Franklin High football coach Tom Verner resigned after a recruiting scandal led to stiff sanctions against his program. (News-Sentinel file photo)

Top 10 local sports stories of 2007

1. Franklin fiasco

Nothing quite filled up message boards this year like the recruiting scandal involving Franklin High School's varsity football team.

Recruit football players from American Samoa, pay for their expenses, set them up with phony utility bills and house them with an assistant coach. In a nutshell, those were the allegations spawned from a six-month investigation by the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Section commissioner Pete Saco threw the book at Franklin for committing at least 54 infractions involving 10 student-athletes from American Samoa over the course of three years. Franklin was banned from the postseason for five seasons and forced to forfeit all of its games during the 21/2-year span of violations.

In addition, three players from the 2007 team were ruled ineligible for the remainder of their senior seasons, but coach Tom Verner played them anyway, saying he'd been given the OK by the Stockton Unified School District.

The Sac-Joaquin Section Board of Managers responded by shutting down the football program for the remainder of the season as well as the following two seasons. The board also suspended the rest of Franklin's sports programs from postseason play for the 2007-08 school year.

After a firestorm of court hearings and lawsuits, the board's sanctions were upheld against Franklin. Verner then resigned as coach and Joe Martin, SUSD's administrator of athletics, was placed on paid leave pending investigation by legal counsel. SUSD trustee Anthony Silva has since said he doesn't think Martin should return.

No action was taken against SUSD Superintendent Jack McLaughlin, who continued to publicly support the football program in light of the overwhelming allegations.

Earlier this month, the section lifted the playoff ban against Franklin's winter and spring sports programs after the Stockton school had shown progress in ensuring the eligibility of its student-athletes. If Franklin continues to comply with the section's requests, Saco said, football could return to the school as soon as next season.

2. Seeley's Rise

D.J. Seeley has come a long way from the quiet sophomore who was once just a piece of the puzzle in Tokay High's run to a Sac-Joaquin Section boys basketball title in 2006.

With the graduation of fellow starters Julius Thomas, Jordan Lawley, Mike Caffese and Nick Rhodes, Seeley was poised to become the centerpiece of Tokay's 2006-07 edition — and boy, was he ever. The 6-4 guard averaged 25 points per game and had plenty of highlights, including going on his own 16-2 run in the span of three minutes to lead Tokay past West in a career-high 34-point performance.

Seeley's sparkling season wasn't enough to lead Tokay to the playoffs, though, and after the season the junior transferred to Modesto Christian, a small private school powerhouse known for its basketball. The move raised eyebrows because of a suspicion of undue influence, but the transfer ended up only costing Seeley one month of playing eligibility.

The senior made his MC debut on Wednesday, scoring 19 points in a 98-63 win over Van Nuys. The Modesto Christian gym was reportedly packed, with many fans in attendance to watch Seeley, a four-star college recruit who verbally committed to the University of California in May.

3. Mauia drafted by the Dolphins

Reagan Mauia's life changed forever when he was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the sixth round of April's NFL Draft. The fullback, a former Tokay High and University of Hawaii standout, was the first local player drafted since Lodi High's Greg Bishop in 1993 by the New York Giants.

Mauia was greeted with a whirlwind welcome to the NFL, quickly becoming a fan favorite for a YouTube clip in which he runs through a wall, and he was later profiled in Sports Illustrated.

As for his rookie season, Mauia has started every game for the Dolphins despite breaking his hand during the preseason. And after Miami's recent win against the Baltimore Ravens, he won't be part of the first 0-16 team in NFL history.

4. Nikzat leaps to section title

Ray Nikzat took Lodi High track and field by storm this year with his giant jumps.

The 6-foot high jumper could certainly leap higher than his height, breaking Steve Coldani's 1972 school record of 6 feet, 5 3/4 inches at an invitational meet with a jump of 6-7.

But Nikzat was just getting warmed up. The junior broke his own record with a leap of 6-8 to place first at the Meet of Champions in Sacramento. He matched the jump again to win subsections before doing the same at the section meet to capture the Sac-Joaquin Section title.

At the state championships, Nikzat could only muster a leap of 6-4, good for ninth place, but he'll have another chance this year.

5. Rosty resigns

What a run it was for Don Rostomily.

Rosty, as he's known by his players, has been synonymous with Lodi High athletics since he was a baseball player there. This year, after 31 seasons as head coach of the varsity baseball and boys soccer programs, Rosty hung up his whistle.

"I never really had aspirations to go to a higher level (of coaching)," Rostomily said. "I never thought I would coach this long."

Don't worry, though. Rosty isn't going anywhere. He's still teaching at Lodi and can be seen working the chain gang or shot clock at home sporting events.

6. Fight TV

The Lodi area was well-represented in the field of mixed martial arts this past year. Two local products made names for themselves when they landed on reality television shows, helping further their fighting careers.

Morada's Nathan Diaz stepped out of the shadow of his older brother Nick, a well-known UFC fighter, when he signed on to be part of SpikeTV's "Ultimate Fighter 5," which pit 16 fighters against each other as they battled it out for the grand prize: a three-year, six-figure contract with UFC. Diaz won three fights before defeating Manny Gamburyan on live television in the finals to win his first UFC contract.

Lodi's Jennifer Tate, an amateur boxer and MMA fighter, earned a spot on the Oxygen Network show "Fight Girls 2," which put Tate in a Las Vegas house with nine other female fighters all vying for a chance to fight in Thailand. Tate lost her only fight on the show and didn't end up going to Thailand, but she did attain her professional fighting license and signed a three-fight contract with Showtime soon after.

7. Franklin era begins

Louis Franklin appeared to be the ideal candidate to lead the Tokay High football program when he was hired back in February. And he still might be — a 1-9 record in his first season aside.

The 2000 Tokay High graduate is looking to build roots in his hometown of Lodi and lead his alma mater back to the consistent program it was during Jeff Tracy's 20-year tenure. Franklin, Tokay's all-time passing leader and a former quarterback at St. Mary's College in Moraga, has shown he has the energy and offensive pedigree to do just that after three seasons as an offensive coordinator and junior varsity coach at Weston Ranch.

But judging by his first season at Tokay, it looks like it might take awhile.

8. Three ways to state

In a year when the Tokay High wrestling team saw its seven-season run of unbeaten matches and league titles end, the Tiger program had one of its most successful seasons at an individual level.

For only the second time in coach Rod Gaines' 27-year tenure, Tokay sent three wrestlers to the CIF State Championships.

The first time was in 1998, when Saysomone Keoveunxay, Antonio Morales and Richard Mendonca reached that level.

This year, seniors Rico Altamirano (171-pound division), Thanh Truong (119) and Geoff Eckroth (215) accomplished the feat.

Altamirano was no surprise, having fallen one point short of states the year before, while Truong finally attained his goal after a four-year career at the varsity level.

As for Eckroth, he surprised himself with his run to states. "I didn't even win any tournaments (this year)," Eckroth said.

9. Flames fade

It's not how you start.

Hopes were high for Lodi High's football team when it roared out to a 6-0 start — the first in coach Todd Dillon's tenure.

But as the schedule turned over to league play, the Flames found out that getting through the San Joaquin Athletic Association wouldn't be so easy.

Blown away by superior speed, Lodi lost one-sided affairs to an up-and-coming Chavez team and the Sac-Joaquin South Section runner-up in Lincoln, quickly dashing any playoff aspirations the Flames had.

The team ended the season on a three-game losing streak with a loss to Tracy in its final game.

"This league's unreal. It's the haves and the have-nots," Dillon said of the SJAA. "Bottom line, we're seeing it. We're feeling it."

10. First time since '89

While Lodi High's girls basketball team has seen its share of success in recent years, a league championship hadn't been part of the equation since 1989.

That all changed in February, when coach Erin Aitken led the Lady Flames to their first San Joaquin Athletic Association championship in 18 years.

With section commissioner Pete Saco, who coached the '89 team, in attendance, the Flames defeated Tracy 73-42 on Feb. 13 at The Inferno to wrap up the SJAA title. Led by league MVP Allie Ehlers and first team all-leaguer Liz Armstrong, Lodi finished a perfect 10-0 in league play.