Lions All-Star Football Game 2026 Press Release - Presented by All-Rise Foundation

For immediate release - April 11, 2026

Contacts: Mark Tennis 209-608-1317 (general, history) or Don Norton 209-612-2715 (North) or Conrad Renteria 209-277-1612 (South)

Head coaches Andrew Beam of Escalon and Frank Marques of Hilmar will be introducing some of their football players next Saturday night during the annual Central California Lions All-Star Football Game banquet at Father O'Hare Hall, which is located at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto.

Beam is leading the North team for this year's game while Marques is leading the South as activities are gearing up for the 50th anniversary of the local Lions all-star game.

And for the first time, top girls flag football players from the same Lions Football All-Star District will be part of the evening. North players will be introduced by head coach David Rios from Kimball of Tracy while South players will be introduced by co-coaches Nathan Ramirez and Capri Abbasi of Atwater.

This year's games will be played on Saturday, June 20, beginning at 5 pm for girls flag with boys tackle following at 7 pm at Tracy High School's Wayne Schneider Stadium.

The event, which matches top graduated high school football players primarily from the Stockton area against those primarily from the Modesto area, is going into its fourth year after it was not held for three years due to the COVID pandemic. It has been played at Lincoln High in Stockton (2019), Tracy (2013-2018 & 2023-25), Modesto Junior College (2012) and at University of the Pacific's Memorial Stadium.

The North team was victorious in last year's game, 42-37, but there was controversy at the end as the South was not able to get the ball back for a possible late go-ahead score on what some felt should have been an illegal fake punt. The North QB, Sierra of Manteca grad Zak Willson, was the game's MVP with three TD passes plus one TD run. M.J. Uili of Modesto High, who had a game-high 13 tackles for the South, was named Defensive MVP. The North won after falling in five of the previous six all-star games and took a 27-19-2 edge in the series.

Beam, the Modesto Bee's Coach of the Year after the 2023 season, has been the head coach at his alma mater since 2019 when he took over for the retired Mark Loureiro, who at the time was the winningest head coach in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section history and is still No. 2 behind Modesto Central Catholic's Roger Canepa, who was a coach in the Lions' game two years ago. Beam's first five teams (non-COVID) at Escalon went 14-1, 12-2, 13-3 and 12-2. His teams the past two seasons were not as successful but were in the SJS D4 playoffs.

Marques retired at the end of the 2025 season at Hilmar after a 23-year run as head coach. His work at the school with a final career record of 199 wins, four SJS titles and one CIF state title was more than just those totals and the Lions All-Star Football Game is honored he's agreed to coach in the game once again.

Rios Jr., who has been a girls soccer coach at Kimball for four years and completed his second season as head coach in flag football, led the Jaguars to a 10-0 record in the Tri-City Athletic League and to a second seed in the SJS D2 playoffs. Although the team was upset in the first round of the playoffs, it still posted a 24-3 overall record.

Ramirez & Abbasi had a team at Atwater last season that went to the SJS D2 semifinals and arguably was the second best team in the division behind league rival Merced, which won the title game 33-6 over Ponderosa of Shingle Springs after just getting past the Falcons in the semifinals, 13-7. Ramirez and Abbasi both have some experience with 11-man football as Ramirez has been coaching 15 years while Abbasi is married to Modesto Junior College defensive coordinator Eddie Abbasi.

Banquet Guest Speaker: George Visger (Stagg grad & author)

The Lions All-Star Football Committee is humbled and honored that former NFL player, and member of the San Francisco 49ers' first Super Bowl winning team, George Visger, will be at the banquet to speak to this year's all-star players and coaches. George also played at Stagg High in Stockton on its undefeated state-ranked 1975 team, the University of Colorado and for the New York Jets. He also has become very important in the world of traumatic brain injuries and has survived several brain surgeries. George is going to be signing copies of his 2025 book, Facing Giants: My 38-Year Battle as another highlight to this year's banquet.

BIG NEWS: ALL RISE FOUNDATION TO SERVE AS PRESENTING SPONSOR

For the first time in many years, the Lions All-Star Football Game has a presenting sponsor and it will be the ALLRISE Foundation, which is the charity funded by New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge. The Linden High grad was once selected to participate in the Lions game after his senior season, but respectfully declined to play via letter as he was getting ready to start playing collegiate baseball at Fresno State. Judge is still regarded as one of the best multi-sport high school athletes (football, basketball, baseball) in SJS history.

The Lions All-Star Football Committee is extremely grateful for this help. Specifically, the donation will go toward paying for all of the jerseys for all players (boys & girls) in this year's all-star games.

Game Ticket Info

This year's game will feature tickets that can be purchased through GoFan.com. Tickets are $15. Presale game tickets for $10 and t-shirts also will be available at the banquet.

We are a non-profit game and depend on pregame publicity from the media. Thanks in advance for your understanding.

NEW Web Site Fully Loaded

For updated roster info and for a lot more history about the 50 years of the Lions Game, go to our updated, re-formatted website at lionsallstarfootball.com.