Two of the most likely quarterbacks for the 2022 season who will be among the state leaders for yards and touchdowns are Dieter Barr (left) from St. Pius X-St. Matthias of Downey and Tre Dimes of Fairfield Vanden. Those two already have season totals from 2021 that are in the state record book. Photos: Hudl.com & Dennis Lee / SportStars.
Latest expansion of the Cal-Hi Sports state football records has been to extend career leaders to include everyone reported with 7,500 yards and 79 TD passes. All single game, regular season and overall leaders through the 2021 season also are now all listed. Among those added who will be back this season are Jax Leatherwood from San Diego Scripps Ranch, Tre Dimes of Fairfield Vanden and Malachi Nelson of Los Alamitos.
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Underclass Players From 2021 In The State Record Book
Dieter Barr (St. Pius X-St. Matthias, Downey)
QB with several D1 offers threw for 55 TDs in 14 games for the Warriors last season. He capped the regular season with six TD passes in a win vs Bishop Montgomery of Torrance and then had five in the CIFSS D7 playoff win vs Heritage of Menifee. Dieter also passed for 3,353 yards.
Nate Bennett (Oaks Christian, Westlake Village)
He is now playing for the Lions after starring last season at Village Christian of Sun Valley. His TD pass total and yardage total isn’t what got him into the book. It’s that he had 39 TD passes in 10 regular season. Bennett will start his clock at Oaks with 3,113 yards and 43 TDs for his prep career.
Dominic Nankil was throwing darts all season in 2021 for Mater Dei Catholic. Photo: Twitter.com.
Chris Cooper (Beaumont)
With his total of 3,610 yards passing last season, Cooper not only got onto the all-time state list, but he also ranks fifth in state history among sophomores. He’ll have a big junior season coming up for the the Cougars.
Tre Dimes (Vanden, Fairfield)
As a junior, Dimes had the best of times for the Vikings as they won the CIF D3-AA state title with a victory over Aquinas of San Bernardino. He passed for 3,027 yards, but the total that made the state record book with 46 touchdown passes. He didn’t make it for the regular season since Vanden had five playoff games.
Trey Kukuk (Capistrano Valley, Mission Viejo)
He had the second-highest single game total for a junior in state history and set an Orange County record by passing for 615 yards and six TDs (41 of 60) when the Cougars defeated Trabuco Hills of Mission Viejo, 59-56, in one of last season’s wackiest games of the year. Trey also had yardage for the regular season that made it into the state records.
Jax Leatherwood (Scripps Ranch, San Diego)
Our recently named Grid-Hoop State Player of the Year for the 2021-22 school year will be looking to have another big season for the Falcons in football. He made the state record book for TD passes with 51 overall and 37 in 10 regular season games. He also made it for his total of 3,915 passing yards. Jax was able to play into the the CIF D2-A state final, which gave him extra games to show what he can do.
Dominic Nankil (Mater Dei Catholic, Chula Vista)
He was crucial for a Crusaders’ squad the won the CIF D2-AA state title over Central Catholic of Modesto and will be back to lead a team ticketed for the top 20 part of our preseason State Top 50. Nankil makes the book for his total of 3,427 passing yards.
Malachi Nelson (Los Alamitos)
The highly-regarded four-year varsity performer for the Griffins probably will make it into the career records when he’s done despite having had that super short COVID season in the spring of 2021. He already was in the book for throwing seven TD passes for one half against Huntington Beach and also is now in there for his 35 regular season TD passes from last year.
Isaiah Sepand (Westlake, Westlake Village)
Here’s another transfer student already with a state record listing. For Sepand, who played last fall at Campbell Hall of North Hollywood, he has been added for throwing 36 TDs passes for 10 regular season games at that school. Sepand also led Campbell Hall to a 10-0 record, then the team was moved up for the CIFSS playoffs and lost right away, 36-20, in the D6 bracket to much bigger school Santa Barbara.
TO SEE GOLD CLUB LIST FOR STATE SINGLE SEASON
TOUCHDOWN PASS LEADERS (OVERALL), CLICK HERE.
TO SEE GOLD CLUB LIST FOR STATE SINGLE SEASON
TOUCHDOWN PASS LEADERS (REGULAR SEASON GAMES ONLY), CLICK HERE.
Graduated Players From 2021 In State
Single Season Passing Records
Sergio Beltran (Menlo School, Atherton)
Will Bingham (Laguna Beach)
Nicholas Coronado (Kimball, Tracy)
Noah Fifita (Servite, Anaheim)
Bo Kelly (Dana Hills, Dana Point)
Clash Orsborn (Mission Bay, San Diego)
Jacob Porteous (Casa Grande, Petaluma)
Shane Purcell (Arcata)
Noah Rodriguez (Monrovia)
Brandon Rose (Vista Murrieta, Murrieta)
Jack Ruff (St. Margaret’s SJ Capistrano)
Luke Souza (Acalanes, Lafayette)
O’Shea Wallace (Cathedral City)
Xavier Washington (Rancho Cucamonga)
TO SEE GOLD CLUB LIST FOR STATE SINGLE SEASON
PASSING YARDS LEADERS (OVERALL), CLICK HERE.
TO SEE GOLD CLUB LIST FOR STATE SINGLE SEASON
PASSING YARDS LEADERS (REGULAR SEASON), CLICK HERE.
Brandon Rose of Murrieta Valley is now at the University of Utah. Photo: Hudl.com.
Career Passing State Records Expand
to 79 TDs & 7,500 Yards As Minimums
Compared to some of the other categories in the state passing records maintained by Cal-Hi Sports, we always thought the primary two career categories of yards and touchdown passes were cut off too high. There were some prominent players who hadn’t been above 8,400 yards or 90 touchdowns.
Then after the seniors of the 2021 season (Class of 2022) moved on, there were two others that deserved to be put on that were short of those totals. So instead of moving on, it was decided to take some time to go through all of our files after 2008 (which was when the last printed state record book was done) and expand the career lists so they cut off at 7,500 yards and 79 touchdowns.
The two seniors from 2021 who therefore are now included in the career state records are Noah Fifita from Servite of Anaheim (83 TD passes) and Brandon Rose from Murrieta Valley of Murrieta (7,521 yards).
Settling on 79 instead of 80 was done just because we noticed that prominent Mater Dei of Santa Ana quarterback Matt Barkley had ended his career with 79 TD passes. Six others also have been added with that same total.
Dropping those cutoffs also enabled us to add the following names to the site lists that previously were only shown in our last printed record book: Pat Haden of La Puente Bishop Amat (7,633 yds 1968-70); John Paye of Atherton Menlo School (7,569 yds 1980-82); Daniel Jeremiah of El Cajon Christian (7,550 yds 1993-95); and Casey Clausen of Mission Hills Alemany (7,532 yds 1997-99). One of those added from after 2008 was Ian Book from Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills. We have Ian’s total for passing yards just one behind Pat Haden.
TO SEE GOLD CLUB LIST FOR STATE SINGLE GAME
PASSING RECORDS, CLICK HERE.
TO SEE GOLD CLUB LIST FOR STATE CAREER PASSING RECORDS, CLICK HERE.
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
