“I wanted to give them the same experience that I got as a child,” Kami Nevis said.
That means the full menu of vegetarian food, the rows and rows of community tables set up between RVs and near tents, the team banners flying in the evening breeze.
“It’s everything,” she said. “It’s the food and being on the sidelines and cheering the kids on. These people have become my family.”
That is no exaggeration.
Sandy Nevis went to Lodi Academy. So did her three kids, including Kami’s husband Tim. Sandy’s nine grandkids are Titans, too.
And to support all of them, Sandy and the rest of the family loads up and makes a weekend of the “Rio” tournament.
By Saturday night, the Lodi crew could reach about 80 people, said girls’ coach Lance Lemus.
“Every year,” he said, of the tradition. “The kids, and their parents, wouldn’t let us not come.”
For Hardesty, who also serves as tournament director, the controlled chaos is real.
He’s had to manage tournament structure over the years to handle the popularity and unique scheduling demands.
Years ago, so vaunted were the late Saturday night game slots, what with the bright lights and festive atmosphere, that Hardesty was getting wind of teams actually losing early games in order to get a more prime kickoff time.
“I changed it away from the championship format,” he said.
Now, the schedule is set beforehand and game times are not predicated on an opening round win or loss.
No champions are crowned at the close of the tournament, but certainly the athletes know which teams win and by how much.
“Everyone gets to play the same amount of games which is really cool,” Lodi’s Johnson said. “You have multiple teams that can say ‘Oh we went undefeated at Rio,’ which I think is really cool.”
On Thursday night, in what Hardesty called a “soft opening,” two games were held.
In the first game, the host school defeated visiting Spring Valley Academy of Ohio 27-16.
It had most of the elements of Friday Night Lights — on a Thursday.
There were careless penalties. There were muffed passes. There was a safety.
But there were also interceptions, streaking breaks for the end zone and parents parked in sunken beach chairs lining the sidelines recording the moment with their phones.
Hardesty took time before the launch of the tournament to reflect on the growth of flag football, especially for girls, and what it might mean for the future of this at once tiny, but also gigantic tournament.
The California Interscholastic Federation added girls’ flag football to the lineup of sports offerings this school year.
Locally, Analy, Rancho Cotate, Casa Grande and Petaluma high schools are all fielding teams.
That growth may mean more local teams for Rio Lindo to play, it may mean a larger pool to pull into tournament play.
But that would mean rule changes and schedule adjustments and all the rest. Hardesty is keeping a keen watch on it all.
But in the meantime, he’s overseeing the “controlled mayhem” that unfolds the second weekend in October every year.
It’s Friday Night Lights after Sabbath on a Saturday and everybody is welcome.
You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.
