COACH OF THE YEAR Steve Birch, Del Oro Birch bleeds Del Oro black and gold, so it was only fitting that he became the Golden Eagles’ first flag football coach. Birch landed at Del Oro in the mid-1990s with stints coaching JV and varsity football, baseball, and girls and boys golf. His oldest son, Andrew, was a four-sport athlete at Del Oro. His middle son, Jacob, was an impact player for the Golden Eagles’ football and basketball teams. And his daughter, Jenna, was a slick-fielding middle infielder for Del Oro and now plays softball at Sacramento State. Even his wife, Jennifer, was a Del Oro female Athlete of the Year in 1991. Brother-in-law Bill Sherman, a longtime Del Oro golf coach, joined Birch on the flag football staff this season along with girls hoops coach Jennifer Judge, offensive coordinator Daniel Thomas, QB coach Hunter Royal and assistants Bryan Boehrer, Jenise Gibson and Bill Thomas. “I’m only as good as my assistant coaches. They deserve a lot of the credit,” Birch said. “It was a phenomenal group. They’ve all got jobs to go to, so it’s hard for them to be there at 7 in the morning, but they made a point to be there every day prepared to practice.” Birch and company led Del Oro (21-2) to the top spot in The Bee’s end-of-year flag football Top 10 after upending previously unbeaten Woodcreek in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship game Nov. 4 at Cosumnes River College. Del Oro avenged an Aug. 26 loss to the Timberwolves with a 14-12 championship game victory to claim the inaugural D-I blue banner. “We started 2-2, and that was good for us,” Birch said. “I learned a ton. That first game, we had eight plays total. In the championship game, we had 39 plays.” Del Oro learned to juggle multi-sport athletes’ responsibilities throughout the season. Birch said his biggest challenge was to not limit his players from other competitions as everyone learned the ropes of a brand new sport. “We had lacrosse, basketball, softball, just tons of travel, leaving every weekend to play in tournaments,” Birch said. “We tried to be as flexible as possible and work around everyone’s schedule. The girls were busy, but they were still really into football, showing up every day prepared.”
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