Jake Tonges is having a moment in the sun after catching the game-winning touchdown pass for the 49ers on Sunday.
The former Los Gatos High standout made the first three catches of his professional career on Sunday, helping San Francisco beat Seattle 17-13. His emergence from relative obscurity as a backup tight end who filled in after George Kittle was injured has seemingly made him a cult hero.
Before he was a professional, Tonges played at Los Gatos for coach Mark Krail, then walked on at Cal. One thing he didn’t do when it was time to start high school? Pick a popular private school in the Bay Area to attend.
Tuesday, Tonges was asked on KNBR-680 AM if he thought about attending a traditional private-school football power like St. Francis and Bellarmine instead of suiting up for his hometown team.
His answer was clear.
“I never really even considered the private schools,” Tonges said during an interview with hosts Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher. “Los Gatos is such a great school and has such a great sports program that it didn’t really feel like it was necessary to go to a private school. And I just wanted to play with all my buddies who I played Pop Warner with growing up, you know, and just continue on into high school with those guys.”
The Los Gatos program has gone toe-to-toe with WCAL schools in recent years, including beating Serra in the opening round of the Central Coast Section Open/Division I bracket last season. That success has fostered a reputation that Tonges was well aware of before he attended high school there.
“The football program, since I’ve been here, it’s always been really good,” he said. “Coach Krail has done an awesome job with the program. He got there initially when I was a freshman, that was his first year, and he’s won a couple CCS titles, and we’re always playing some of the best competition in the area.
“There’s a real focus on the football program and also developing the players in the offseason, lifting and running. The coaching staff is just so great over there. So it doesn’t surprise me when they win CCS, or win the league, or are doing well in the playoffs or going to the state playoffs.”
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