SoCal/NorCal Players of the Week

Two of this week’s honorees are Stevie Thompson from Franklin of Stockton and Braxton Burmeister of La Jolla Country Day. Photos: RecordNet.com & StarAdvertiser.com.

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Note: Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens also wrote several of these player bios. For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To find out how your business could benefit by sponsoring these honors each week or to nominate your own favorite player, email markjtennis@gmail.com.

Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week

Braxton Burmeister
(La Jolla Country Day, La Jolla) Sr.

Someone would have to do a lot to be selected for this honor who was not one of the two QBs who had nine TD passes in a single game. Burmeister did.

Passing and rushing for a total of 537 yards last week during a 51-12 win over University City of San Diego, Burmeister moved ahead of 2009 Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Football State Player of the Year Dillon Baxter into first place all time in the CIF San Diego Section for career total offense yards.

In the win, Burmeister passed for 364 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions while rushing for 173 yards and a score on 14 carries.

Now with 10,752 yards of total offense in his high school career, this Arizona-bound senior has a chance to also pass several section records currently held by University of San Diego starting quarterback Anthony Lawrence, including passing yards (9.079) and career touchdown passes (96).

Heading into this week, Burmeister currently has 8,419 career yards passing and 2,338 career yards rushing while catching a pass for negative five yards.

Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week

Wallace Tagata
(Channel Islands, Oxnard) Sr.

For the second time this season, this 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior captain was all over the opponent’s backfield when he recorded his second five-sack game during a 15-13 win over Royal of Simi Valley.

Finishing with 11 total tackles, Tagata also now has 49 total tackles and 14 sacks on the season through four games.

During the win that saw the Raiders improve to 3-1, Tagata also caused his third fumble of the season and was able to recover a fumble for the first time.

Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Special Teams Player of the Week

Dominic Silvels
(Patrick Henry, San Diego) Sr.

A 6-foot-3, 190-pounder with a D1 college offer from San Jose State and perhaps more to come, Silvels took two kickoffs back for scores during the Patriots’ 46-39 loss to El Capitan of Lakeside.

Both of Silvels’ kickoff returns were from 99 yards out and in the same game he also rushed for 126 yards on 11 carries and scored two touchdowns.

Known as Prince, Silvels hadn’t had a breakout game yet this season, but in Henry’s season-opening 25-7 win vs. Mira Mesa he caught three passes for 83 yards and one TD.

Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week

Robert Cozine
(Taft) Sr.

After not playing in the first game and in the first half of the second game due to a coaching decision (according to the Bakersfield Californian), Cozine has been on a rushing tear.

In a 70-35 win last week over Exeter, Cozine rushed for an eye-popping 433 yards, the sixth best total in the Central Section history, on 29 carries and scored five touchdowns. One of the TDs covered 95 yards.

Despite the time missed, Cozine also heads into this week with nearly 900 yards rushing and 10 TDs for the season.

In the same game, junior teammate Setefano Maui also had an outstanding game by rushing for 244 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns, one measuring 98 yards.

According to section historian Bob Barnett, the Taft team rushing total of 724 yards in the game is a new section record. It’s also at least No. 3 on the all-time state list and the two teams combined for 1,127 yards.

Finally, Barnett said not to forget kicker Marcos Ornelas of the Wildcats, who had three field goals and was 4-for-4 on PATs.

Mason Hurst was a key player for Del Oro’s team last year that won CIF D2-AA state title. Photo: Mark Tennis.

Stevie Thompson
(Franklin, Stockton) Sr.

Collecting four interceptions in a single game isn’t a guarantee someone is going to get one of our two Defensive Player of the Week honors, but it sure helps.

Thompson grabbed four picks in a 42-6 victory by the Yellowjackets over Florin of Sacramento. He almost had a fifth, which would have gotten a listing in the Cal-Hi Sports state record book.

Thompson has the same name as one of our favorite hoopsters of all-time (L.A. Crenshaw’s Stevie Thompson from the 1990s) and he’s not related to Franklin head coach Larry Thompson.

According to the Stockton Record, Stevie was previously a quarterback at the school before switching to receiver/corner and the earlier experience has helped him a lot.

“He studied his playbook,” Coach Thompson said. “He knew what they were going to do. He believed, and he made it happen. That kid is just amazing.”

Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Special Teams Player of the Week

Mason Hurst
(Del Oro, Loomis) Sr.

Hurst really did a bit of almost everything on Friday night during a 64-13 win by the state No. 8 Golden Eagles over Capital Christian of Sacramento.

It was just on special teams is where he scored two of his three touchdowns. One of the scores came on a punt return while the other was on a kickoff return.

Hurst, one of the top players in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section, also caught five passes for 92 yards and one TD in the same game. In addition, he completed one pass, had a 3-yard rushing play, made four tackles and had an interception.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports