Two of this week’s honorees are defensive lineman Aseli Fangupo from Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton and running back Noah Penunuri from Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia. Photos: Sacred Heart Prep Athletics & Tim Lunney / 210prepsports.com.
We’ve come to the end of the line for this year’s version of the State Football Players of the Week, but despite only having section title games to choose from with only several dozen teams in action, we have six very worthy honorees that will now have an opportunity to help their teams win a CIF Regional Championship this week, and potential CIF Bowl Game state championship in two weeks. For our final journey around the Golden State to find the award winners, we visit Arcadia, Palos Verdes Estates and Newbury Park in Southern California. In Northern California, our final stops this season are in Pittsburg, Atherton and Lindsay.
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Notes: This will be the final week of football players of the week. We switch to basketball (boys & girls) for next week. 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
Offensive Player of the Week
Noah Penunuri (Rio Hondo Prep, Arcadia) Jr.
The San Gabriel Valley is our destination in search of the final Southern California Offensive Player of the Week for this school year.
We land in Arcadia, and just about smack dab in the middle of a square formed by the I-10 on the south, I-210 to the north, the I-605 on the east and Highway 164 to the west. The place where we find our honoree is tiny Rio Hondo Prep, and when we say tiny, we mean a real small school, but don’t let the size of its enrollment fool you because the Kares have been doing big things in high school football and Penunuri was instrumental in the most recent achievement.
The CIF Southern Section press release handed out at the luncheon last week talked about the Division 7 championship as a game with “contrasting styles,” and indeed that was the case with Rio Hondo relying on its running game with Warren of Downey employing an offense that likes to mix it up. That was not the only contrast, as this was a matchup that could only take place using competitive equity as a yardstick.
Last week, in a David versus Goliath 43-16 championship game victory by a Rio Hondo Prep that only has 71 boys enrolled going up against a Warren school with an enrollment of 3,635, meaning if around half of the Downey school’s students are boys that would outnumber Rio Hondo by about 25-1, Noah filled the arc by rushing 34 times for 203 yards and three touchdowns.
Rio Hondo only attempted one pass that was incomplete so the other two TDs were scored by seniors Nathaniel Curtis and Caeden Holcomb.
Despite winning the Division 9 title last season, the Kares were only awarded the D7 No. 12 seed and had to go on the road for their first two wins. However, two weeks ago, at home and in a 42-21 victory against top-seeded West Torrance, Penunuri rushed for 187 yards and two TDs, and his mate Curtis had three TDs and 137 yards rushing.
We hinted that Rio Hondo is a small school that’s done big things on the gridiron, and that is evidenced by the fact it was CIF Southern Section title No. 16 for the Kares. That counts some titles won in 8-man football, but again that shows how far the program has come.
This week Penunuri and his Kares’ teammates will get a chance to reverse last season’s fortunes when they were defeated by Mission Oak of Tulare in the CIF Southern Regional Division 4-A Bowl Game championship. This season, 12-1 Rio Hondo Prep was placed in the Southern Regional 3-A Division where they will be on the road at Poway.
Heading into that game, Penunuri has rushed for 1,564 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Camren Hughes and family had a lot to be happy about after Palos Verdes’ win vs La Serna in CIFSS D5 championship. Photo: X.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California Defensive Player of the Week
Camren Hughes
(Palos Verdes, PV Estates) Jr.
The search for the Southern California Defensive Player of the Week takes us around 10 miles due east of Long Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and we land near the northwestern tip of the peninsula at Palos Verdes High in Palos Verdes Estates.
The CIF Southern Section press release from last week’s luncheon, that covered all 15 matchups including 8-man, said “scoring could come from many players in the Division 5 final,” but of all the offensive and defensive players mentioned Hughes’ name was not one of them. Still, he had a huge impact in the Sea Kings’ 23-7 victory over La Serna of Whittier in the championship title game.
With Palos Verdes trailing 7-0 with around seven minutes left in the game and La Serna driving just inside the Sea Kings’ 20-yard line and looking for a two-score advantage, Hughes, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior transfer from Anaheim Servite where he also ran track, stepped in front of the would-be wide receiver and took off down the sideline. Camren juked past the lone defender that had a shot to tackle him and took it to the house for an 83-yard pick six that knotted things at 7-apiece. From there all the momentum swung to Palos Verdes and it scored two TDs and a safety in the game’s final six minutes.
Earlier in the game Hughes, who carries a 4.0 GPA and has been injured on and off this season, had an interception near the end of the first half when La Serna was in the red zone looking for a second score. He also had five tackles including one for a loss.
In eight games played and heading into a CIF Division 2-A Southern Regional Bowl Game matchup at home against Bakersfield Christian, Hughes has 27 total tackles, three interceptions and six passes defended. He didn’t have any catches at wide receiver last week but so far Camren has 101 yards receiving and one touchdown.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
Drew Cofield (Newbury Park) Jr.
Ventura County and the Newbury Park community near Thousand Oaks is our destination in search of the Southern California Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week, but the performance we’re honoring Cofield for took place 125 miles away in Murrieta so he was a long ways from home.
In the press release passed out at the CIF Southern Section press conference last week, it mentioned quarterback Brady Smigiel and wide receiver Shane Rosenthal as the headliners, and it was their picture along with head coach Joe Smigiel that was used for this week’s Cal-Hi Sports State Rankings that saw Newbury Park jump up six spots to No. 9 in the rankings.
Smigiel and Rosenthal had a huge impact on the game but so did Cofield and as a result he is this week’s multi-purpose/special teams honoree after his performance in the Panthers’ 31-28 victory over Murrieta Valley in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship title game.
With Newbury Park holding a 24-21 lead, a sure TD run by Murrieta Valley was foiled by Cofield after he stripped the ball carrier and the football went into the end zone for a touchback. Instead of facing a 28-24 deficit, Newbury Park had the ball. On the next Murrieta Valley possession, junior Balen Betancourt came up with an interception and that led to a TD pass from Smigiel to Rosenthal and that made it 31-21, and although the hosts would tally one more time, Newbury Park was able to hold on for the victory.
After all was all said and done, the strip by Cofield was huge and a game changer. Besides the forced fumble on defense, Drew had three tackles and a batted pass.
On offense his numbers rivaled the 120 yards receiving of teammate Rosenthal. Cofield had 115 yards receiving and two TDs, and that was one TD more than Rosenthal. On special teams, he had 60 yards on kickoff returns and cleanly fielded two punts.
Drew is truly a multi-purpose standout and the Panthers’ faithful are hoping he can be just as big a contributor when 14-0 Newbury Park tries to keep the streak going when it travels to San Diego this week to meet Lincoln in the CIF Southern Regional Division 1-AA Bowl Game championship.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Aseli Fangupo (Sacred Heart Prep, Atherton) Sr.
The Southern Peninsula portion of the CIF Central Coast Section is our destination in search of the final Northern California Defensive Player of the Week and it’s just north of Stanford University and few blocks west of the El Camino Real in Atherton at picturesque and historic Sacred Heart Prep where we find this week’s award winner.
Fangupo may be a tad short for a defensive lineman but his center of gravity is a little lower and at 5-foot-10, 275-pounds he stood as tall as the Empire State Building in his most recent performance.
Last week, in a 21-10 Central Coast Section Division IV championship title game victory over Burlingame, Fangupo, who has been a force on defense for the Gators all three years of his varsity career, was like a one-man wrecking crew and a game changer at the same time.
With Sacred Heart Prep holding a four-point lead and looking to extend it, Burlingame decided to go for it on fourth-and-one from its own 38-yard line. That’s when Fangupo found himself in the right place at the right time. Burlingame fumbled the snap, and the big fella found the pigskin, scooped it up and rumbled home from 29-yards out and the Gators had an 11-point advantage to secure the win.
Besides the scoop and score, Fangupo forced a fumble, and had a team-high 11 tackles (six solo) including a sack.
The Gators’ faithful hope Aseli will be a force on defense this week when Sacred Heart Prep hosts Tuolumne Summerville for the CIF Northern Regional Division 6-A Bowl Game championship.
Marley Alcantara has a plethora of talented targets to throw to and he did it for 381 yards last week in a section final. Photo: Hudl.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Marley Alcantara (Pittsburg) Sr.
To find the final Northern California Offensive Player of the Week for this season, we head to the East Contra Costa portion of the CIF North Coast Section, and it’s over the hill east of Concord in Pittsburg where we find this week’s award winner.
Alcantara has had some big games for Pittsburg in his three years as a varsity quarterback, but last week, in a 35-28 CIF North Coast Section Division 1 championship title-game victory over San Ramon Valley of Danville, he had a career best performance. The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Southern Oregon-committed senior went 26-of-38 passing for 381 yards with four TDs, and the Pirates needed every bit of his production to secure the win over no quit SRV for a third straight NCS D1 title.
It doesn’t get any easier this week in the CIF Northern Regional Division 1-AA Bowl Game championship when Cal-Hi Sports No. 8 ranked Pittsburg hosts No. 7 Folsom and Alcantara is matched up with Bulldogs’ star junior quarterback Ryder Lyons in a rematch of last year’s NorCal 1-AA final played in Folsom where the hosts were a 28-25 winner.
Heading into the title-game matchup, Alcantara has completed 170-of-241 passes (70.5-percent) for 2,598 yards and 36 TDs with amazingly no interceptions. That translates into a very formidable 145.4 quarterback rating.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
Jose Cortes (Lindsay) Sr.
The search for the final Northern California Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week for this school year takes us to the CIF Central Section and about 15 miles east of Tulare and around 60 miles north of Bakersfield to Lindsay.
While visiting a town that calls itself “Central California’s Citrus Center” we remind readers that the Central Section is considered Northern California for all player of the week features in all sports, boys and girls, but there’s a twist to this story when it comes to Northern and Southern California.
In his most recent performance, Cortes had a huge two-way outing that earns him a statewide honor to go with some local kudos.
Last week, in a 28-0 blanking of Mira Monte of Bakersfield in the Central Section Division 6 championship title game, Cortes, a senior running back and outside linebacker, carried the ball 21 times for 187 yards and two touchdowns on offense. On defense, he shared team high honors with eight tackles, including 1.5 for losses. Shutting out Mira Monte also was significant since that team’s running back, Nathan Gonzales, had rushed for 296, 231 and 334 yards in his last three games and had 2,369 for the season.
So far this season, Jose has rushed for 1,940 yards and 16 TDs on offense, and on defense he has 53 tackles with 10 for losses, a sack, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
The 1,940 yards rushing is the No. 3 reported mark in the Central Section and No. 24 in the state with at least one more game remaining.
Now, here’s the twist. That next game with be against Chatsworth for the CIF Southern Regional Division 7-AA Bowl Game Championship.
Remember, we consider the Central Section part of Northern California but the CIF has a choice of whether to place the teams in the Northern or Southern regional playoffs, and quite often, and usually with regard to teams from the southern part of the Central Section they are sent to the south come playoff time. That’s what happened for the Cardinals.
It’s still going to be a long haul for Lindsay. As the visiting team, it will be traveling 160 miles each way for the matchup.
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
