Ronald Phelps had huge game as a defensive lineman for San Francisco Lincoln in annual SF Turkey Day championship played at historic Kezar Stadium. Photo: Willie Eashman.
Tristan Gebbia of Calabasas earns nod for SoCal offense as much for going over 12,000 career passing yards as for what he did in team’s win vs. Roosevelt of Eastvale. NorCal’s pick for offense, meanwhile, has a connection to the Oakland Raiders’ Derek Carr. Others selected this week are from Santa Ana, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland.
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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
Tristan Gebbia
(Calabasas) Sr.
This is a good week to single out Gebbia during his senior year, which so far has been quite memorable.
In leading Calabasas to its 13th win of the season (no losses) and a continuing top 15 state ranking, Gebbia completed 24 of 35 passes for 479 yards and five TDs in a 58-21 victory over Roosevelt of Eastvale in the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs. The Coyotes also advanced to the title game where they will play 12-1 Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo.
Photo: @sportsrecruits/D1Bound.com.
It was over early against Roosevelt, which is from the same league as national powerhouse Corona Centennial but dropped down to D5 for the CIFSS playoffs due to competitive equity-based playoff criteria. Gebbia passed for 318 of his yards in the first quarter and only threw two passes in the second half. He threw two TDs to Brendan Radley-Hiles and two to big-time D1 prospect Darnay Holmes.
Gebbia himself is a three-year standout and big-time D1 prospect who has committed to Nebraska. His big outing against Roosevelt also enabled him to become just the second player in state history to surpass 12,000 yards for a career. He moved past Sam Metcalf of Farmersville (2011-2014) into second-place on the all-time state list. He had 11,913 yards. For career TDs, Gebbia is now in sixth on the all-time state list with 129.
According to the Cal-Hi Sports state record book (which is the only one ever done in California), Gebbia isn’t going to come close to the state career record totals of 16,775 yards and 229 TDs set in 2014 by current University of Washington Heisman Trophy candidate Jake Browning when he was at Folsom. If Calabasas goes to a CIF state title game, Gebbia could break the CIF Southern Section career TD pass record of 147 set in 2006 by Jimmy Clausen of Oaks Christian, who just happens to be the brother of current Calabasas head coach Casey Clausen.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Jonathan Briseno
(Santa Ana) Sr.
For the first time since 1986, the Saints are headed to a CIF Southern Section championship game after he led the defense during a 66-27 win over Laguna Beach in the CIFSS Division 13 semifinals.
Not ready for his senior year to come to an end, Briseno had three sacks, forced a fumble and nine total tackles to end the season for the Breakers.
Last season, he had a game where he rushed for 345 yards and four touchdowns while also returning a kickoff for a score after taking over for his twin brother who was injured earlier in the game.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Special Teams Player of the Week
Eric Fuller Jr.
(Hawkins, Los Angeles) Jr.
It has been quite the last few days for the Hawks, starting with their advancement to the CIF L.A. City Section Division II championship game with a 63-20 win over previously unbeaten Grant of Van Nuys that saw him score in three different ways.
Taking the opening kickoff back 82 yards for six points, Fuller also caught a 23-yard touchdown pass and intercepted a pass and returned it 48 yards for a score to make it a 28-7 lead in the second quarter.
Following the win, the Hawks made program history on Monday as they moved into the Top 25 of our state rankings for the first time and now this highly regarded junior is earning one of our player of the week honors.
With offers from schools like USC and Michigan, Fuller Jr. is No. 124 in ESPN’s Junior 300 player rankings.
Bakersfield Christian’s Braden Wingle has helped his team to top ranking among schools that are Division III in the CIF Central Section. Photo: Twitter.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Braden Wingle
(Bakersfield Christian) Jr.
Derek Carr of the Oakland Raiders is not the only Bakersfield Christian QB who is red-hot these days.
Carr, a graduate of the school in 2009 before he went to Fresno State, had his single game school record of 544 passing yards seriously challenged last week by Wingle.
The junior QB erupted for a career high of 484 yards, which according to Central Section historian Bob Barnett is second best in school history behind Carr’s 2008 school record. Wingle went 26-of-46 and had five touchdowns as the Eagles (11-1) edged visiting San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno 41-35 in a Central Section D3 semifinal playoff game.
For the season, Braden also leads the section with 3,737 yards and 39 touchdowns. Wide receiver Jeremiath Foster also had nine receptions for 162 and three touchdowns.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Ronald Phelps
(Lincoln, San Francisco) Sr.
Making sure he would have a huge appetite for Thanksgiving dinner, Phelps had a big game on defense and special teams when the Mustangs won the San Francisco Section Turkey Bowl by a 22-12 final score over defending champion Mission of San Francisco.
For the game, Phelps had a season-high 13 tackles and two sacks and he also blocked two punts. It was the fourth time this season he had two sacks in a game and he also now has 114 tackles.
Phelps and the Mustangs (8-5) will next play on Saturday at their home field against CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D6 champion Amador (Sutter Creek). The winner of that game then advances to a CIF NorCal bowl game.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Special Teams Player of the Week
Trey Miller
(Bishop O’Dowd, Oakland) Sr.
With a chance to send his team to the CIF North Coast Section Division III championship game, Miller nailed a 42-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to give the Dragons a 37-34 win over Rancho Cotate of Rohnert Park.
Playing his first season of football, he was recruited to kick from the O’Dowd soccer team and his game-winning field goal went right down the middle and “it would have been good from 50,” said head coach Napoleon Kaufman to SFGate.
Miller, who is the second straight Dragon to earn this special teams honor after Jevon Holland from last week, has made 66 of his 68 extra point attempts for the season plus eight field goals with a long of 46 yards.
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
