Two of this week’s honorees are Erik Taylor of Palo Alto and Alex Villanueva from Monte Vista of Spring Valley. Photos: Palo Alto HS / MaxPreps.com & X.com.
As the section playoffs narrow the funnel of those that can be selected, there are still some rather incredible performances from last weekend that deserve major props. One of them will be good enough to go into the state record all-time list for single-game rushing. All of them helped their teams collect playoff wins. The honorees are from Spring Valley, Whittier and Murrieta in Southern California. In NorCal, they’re from Orland, Palo Alto and Salinas.
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Notes: We will continue to have flexibility to one of the honorees by calling it Multi-Purpose/Special Teams. Multi-Purpose is already a category for All State honors. For these honors, we also consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Alex Villanueva (Monte Vista, Spring Valley) Sr.
The East County area around 10 miles east of downtown San Diego and not far west of where Jamacha Boulevard crosses Highway 94 is our destination, and it’s in Spring Valley at Monte Vista High where we find this week’s Southern California Offensive Player of the Week.
This week’s award winner, who now gets a statewide honor to go with local kudos, is a workhorse running back that coincidentally plays for head coach Ron Hamamoto, who after the performance by Villanueva puts him in a tie according to the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, with Rob Gilster with 242 career wins and as the No. 2 all time wins leader in CIF San Diego Section history behind legendary Herb Meyer and his 338 career wins at Oceanside and Oceanside El Camino.
There is likely no way Hamamoto would have gotten No. 242 and the Monarchs would have posted a season-high for points had not Villanueva carried the ball a whopping 43 times for 365 yards and six TDs in a scoreboard lighter-upper 47-46 road victory by the No. 12 seed over fourth-seeded San Diego Hoover in the San Diego Section Division V playoffs, and in a game where Monte Vista had to hang on for the victory after leading 40-26 after three quarters.
With the win, Monte Vista now moves on to the semifinals where it makes a trip to the North County to face top-seeded Vista.
Will the magic continue? To win at Vista, Hamamoto will likely need another huge performance from Villanueva, and he’s capable of it, because so far this season the 5-foot-10, 176-pound Villanueva has rushed for 2,469 yards and that is the No. 2 reported mark in the state and tops in the San Diego Section.
With the state leader now done and having rushed for 2,572 yards, Alex needs 104 yards to take over the lead in the state, and he’ll also have a chance to make the Record Book with just 45 yards since the threshold is 2,514 yards for a spot on the Most Rushing Yardage (Season) list.
Some people would be very happy to get the same number of interceptions in a season as Jose Rojas’ player number. He starts this week with nine. Photo: Pioneer HS / MaxPreps.com..
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California Defensive Player of the Week
Jose Rojas (Pioneer, Whittier) Jr.
To find the Southern California Defensive Player of the Week we head around 12 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles and a stone’s throw east of the I-605, and it’s in Whittier at Pioneer High where we find this week’s honoree.
Jose had his way on both sides of the ball but it’s his defense that has earned him a statewide honor to go with local recognition.
Last week, in a 27-20 CIF Southern Section Division 14 victory over Westminster La Quinta, Rojas, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound junior, had 10 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery playing linebacker.
We mentioned his work on both sides of the line of scrimmage where on offense Rojas was the Titans leading receiver with three catches for 78 yards and the team’s lone TD through the air. He also had five carries for 23 yards rushing.
Heading into a semifinal matchup this week with Pomona Ganesha, Rojas has a team-leading 89 total tackles with 60 solo, nine interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. On two of the interceptions he took them to the house for scores.
Jose is also the team’s leading receiver, and his 731 yards receiving with 10 TDs is just under half of the Titans total receiving yards.
On a final note, and one of the main reasons he gained this selection, is that his nine interceptions are tied for the No. 3 reported mark in the state and No. 2 in the Southern Section.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
Alex Krishan (Murrieta Mesa, Murrieta)
The southeastern portion of the Inland Empire is where we head in the search for the Southern California Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week, and we land just north of where the I-15 splits with the I-215 in Murrieta at Murrieta Mesa High to find this week’s award winner. It’s clearly for special teams, too.
Last week, in a CIF Southern Section Division 6 19-10 victory over Northwood of Irvine, Murrieta Mesa needed his kicking game big time as the Rams needed all four of his field goals to secure the win.
Krishan kicked one field goal from 25 yards, two from 29 yards and one from 42 yards out.
So far this season, and heading into a semifinal matchup with St. Francis of La Canada, Alex has made 9-of-12 field goals with a longest of 44 yards and he’s 31-of-33 on PATs.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California Defensive Player of the Week
Erik Taylor (Palo Alto) Sr.
The search for the Northern California Defensive Player of the Week takes to the southernmost part of the Peninsula portion of the CIF Central Coast Section and just across the El Camino Real from Stanford Stadium at Palo Alto High.
Taylor has had solid numbers all season but last week, in a 33-23 Central Coast Section Division II quarterfinal contest for the No. 3 seeded Vikings against visiting Half Moon Bay, the senior defensive back came up big time with 12 tackles, three interceptions and a batted pass.
So far this season, and heading into a semifinal matchup with visiting Aptos, Taylor has 67 tackles, four interceptions, seven passes defended and a fumble recovery.
We’re sure Taylor would like to give a shoutout to two of his defensive teammates that each had 20 tackles against Half Moon Bay, seniors Roman Jacobs and Jospeh Kessler. After one of Paly’s games last season, Kessler was named as NorCal Defensive Player of the Week.
Sophomore Eli Dukes was one of the top players last season as a freshman when Palma earned the CIF D4-A state championship. Photo: @PCAL_Football / X.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
Eli Dukes (Palma, Salinas) Soph.
The birthplace of famous novelist John Steinbeck is our destination in search of the Cal-Hi Sports Northern California Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week and it’s in Salinas at Palma where we find this week’s award winner who gets a statewide honor to go with some local recognition.
On the road last week for the seventh-seeded Chieftains against No. 2 seed Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton, Dukes duked it out on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
Offensively, Dukes rushed for 165 yards on 17 carries with two TDs, and he had a 22-yard pass reception. On defense, Eli had a pass interception, he forced a fumble and recovered it as well.
So far this season, and heading back to Atherton for semifinal game against Menlo School, Dukes has rushed for 1,724 yards and 14 TDs, and he has 126 yards receiving and an additional touchdown. The rushing yardage is the No. 2 reported mark in the Central Coast Section. His defensive numbers were only reported for the Sacred Heart Prep but we’re sure he has more than just what he did against the Gators.
Last season as a freshman, the 5-foot-10, 172-pound running back and safety was a standout on a team that won a CIF Division 4-A state championship, Dukes rushed for 1,229 yards and 18 TDs, and once again we couldn’t find complete defensive stats but we’re sure he stood out there as well.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Luke Schager (Orland) Jr.
Glenn County and the CIF Northern Section around 20 miles west of Chico, and just off the I-5 is our destination and where we were sent to Orland High by Northern Section historian and longtime MaxPreps correspondent Kevin Askeland.
Kevin wanted to let us know about Schager, a 6-foot, 165-pound quarterback who wrote his name not only into the Northern Section record book but the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book as well.
Last week, in a 42-6 Northern Section Division 3 opening round victory over Pierce of Arbuckle, Luke juked his way to 417 yards rushing on 28 carries with four touchdowns. Schager’s last four carries also were truly incredible: 87-yard TD run, 40-yard TD run, 87-yard TD run and a 88-yard run in which he was tackled at the 7-yard line to prevent a 95-yard TD.
The 417 yards rushing is the No. 4 all-time mark in Northern Section history and gets Schager a spot in the Record Book on the Most Yards (Game) list in the Football Individual Records: Single-Game Rushing section.
So far this season, and heading into a second-round matchup with Corning, Schager, who also plays baseball and basketball for Orland, has 1,805 yards rushing and 20 TDs, plus he’s passed for four touchdowns.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
