PREP FOOTBALL: The sons also rise: Stills, Seale can accomplish something even their famous fathers didn't

By JOHN MAFFEI - Staff Writer | Friday, December 12, 2008 8:09 PM PST ∞

Kenny Stills is a star wide receiver for La Costa Canyon High and his father, Ken, played in the NFL. (Photo by John Koster - For The North County Times)

Escondido High's Ricky Seale is a star running back for the Cougars and his father, Sammy, played with in the NFL, too. (Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff photographer)

The sons have the opportunity to do something their famous fathers never did.

Ken Stills and Sammy Seale both played college football. Stills went on to play for six years in the NFL with the Packers and Vikings. Seale played 10 years of pro ball with the Raiders, Chargers and Rams.

Neither, however, won a championship in high school.

On Friday night, their sons ---- wide receiver Kenny Stills of La Costa Canyon High and running back Ricky Seale of Escondido, both juniors ---- will get that chance when the top-seeded Mavericks (10-2) and second-seeded Cougars (10-2) meet at 8 p.m. at Qualcomm Stadium for the CIF San Diego Section Division I title.

"This is a big deal for us," Kenny Stills said of La Costa Canyon's first trip to the finals. "I asked my dad if he had played for a championship in high school. After all he has done in football, when he said 'no,' I realized just how special this is."

Ken Stills played at El Camino before starring at Wisconsin and later in the NFL. Sammy Seale played at Orange High in New Jersey. He went on to star at Western State College in Colorado before playing for a decade in the NFL.

Both Seale and Stills were defensive backs. Both are still involved in football. Stills coached in the Arena Football League and NFL Europe, and he's currently helping at LCC. Seale has been a West Coast scout for the Green Bay Packers for more than a decade.

"My high school team got to the semifinals in 1979 and lost to a team ---- Madison ---- that had won something like 40 straight," Seale said. "So to see Ricky in the final ---- and Kenny, too ---- is exciting."

Ken and Sammy Seale played in the NFL in the same era ---- 1985-1990. Kenny and Ricky Seale have played against each other since their Pop Warner days ---- Kenny in Oceanside and Ricky in Rancho Bernardo.

"My dad wouldn't let me play until I was 10," said Ricky Seale, who has 2,447 yards rushing and 29 touchdowns this season. "And when I started, I was too heavy, so I was a defensive lineman, linebacker.

"Pop Warner was fun. It seemed like every year Rancho Bernardo played Oceanside for the championship and a trip to Florida."

Both teams earned trips to Florida when Kenny, then a quarterback, and Ricky were young. And both families moved before Kenny and Ricky started high school ---- the Stillses from Oceanside to Carlsbad, the Seales from RB to Escondido.

Neither father, however, pushed his son to become an athlete, though both were eager to play. Ken Stills remembers Kenny crawling around in the Packers' locker room. Sammy Seale said Ricky has grown up around professional athletes like Dokie Williams, Vencie Glenn, Leslie O'Neal, Reggie Cobb, Alonzo Highsmith, Gill Byrd and Shawn Jones.

"Ricky has heard all the stories," Sammy Seale said. "More importantly, he has a wealth of people to lean on if he has a question. I try to stay in the background. Certainly, we talk. We watch film together. We talk about how to attack defenses.

"But I don't want to be 'one of those fathers.' I believe a player should listen to his coaches and do what he's told. The coach does what he believes is best for the team, not for any one person. You win or lose as a team.

"That's old school, I know. But that's what I believe."

Kenny Stills and Ricky Seale were too young to see their fathers play. But the NFL Network has brought the past to life for both families. Vintage Raiders games against the Houston Oilers and Seattle Seahawks have been on TV recently.

"Ricky was about nine months old when I was at the end of my career," Sammy Seale said. "But we got to watch Bo Jackson run over Brian Bosworth on film not long ago."

The 1985 Bears-Packers game was on the NFL Network last week.

"And I called Kenny right away to check it out," Ken Stills said. "He missed it, but it'll come on again. I think he knows what I did as a player. We watch film together, throw out all the coaching lingo.

"I always ask him what he sees, what he thinks. He's always learning something."

Kenny Stills and Ricky Seale have learned their lessons well ---- on and off the field. Both are blue-chip college recruits. Both have done the work in the classroom, too. Their grades, core classes and test scores are all in order.

Stills, who has 60 receptions for 1,170 yards and 15 TDs, has offers from Colorado and Boise State. USC recruiters were on the LCC campus Tuesday.

"I'm getting, like, 25 letters a day," Kenny Stills said. "I have time to make my choice, but I'd like to play in the NFL someday, too. I realize that's a long way off, but that's my dream. I also know I want to stay in sports, no matter what.

"So choosing the right school is pretty darn important."

Ricky Seale said he'd prefer to stay on the West Coast for college, but would head east for the right school. Don't expect him to commit any time soon, though.

"Ricky's just a junior," Sammy Seale said. "There is no rush. I understand the early-commitment concept, the fact it takes pressure off the player his senior year. But I believe a man's word is the most important thing he has. So I want Ricky to be absolutely sure when he makes his choice because I don't want him to change his mind.

"The recruiting thing is new to me. I was an inner-city kid from New Jersey and wasn't highly recruited. I was going into the armed forces until a coach steered me to Western State in Gunnison, Colorado. Talk about culture shock. But I got to play college ball, and it got me to the NFL."

Sammy Seale said he and Ken Stills are friends, as are their sons. Sammy and Ken talk on the phone or e-mail at least once a week.

"We're going to be on opposite sides of the field on Friday," Sammy Seale said. "The bottom line, though, is that we'll both be there. And we both want what's best for our kids."

Contact staff writer John Maffei at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.