San Antonio Sports announced that Southside High School’s Ricky Lock and Johnson High School’s Mark Soto will serve as head coaches for the 2022 San Antonio Sports All-Star Football Game, presented by H-E-B. The game will showcase top local high school players following the All-American Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 in the Alamodome. Locke will coach Team Gold and Soto Team Black in the battle between the area’s top seniors.
The San Antonio Sports All-Star Football Game, presented by H-E-B, will feature players who are committed to play for some of the top universities in the country as well as players looking for an additional chance to impress college scouts with potential scholarships to offer. Sixty-three (63) who were in the 2021 All-Star Game have signed to play college football, with 25 going to NCAA DI schools, including six committing to University of the Incarnate Word and five to UTSA.
Players from Bexar and seven surrounding counties are nominated by their high school coaches and chosen by a selection committee featuring broadcasters, journalists and former coaches. The 2022 All-Star Game teams will be announced in the fall.
Ricky Lock, with 25 years of head coaching experience, has spent the last seven as athletic director and head football coach for Southside High school. Prior to Coach Lock’s tenure, Southside’s 62-year football history consisted of four playoff appearances with one district title in 1992. Since Lock’s arrival in 2014, they have won 49 games, made playoffs six times, advanced in playoffs twice (the only two playoff wins in school history), and claimed two district championships. Ricky’s overall record is 169-99 with 17 playoff appearances. He came to the Cardinals after five seasons at Gonzales where he took the Apaches to five playoff appearances. They reached the Class 3A state quarterfinals twice.
Mark Soto’s 26-year coaching career started at Poteet High School in 1995. He was also an assistant coach at Seguin, Corpus Christi Calallen, Homes and Laredo United before joining the staff at his alma mater (1991), Judson High School. He then left for his first athletic director and head football coaching job at San Marcos. Soto went 35-49 in eight seasons at San Marcos and led the Rattlers to the playoffs three straight years (2015-17). His 2017 team recorded San Marcos’ first 10-0 regular season since 2000. The Rattlers lost in the first round of the playoffs. He became Johnson High School’s head coach and athletic director in 2020, where he and his staff weathered the pandemic leading the Jaguars to the second round of the playoffs.
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