Beam Tapped To Coach Lions Football All-Stars
Summary of the Escalon Times story on Andrew Beam being named head coach of the North team for the 50th annual Lions All-Star Football Game.
The 50th Annual Lions All-Star Football Game was still months away when Escalon High School head varsity football coach Andrew Beam was named to the coaching roster. Beam will lead the North team in the June showcase.
The 2026 contest is scheduled for Saturday, June 20, at Tracy High School. For the first time, a girls flag football all-star game will also be played before the boys game.
Beam Leads The North
Beam, who also serves as Escalon High School's Athletic Director, has been the Cougars' head coach since 2019. He took over for retired Escalon coach Mark Loureiro, who was then the winningest coach in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section history and remains No. 2 behind Modesto Central Catholic's Roger Canepa.
Beam's first non-COVID Escalon teams went 14-1, 12-2, 13-3, and 12-2. His teams from the past two seasons also reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 playoffs.
Coaches Named For 2026
- Andrew Beam (Escalon): North Football
- Frank Marques (Hilmar): South Football
- David Rios Jr. (Kimball, Tracy): North Flag Football
- Nathan Ramirez & Capri Abbasi (Atwater): South Flag Football
The story noted that Frank Marques accepted the South coaching role after retiring from Hilmar at the end of the 2025 season. Marques finished with 199 wins, four Sac-Joaquin Section titles, and one CIF state title.
Game Context
Officials said recent Lions games have shown how exciting the series can be. The South won two years ago, 18-15, on a touchdown with four seconds left. Last year, the North held off the South 42-37 in another back-and-forth finish.
The game will be played at Tracy High's Wayne Schneider Stadium. Wayne Schneider, one of the founders of the game and a longtime Tracy head coach, remains part of the committee that helps put on the event each year.
ALL RISE Foundation Support
For the first time in many years, the Lions All-Star Football Game has a presenting sponsor: the ALL RISE Foundation, funded by New York Yankees star and Linden High graduate Aaron Judge. The foundation's donation will help pay for jerseys for all boys and girls players in this year's games.
Rosters had not yet been selected at the time of the story. The plan was to have the North and South teams selected by Feb. 18, 2026.
The Lions All-Star Football Game matches top graduated high school football players primarily from the Stockton area against those primarily from the Modesto area. Recent venues have included Lincoln High in Stockton, Tracy, Modesto Junior College, and University of the Pacific's Memorial Stadium.
Adapted for the Lions All-Star Football website from an Escalon Times story, published Jan. 28, 2026.