The inside story of Kyle Shanahan’s first title run — at Saratoga High

As the 49ers embark on next opportunity to bring a Super Bowl trophy to San Francisco, take a look back on Kyle Shanahan's first championship run — as a freshman at Saratoga High School.

SARATOGA — Twenty-five years ago, Kyle Shanahan led his first Bay Area football team to a championship.

In the fall of 1994, while the 49ers were on their way to San Francisco’s last Super Bowl title, a 14-year-old Kyle was on a championship run of his own just down the highway. A star freshman receiver at Saratoga High School, Shanahan earned frosh/soph team MVP and manufactured an improbable comeback — while playing quarterback — en route to the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League title.

It was just a single season, but Shanahan left an imprint on Saratoga.

That Shanahan is 40 years old and already a third-year NFL head coach surprises nobody from that frosh/soph football team 25 years ago.

“I think the thing that fascinates me in hindsight is how involved he was and how knowledgeable he was,” said Mike Black, a former teammate and close friend who lived down the block.

As the Shanahan-helmed 49ers got set for the NFC Championship Game up the road at Levi’s Stadium, teammates, coaches and teachers painted a picture of a young Kyle’s brief initial stint in the Bay Area.

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At the time, there wasn’t anything special about a Shanahan coming to Saratoga High. Sure, the 49ers, having won four titles the past decade, were a big deal. Kyle’s dad, Mike, was a fast-rising offensive coordinator in his third season in San Francisco. But Jerry Rice lived in the neighborhood. Pete Carroll would soon move in and send his son here, too.

“We had these kids of these coaches and they were just trying to be high school students,” said Kerry Mohnike, a ninth-grade English teacher at the time.

What set Kyle Shanahan apart was the same set of traits that made him the youngest position coach and offensive coordinator in NFL history – and what is at the heart of his fast success in San Francisco.

Before the sun came up or the school bell rang, Kyle would be in the weight room with junior varsity coach Mike Machado. These sessions were optional, and most days, it was just the two of them. Machado, in the early stages of his own illustrious high-school coaching career, and Shanahan, the precocious son of a Super Bowl-winning coordinator.

It was clear any paternal advantage Shanahan had, he was only going to make the most of. By season’s end, Machado was convinced Kyle had a future in football.

“I told him he was on his way to being a coach at the college or the professional level just because of the way he thought about the game,” Machado said. “You could see it in Kyle back then.”

It was during one of those early weight room sessions that Machado broke the news: He needed Kyle to start at quarterback that week. First-stringer David Goni had broken his wrist the week prior when his offensive lineman landed on him in the end zone.

Shanahan had initially tried out at quarterback, but Goni, a sophomore, had the position locked down. So he moved to wide receiver, where “he adapted really well,” his position coach Ray Burney said.

“I looked at him as being a student of the game,” Burney continued. “He was a really good listener. He would ask questions when we were doing drills. You’d tell him what to do and he’d do it.”

“Air Shanahan,” as he was dubbed in the Saratoga yearbook, was known for his precise route-running and circus catches. But what really drew his attention was the playbook. As a freshman, he even helped teach sophomores on the team.

But now, with a big matchup against Milpitas looming, he would have to put that knowledge to use. Both teams were undefeated in league play entering the game. Although it was only Week 4, it would ultimately determine the El Camino Division champion.

Saratoga stormed out to a 10-0 halftime lead but allowed two unanswered touchdowns. The Falcons were trailing with less than a minute left when they got the ball back. This game was going to come down to Kyle Shanahan, starting at quarterback for the first time in his career.

“I’m sure he was a little nervous, but he didn’t show it,” Goni said.

“It was something I’ll never forget,” Machado said.

Shanahan started the drive by converting on fourth-and-12 with a 17-yard pass to Black. Facing fourth-and-15 with 19 seconds remaining, the Falcons got bold: Shanahan threw behind the line of scrimmage to Black, who found Brian Carroll at the Milpitas 15-yard line. The clock stopped. Four seconds remained.

“This was going to be it,” Machado said. “We didn’t have the time to run another play after this.”

Turns out Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t the only person in the 49ers locker room who can convert two fourth-and-longs on a game-winning drive.

Shanahan hit Carroll in the end zone on a slant route as time expired. Game over. Falcons win, 16-14.

Machado remembers Mike Shanahan watching from the stands with some of his 49ers players and the varsity squad going crazy behind the end zone.

“Everyone rushed the field,” Goni said.

“He just stepped in like he was going to perform at the same level David did. And he did. He was amazing,” Burney said. “Any time you asked him to do something, he’d step up and do it as well as anyone.”

Later that season, they would be crowned league champions. The next year, Mike Shanahan took the Broncos head coaching job and the rest of the family followed along. Another coach’s son, Brennan Carroll, arrived the next season. Two years later, Machado and Goni and Carroll would win a Central Coast Section title at the varsity level.

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When Pete Carroll sent his son to Saratoga, the newly hired 49ers defensive coordinator came to the school and spoke to the team. (“He was an intense guy,” Black remembered.) He even wrote Black a letter of recommendation to Cal, where he played for a season.

Mike Shanahan preferred to support from a distance. He attended games when he could but mostly left the coaching to the coaches.

“It’s hard when you’re a coach. I’ve had five of them,” Machado said, recounting the names of 49ers assistants’ sons he’s coached (Shanahan, Carroll, Steve Mariucci, Mike Singletary, Mike Nolan). “They did what they could for their sons when they could but just tried to enjoy being there supporting them as much as they could when they were there.”

During Shanahan’s three seasons in San Francisco, Kyle spent his spare time acting as a ball boy for his father. But he didn’t let his football obsession stop there.

After winning team MVP and a league title in football, Kyle was preparing for basketball, where he played wing on the junior varsity team. But he had another championship on his mind: the one with slightly bigger stakes that his dad was fighting for.

“I felt like I couldn’t do school for that month because I had to get a good night’s sleep,” Shanahan said. “I was 100 percent the Niners and the playoffs at that time.”

Shanahan turned 15 on Dec. 14, 1994, and that Christmas got a Deion Sanders throwback jersey for Christmas — an homage to the player who was busy turning in his career-best season for those 49ers, earning defensive player of the year honors.

“I remember people making fun of me,” Shanahan said. “I didn’t take it off until the day after the Super Bowl when my dad became the Broncos head coach. So, I wore it for however many days that is, a month and 10 days. I changed my undershirt, though, I promise.”

Now Shanahan is a husband and father himself, watching his family experience the same wonderment he did 25 years ago.

“It’s funny to watch my wife be like that right now and my kids are getting there,” he said. “Not as old as I was, but they’re getting close.”