force Academy) and Dusty Mitchell (football UCLA).
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.