All-State FB 2020-21: Medium Schools

State D3 Team of the Year Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) & runner-up Marin Catholic (Kentfield) both get players onto this teams, along with several schools that were D2 for our final state rankings. Other schools with more than one honoree include Culver City, La Jolla, La Serna of Whittier, Clayton Valley of Concord, Pacifica of Oxnard and Bishop Diego of Santa Barbara.

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The 42nd annual Cal-Hi Sports All-State Football Teams are continuing this week with players selected for small schools and medium schools with the overall top 30s still to come. We know it’s strange to be still doing 2020-21 football honors in June, but the thought of not doing the same for the players of this school year compared to the others who had no idea how a worldwide pandemic would be so disruptive just never entered our minds. These players 10 years from now or 20 years from now deserve to look at our archives just like some of their dads do today.

There were obviously no CIF section, regional or state playoffs to use as a guide for this year’s teams, but we did compile state rankings for five divisions so the players who were on those teams for D3 and some that were D2 were all eligible to be all-state medium schools.

Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa, which was No. 1 in the final D3 state rankings, placed two players on first team. Previously announced Medium Schools State Player of the Year Tsion Nunnally, who is headed to Washington State and was one of the top receivers-kick returners in Northern California, was a no-brainer. The Cardinals also had one of their defensive standouts from the last two seasons, linebacker Mitch Russell, earn a first team selection.

We don’t do ties in rankings, but Marin Catholic of Kentfield was right there with Cardinal Newman in the CIF North Coast Section. The Wildcats were strongly represented on these teams with running back Matteo Perez (UC Davis) and offensive lineman Dawson Brown (San Jose State) on first team plus junior quarterback Michael Ingrassia (who also ran the ball for more than 300 yards) chosen to second team multi-purpose. Kai Peterson-Davison is joining Brown as an offensive lineman at SJSU, but he only played two games due to injury while Brown played all five.

Zevi Eckhaus of Culver City never had the recruiting attention of some of the other quarterbacks considered for that position, but essentially just had to be the first team QB for the season and career that he put together. Eckhaus passed for 1,893 yards and 24 TDs in six games this spring with just one interception. His team fell in its final game, 49-42, to Apple Valley, but he went 29 of 32 for 416 yards and six TDs. Eckhaus wrapped up his career with 10,210 yards and 137 TDs and with a full senior season could have approached the No. 2 totals in state history in both categories.

Note: Schools broken down into large, medium and small based on section playoff divisions but also on where they’ve been traditionally. We also will not generally consider a school close to or above 1,500 enrollment small school at all no matter what section or state playoff division that school is placed. This means schools like El Monte and Lincoln of San Francisco, which won CIF state titles in 2019, can’t ever be a “small” school. Medium, yes. Small, no. Many of the CIF L.A. City Section playoff teams, including D2 and D3, can’t be small schools, either, for same reason.

This has proven to be by far the most difficult all-state medium school selections in our 40 years. Most newspapers did not do their usual post-season honors and none of them did them as deep. More schools than usual were not on MaxPreps and there were very few who sent in nominations of their players. All-league teams were able to be seen for some players but others were not done.

Cal-Hi Sports All-State Football
Medium Schools

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

WR Arlis Boardingham (Birmingham, Lake Balboa)
6-5, 225, Jr.
WR Alex Jones (Oak Park) 6-3, 180, Sr.
WR Tsion Nunnally (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa)
6-3, 190, Sr.
OL Matai Bell (Campolindo, Moraga) 6-4, 320, Sr.
OL Dawson Brown (Marin Catholic, Kentfield)
6-5, 290, Sr.
OL Garrett DiGiorgio (Serrano, Phelan) 6-7, 310, Sr.
OL Christian Jones (San Luis Obispo) 6-9, 300, Sr.
OL Jordon Tagaloa (Bishop Diego, Santa Barbara)
6-2, 305, Sr.
QB Zevi Eckhaus (Culver City) 6-0, 190, Sr.
RB Jordan Hornbeak (San Joaquin Memorial, Fresno)
6-0, 190, Sr.
RB Matteo Perez (Marin Catholic, Kentfield)
5-10, 185, Sr.
PK Devin Bale (La Jolla) 6-3, 185, Sr.

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

DL Mason Brosseau (Hanford) 6-3, 255, Sr.
DL Esai Martinez (Highland, Lancaster) 6-1, 295, Sr.
DL/LB Michael Richter (Valhalla, El Cajon) 6-1, 190, Sr.
LB Trey Edwards (Mater Dei Catholic, Chula Vista) 6-2, 210, Soph.
LB Carson Irons (Sunny Hills, Fullerton) 6-0, 190, Sr.
LB Sefa Leatimua (Pacifica, Oxnard) 6-1, 225, Sr.
LB Mitch Russell (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa) 6-2, 215, Sr.
LB Dylan Seeley (Clayton Valley, Concord) 6-1, 220, Sr.
DB Adam Andrade (Christopher, Gilroy) 6-2, 175, Sr.
DB Arna Bontemps (La Serna, Whittier) 6-2, 175, Sr.
DB Jaheem Williams (Montgomery, San Diego) 6-1, 205, Sr.
P Gavin Mink (Yucaipa) 6-1, 185, Sr.

FIRST TEAM MULTI-PURPOSE

QB/RB Jayden Denegal (Apple Valley) 6-4, 215, Jr.
QB/RB Deacon Hill (Santa Barbara) 6-4, 225, Sr.
QB/RB Nicholas Iamaleava (Warren, Downey) 6-5, 195, Soph.
QB/RB Justus McComb (Granite Hills, El Cajon) 6-0, 195, Sr.
RB/LB Max Smith (La Jolla) 5-11, 190, Sr.
WR/DB Jalil Tucker (Lincoln, San Diego) 6-0, 180, Jr.

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

WR Mekhi Fox (Pasadena) 6-1, 190, Jr.
WR Jake George (La Serna, Whittier) 6-3, 190, Jr.
TE Gabe Milbourn (Sonora) 6-5, 240, Sr.
OL John Bolles (Jefferson, Daly City)
6-5, 245, Sr.
OL Louie Canepa (Vintage, Napa) 6-4, 295, Jr.
OL Tyler Charbonneau (Clayton Valley, Concord)
6-3, 280, Sr.
OL Simeon Mitchell (McClymonds, Oakland)
6-3, 305, Jr.
OL Junior Taase Faumui (Aquinas, San Bernardino)
6-5, 330, Jr.
QB Dylan Wheatley (Citrus Valley, Redlands)
6-3, 215, Sr.
RB Ethan Menezes (Vista del Lago, Folsom) 6-0, 185, Sr.
RB Omari Taylor (Clayton Valley, Concord) 5-10, 175, Sr.
PK Cesar Velasquez (Diamond Ranch, Pomona)
5-8, 155, Sr.

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

DL Zach Burton (Granite Hills, El Cajon) 6-2, 245, Jr.
DL Grant Garretson (Pleasant Valley, Chico) 6-3, 220, Sr.
DL J.D. Henderson (Pacifica, Oxnard) 6-2, 260, Sr.
LB Taariq Al-Uqdah (Inglewood) 6-0, 200, Jr.
LB Braydon Brus (Glendora) 6-2, 210, Jr.
LB Jayce Gamble (St. Joseph, Santa Maria) 6-1, 225, Sr.
LB Salesi Moala (Tennyson, Hayward) 6-1, 225, Jr.
LB Nico Zamora (Windsor) 6-3, 215, Sr.
DB Jake East (Agoura, Agoura Hills) 6-0, 185, Jr.
DB Buddy Melgoza (Bishop Diego, Santa Barbara) 6-1, 185, Sr.
DB Tyrone Wilson Jr. (South, Bakersfield) 6-2, 180, Sr.
P Sebastian Conway-Bert (Palisades, Pacific Palisades) 6-3, 170, Sr.

SECOND TEAM MULTI-PURPOSE

QB/RB Michael Ingrassia (Marin Catholic, Kentfield) 6-1, 205, Jr.
RB/LB Richard Jackson (Gunn, Palo Alto) 6-2, 205, Sr.
QB/RB Tyler Kaschewski (Templeton) 5-11, 190, Sr.
RB/WR/DB Dylan Overstreet (Casa Roble, Orangevale) 5-10, 175, Sr.
QB/RB Dreyan Paul (McClymonds, Oakland) 5-10, 165, Jr.
RB/WR/DB Blake Spomer (Kingsburg) 5-9, 175, Sr.

MEDIUM SCHOOLS STATE PLAYER OF THE YEAR (previously announced):
Tsion Nunnally (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa) Sr.

MEDIUM SCHOOLS STATE COACH OF THE YEAR (previously announced):
Mazi Moayed (Marin Catholic, Kentfield)

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