Paki Finau (left) is the highly recruited offensive lineman from medium schools No. 1 Oak Hills of Hesperia. At right is QB Donovan Rozevink of small schools No. 1 Escalon. Photos: Hudl.com & @ASD_Sports / Twitter.com.
Here’s the first run-through for these state rankings. We go 15 teams deep for the medium schools plus 12 for small schools. No. 1 teams are listed as Oak Hills of Hesperia for medium and Escalon for small. Grant of Sacramento, Palos Verdes or McClymonds could displace Oak Hills with the teams they are playing in upcoming weeks. Escalon has league rival Hughson looking to challenge.
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. After this week, all future state rankings for medium and small schools are available only to our Gold Club members as well as our state stat star of the week honor rolls. To check out getting a Gold Club membership to see all of those rankings plus all of our updated state record lists, totally authentic historical features, recruiting player ratings and more, CLICK HERE.
(All based on section by section playoff formats, updated computer rankings, plus combination of enrollment and traditional placement into state rankings that we have done for 40 plus years)
(There will be final five divisional state rankings done after the season so that we continue to have an archive of them going back to the early 1980s)
(After games of Saturday, Sept. 2)
MEDIUM SCHOOLS TOP 15
1. Oak Hills (Hesperia) 3-0
Early on last season, the Bulldogs also were No. 1 in the state for medium schools. They are currently No. 28 overall in the State TOP 50. The team features all-state offensive lineman Paki Finau and Karson Cox, one of the top junior RBs in the state.
2. Pacifica (Oxnard) 3-0
A big win two weeks ago in the second game over St. Bonaventure moved the Tritons to No. 1 in Ventura County. They were placed at No. 31 overall in the State TOP 50 this week.
3. Grant (Sacramento) 2-1
It’s been two easy wins over teams from Nevada and a 21-18 loss to Oak Ridge to start the season for the 2022 CIF D3-AA state champs. It’s possible Grant could be moved out of medium and into large, but as a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D3 playoff team the Pacers likely will stay in medium.
Jaylen Thomas of Los Gatos is one of the most versatile players this season in the Bay Area. Photo: Los Gatos FB / MaxPreps.
4. Palos Verdes (PV Estates) 4-0
The Sea Kings are much higher in the computer than we have them overall (No. 39), but they could go up in ours with a win this week against Edison of Huntington Beach.
5. McClymonds (Oakland) 1-0
It’s still medium for Mack, although the school has the enrollment to be small. The small schools, though, don’t play San Ramon Valley or De La Salle, which the Warriors will be doing in future weeks. Head coach Michael Peters’ squad took apart Bellarmine of San Jose, 40-0, in last week’s game.
6. Los Gatos 2-0
The Wildcats barely got past Liberty of Brentwood, 35-34, last Friday and will have to play better when they host Grant of Sacramento on Friday. That matchup was just announced.
7. Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 2-0
This team has some real bangers on defense and one of the best RBs in school history in senior Charles Williams. The schedule isn’t great but a Marin County Athletic League showdown with San Marin is something to look forward to.
8. Villa Park 3-0
Beating Upland caused a big move into the State TOP 50 for us, but the Spartans already were that high with the computer. They would be third, in fact, in this order if we went exclusively by the computer.
9. Apple Valley 1-1
League rival of Oak Hills can’t be discounted with a shutout win vs Eastlake of Chula Vista and a 28-24 loss to state No. 29 Chaparral of Temecula. The Sun Devils are taking on 3-0 Victor Valley this week.
10. Cajon (San Bernardino) 2-0
The Cowboys are taking on 2022 CIF D1-AA state champ Lincoln of San Diego in two weeks. They outlasted Orange Vista of Perris last week, 42-28.
11. St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 2-1
It didn’t matter that super soph Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park threw for seven touchdowns against the Knights since they still won, 62-53. Their loss was to No. 4 Palos Verdes.
12. Citrus Valley (Redlands) 1-1
The Blackhawks have a loss to overall state No. 12 Mission Viejo. Their win was 35-8 last week over Silverado of Victorville and they are playing Oak Hills (No. 1 above) on Friday.
13. Leuzinger (Lawndale) 2-1
A 17-0 loss to state No. 34 Edison of Huntington Beach was forgotten about quickly last week with a 40-19 win vs Ayala of Chino Hills. Sean “Deuce” Weston is a big-time junior RB.
14. San Marin (Novato) 2-0
Thee Mustangs looked super-explosive last week in a 55-28 win over Foothill of Palo Cedro.
15. La Serna (Whittier) 1-2
The losses were to Los Alamitos (No. 8 overall) and Warren of Downey (which got its top QB back last week after he was missing the week before). The win was 69-0 over Pasadena.
MEDIUM SCHOOLS BUBBLE
Aquinas (San Bernardino) 2-1
Beaumont 3-0
Birmingham (Lake Balboa) 2-1
Bonita (La Verne) 3-0
Chico 2-0
Central Valley Christian (Visalia) 3-0
Cypress 2-1
Downey (Modesto) 3-0
El Cerrito 2-0
Enterprise (Redding) 2-0
Glendora 3-0
Hanford 3-0
Kennedy (Delano) 2-1
Lemoore 2-1
Newbury Park 2-1
Shafter 3-0
St. Francis (La Canada) 2-1
Windsor 0-1
SMALL SCHOOLS TOP 10
1. Escalon 3-0
Being in D4 in the Sac-Joaquin Section and getting wins over Buchanan (Clovis) and Windsor should signal a move up to medium for the Cougars, but they are still in a league we have considered small schools for 30 years or longer and we’re not going to break it up. They are even higher in the computers than we have them, but we would never rank them higher than any team from the Trinity League (like the computer does now with Escalon higher than Servite).
2. Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) 1-1
The Gators have a loss to up-and-coming Riordan of San Francisco, but last week beat a WCAL team with a 42-23 win vs Sacred Heart Cathedral. They have 2-0 Palo Alto this week.
3. Hughson 3-0
Both the Huskies and Escalon won state titles last year (Escalon in a higher division) and Hughson had a win over Escalon last season. There’s a big game in town on Friday against 3-0 Downey of Modesto.
Marquis Bradley, a junior, had 10 catches for 154 yards and one TD plus an interception on defense for Ontario Christian in its first game. Photo: Mike Bernal / Twitter.com.
4. Ontario Christian 2-1
We still have Aquinas of San Bernardino from the same league as medium schools. The Knights just got a big win over Brentwood of Los Angeles and they lost on a last-second field goal to Bonita of La Verne.
5. Salesian (Los Angeles) 3-0
The computer would have the Mustangs higher than Hughson and we can see why with wins over South (Torrance), Summit (Fontana) and Village Christian. They also have a big game this week vs St. Anthony of Long Beach.
6. St. Anthony (Long Beach) 2-1
We are going with the Saints right behind Salesian, the team they play this week. Transfer RB Jojo Apisala (played at Valley Christian of Cerritos last season) has made a major impact.
7. Menlo School (Atherton) 2-0
A lot of attention has gone to the school’s first-ever girls flag team with coaches John Paye and Steve Young, but the boys haven’t gone anywhere. The Knights won last week, 21-7, over Carlmont of Belmont.
8. Brentwood (Los Angeles) 2-1
Boone Lourd passed for 247 yards but the Eagles fell 22-14 to No. 4 Ontario Christian last week. They rolled in their first two games against Antelope Valley of Lancaster (27-0) and King/Drew of L.A. (48-8).
9. Village Christian (Sun Valley) 2-1
The loss was to No. 4 Ontario Christian. One of the wins was eye-opening, 45-8, over Granada Hills Charter (last year’s CIF L.A. City D1 champion).
10. St. Vincent de Paul (Petaluma) 2-0
The Mustangs are more than surviving without four-year standout RB Kai Hall. They won last week, 48-19, over Oakland Tech. We are missing getting stat star updates from Gary Von Raesfeld, longtime school administrator who died last winter.
SMALL SCHOOLS NEXT 5 TEAMS
11. Rancho Christian (Temecula) 3-0
12. Ripon Christian 2-1
13. Sutter 2-1
14. Woodland Christian 3-0
15. Orland 1-1
SMALL SCHOOLS BUBBLE
Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento) 2-1
Fall River (McArthur) 1-0
Rio Hondo Prep (Arcadia) 3-0
St. Pius X-St. Matthias (Downey) 0-3
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.
