Two of this week’s SoCal / NorCal Players of the Week are RBs Hunter Roddy of Temecula Chaparral & Ian Jernagin of Bakersfield Garces. Photos: Hudl.com & courtesy Matt Plugge.
This COVID-abbreviated football season still has a few games left and a couple of places in the state, but this will be our final Players of the Week feature. Our final journey takes us to the southern part of the Inland Empire, the south Orange County city of San Clemente, and Pasadena in the south. In the north, we find a school record-setter in Bakersfield, with our other two stops in San Mateo and up north in the small town of Biggs.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com. We pick the winners on Monday nights.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Hunter Roddy
(Chaparral, Temecula) Jr.
It took until our last week of this feature but we finally make a stop in the southeasterly-most portion of the Inland Empire in the Temecula Valley. There we find not only an area fast becoming known for its wineries, but a junior running back named Roddy that drove the opposition rummy in the last game of the season for Chaparral. In doing so, he earns the Southern California Offensive Player of the Week award.
Last week, in a 52-41 home victory over previously state-ranked and neighboring Murrieta Valley of Murrieta that got the Pumas to a 5-1 finish with all their games in the always tough Southwestern League, Roddy ran roughshod over the visiting Nighthawks after the 6-foot, 217-pounder carried a whopping 45 times for 405 yards and four TDs, plus he added two 2-point conversions, in a game Chaparral trailed 21-6 after one quarter.
Roddy scored the first TD on a 40-yard run, then two in the second quarter on runs of nine and 48 yards, and his fourth TD from 38 yards out gave the Pumas a 38-34 lead, but in a wild affair the game was still in doubt. That’s why we know Hunter would want to give a shout out to the Pumas’ defense, which made a stop on the 1-yard line, and his other two fellow running backs, senior Elza Lindemans and sophomore running quarterback Caron Tyler. Tyler had two TDs rushing including a 3-yard run that gave Chaparral the lead for good at 46-41. Lindemans sealed the deal with a 59-yard romp that closed out the scoring.
With the 405 yards rushing of Roddy, 111 yards for Lindemans, and 62 for Tyler, the Pumas rushed for 578 yards on 61 carries.
Hunter runs with the kind of power, size and speed that may remind some of former Norco all-time great Toby Gerhart and we look forward to see what he does in the fall.
Kanious Vaughn of San Clemente gets one of his sacks during recent game vs. San Juan Hills. Photo: @Tritonfootball / Twitter.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Kanious Vaughn
(San Clemente) Sr.
We’re back in Orange County again this week but this time to find our SoCal Defensive honoree. We visit a city that is as far south as you can get before hitting the border with San Diego County. There we find a 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior linebacker/defensive end who played a huge role in one of last weekend’s upsets involving state-ranked teams.
Playing at home for the previous No. 12 ranked Titans against previous No. 5 Mission Viejo, Kanious was vicious on defense after recording 2.5 sacks out of eight tackles with another for loss, plus a quarterback hurry, and he forced a fumble as San Clemente finished the season 5-0 and sent Mission Viejo (4-1) to its first defeat in a hard fought 10-7 victory in a game decided by defense and special teams.
That’s why we know Vaughn would want to acknowledge two of his teammates, senior Noa Serpa and junior Sean Harry.
Serpa had 10 tackles, including a sack, one more for loss, and he forced a fumble. Harry, the Tritons’ kicker, booted home a 25-yard field goal as time expired and the players poured onto the field to celebrate and pay tribute to late assistant coach Joe Wood, who died after a battle with COVID-19 and became the team’s rallying cry in what will be a season to remember and a satisfying win against an arch rival to end it.
Kanious, who has preferred walk-on offer from Arizona, also had a great game two weeks ago in a win over San Juan Hills when he had 11 tackles and three assists with 3.5 sacks and four tackles for loss.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Special Teams Player of the Week
Jamir Allen
(Pasadena) Jr.
It’s been a while since we visited the home of the Rose Bowl, but this week, in our search for our SoCal Special Teams honoree, we not only get to visit Pasadena, we actually set foot in the college football shrine itself located about 10 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
Last week, in a 33-6 victory over crosstown arch-rival Muir in what is called the Turkey Tussle, Allen did something kind of historic. Not only did Jamir have a hand in the Bulldogs beating the Mustangs for the first time since 2015 and second time since 1995 to finish 5-0 in this shortened season, he started the game off with a play on the hallowed ground that will be something that will create a lasting memory he can tell his grandkids about.
How many guys in the history of the Rose Bowl have brought back the opening kickoff of a game for a touchdown? We don’t know the answer but what we do know is that Jamir is one of them after he romped 80 yards on the sacred turf to paydirt to open the scoring.
Allen has not been a major contributor on offense and defense at Pasadena, but on his one pass reception this season the 6-foot-2 wide receiver romped 81 yards for a TD, and on special teams this was his second TD this season on a kickoff return after he took one back 98 yards two weeks ago in a 47-20 victory over Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Ian Jernigan
(Garces, Bakersfield) Jr.
Remember, for this and all our Player of the Week features for all sports, boys and girls, the CIF Central Section is considered part of Northern California.
This week, we hit the Central Section for a second straight week for our NorCal Offensive Player of the Week. This time we land about as far south in The Valley as locals call the Central Section as you can get as we visit Bakersfield. There we find a running back nominated by veteran prep sports scribe turned Garces Sports Information Director, Assistant Athletic Director and Assistant Technology Director Trevor Horn, and he’s sent us a very deserving winner in the 6-foot, 195-pound junior Jernigan.
It’s been a tough year for the 2-3 Rams, but they have played some strong competition. Although he had a great 165-yard rushing effort two weeks ago in a loss to Lancaster Paraclete, Jernagin was on again last week only this time he rushed for a school record 381 yards on 26 carries with four TDs, including a 65-yard romp to the end zone, in a 58-12 victory over 2019 CIF Division 3-A Bowl Game champion crosstown Bakersfield Christian.
The big showing also gives Jernigan a respectable 685 yards and seven TDs in this pandemic-abbreviated season.
Fynn Williams and the Serra defense had a lot to be happy about in game last week vs. St. Ignatius. Photo: Get Sports Focus / YouTube.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Fynn Williams
(Serra, San Mateo) Sr.
For our Northern California Defensive Player of the Week honor, we journeyed to the Sunset District of San Francisco where we saw our winner perform his deeds in person, but despite Fynn winning his honors on a cold and foggy Saturday afternoon not far from the beach and the Pacific Ocean, it’s about 20-miles south of The City in San Mateo where Williams plays his home games as a Serra Padre.
Last week, in a season-ending 34-3 win by the previous state No. 9 Padres over a St. Ignatius team that had tripped them 14-13 in last season’s West Catholic Athletic League finale, Williams played a role in a record-setting performance by the Padres’ defense that closed out a 5-0 pandemic-abbreviated season.
For his part, Williams, a 6-foot, 205-pound linebacker, had two interceptions, one of which he returned for a 58-yard pick six. Fynn was also in on one of the Padres three sacks, but it was picks where the Padres set a school record with six interceptions in the game. They also recovered a fumble for a seventh turnover.
Williams was a defensive leader as well for Serra’s 2019 team that won the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division title, defeated San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno for the CIF NorCal D1-A title and then lost to Corona del Mar of Newport Beach in the CIF 1-A state final.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Special Teams Player of the Week
Shavon Gramps-Green
(Biggs) Sr.
For our Northern California Special Teams Player of the Week, we head to the CIF Northern Section Butte County community of Biggs. And for those of you that are asking what and where is Biggs, we’ll tell you it’s a community of just under 2,000 residents around 15 miles southwest of Oroville just north of Gridley off of Highway 99.
Biggs plays small school football, but Gramps-Green has been more than big. He’s been huge in helping the Wolverines close out a perfect 6-0 COVID-shortened season that had them finish near the top of small schools in the Northern Section and knocking on the door of the Cal-Hi Sports Division V final rankings.
Last week, Shavon was really on in multi facets of a 67-6 plastering of nearby Live Oak, as he accounted for eight TDs in two different ways. But it’s his special teams performance the 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior running back, defensive back and return specialist is being honored for after returning two punts of 80 and 70 yards for touchdowns.
As a running back, Gramps-Green had 181 yards rushing on 10 carries with six touchdowns, a TD total that could have qualified for the weekly offensive award. On defense, Shavon had eight tackles including a sack, and he recovered two fumbles, and in some weeks that could have won a defensive honor.
On the season, Gramps-Green had 911 yards rushing and 24 TDs, 101 yards and two TDs receiving and the two punt return TDs for 28 total touchdowns, a number that would be solid in a full season, let alone six games.
On defense, Shavon finishes with 46 tackles, six sacks, an interception, the two fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. On special teams, he’s only returned six punts, and we can understand why teams want to punt away from him, since he’s returned them for 234 yards and that’s a 39-yard per return average.
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
