For San Mateo County prep football followers, this Friday night's non-league meeting at Levi Stadium between Menlo-Atherton and Serra has been a very long time in coming. Over the last several years, the county's two best football programs have scrimmaged but this game will be the first time the schools have ever met during the regular season. What's more, they are the first two teams to win CIF titles since San Mateo HS in 1926, Serra in 2017 and M-A in 2018 (both were equity-based bowl games _ San Mateo's crown was won as part of a true state playoff system which is long-gone). And there's more. The Bears' Troy Franklin, a multi-talented WR, may well be the best county athlete at the position since Serra's Lynn Swann 50 years ago. The comparisons are interesting. Swann was much more than a WR; he also returned kicks, played some free safety on occasion and, in 1969, played QB (and kicked extra points) for a 9-1 Serra team that won a WCAL title. Franklin also returns kicks and, once in awhile, plays QB in the Wildcat formation. He can play free safety as well. Like Swann a half-century ago, Franklin is worth the price of admission.
A footnote: Woodside's Julian Edelman, the MVP of the 2019 Super Bowl playing for the Patriots as a WR and kick returner, was a prep and college QB.
A footnote: Woodside's Julian Edelman, the MVP of the 2019 Super Bowl playing for the Patriots as a WR and kick returner, was a prep and college QB.
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