Two of this week’s NorCal/SoCal player of the week honorees are QB Myles Jackson from Millikan of Long Beach (left) and LB Eric Gladney of Vacaville. Photos: Fernando M. Donado / For OC Sports Zone & Hudl.com.
For week three, we want to remind readers that the purpose of the Player of the Week features in all sports, boys and girls, is partly to uncover hidden talent that isn’t necessarily from teams in the spotlight, and to track entries for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, and this week we have both. Our three Northern California stops are in Atwater, Vacaville and Fresno, and in Southern California we visit Long Beach, Simi Valley and Apple Valley.
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Notes: We have a new twist to this feature that gives more flexibility to one of the honorees by expanding the Special Teams category to now be 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 Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Eric Gladney (Vacaville) Sr.
Solano County and the city of Vacaville is the stop we make to find our Northern California Defensive Player of the Week. There we find a senior linebacker who helped the Bulldogs faithful forget about the blowout the team suffered two weeks ago on the road in El Dorado Hills at Oak Ridge.
Last week, in a hard fought defensive battle won by host Vacaville, 14-7, over Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa, the Bulldogs fans were glad Gladney came up huge on defense with game-highs of 14 tackles and three sacks.
So far this season, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound middle linebacker has 33 tackles and the three sacks for the 2-1 Bulldogs. The tackles are the No. 7 reported mark in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and the three sacks is a section top 15 mark.
Last season, the All Daily Republic Linebacker of the Year had one report show him with 20 sacks, although the reported mark was five on MaxPreps. If he had 20 sacks, that would have led the section and tied for the lead in the state, but either way Gladney is a very solid defender.
Jaxson Percoats also is a baseball standout at Buhach Colony and really likes the L.A. Dodgers. Photo: Twitter.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Jaxson Percoats (Buhach Colony, Atwater) Sr.
For our Northern California Offensive Player of the Week honor, we land just northwest of Merced off Highway 99 in the city of Atwater.
At Buhach Colony we find Percoats, a 5-foot-11,190-pound senior running back who is the centerpiece of the running attack of the Thunder, and his huge performance came just at the right time and helped erase the sting of a big home loss two weeks ago.
Last week, in an old-fashioned shootout and scoreboard lighter-upper that resulted in a 54-51 Buhach Colony victory over Modesto Enochs, Percoats rushed for 283 yards on 22 carries with six touchdowns, including a 64-yard romp.
The Thunder trailed 21-8 late in the first quarter, 34-22 at the half, and they didn’t take their first lead until the early fourth quarter at 37-34, but that was just the start of things. There were two lead changes from there and Enochs tied the game at 44-44 with a last second field goal to end regulation. From there it took two overtimes and despite Percoats rushing for a TD in the extra time, the game was won on a 28-yard field goal by Evan Ochoa.
When we say Jaxson was in full action we don’t just mean Percoats running the pigskin. On defense, from his cornerback position, he had a team-high nine tackles. Percoats was just as busy on special teams where he blocked a field goal, had three kickoff returns for 88 yards, and two punt returns for 50 yards.
Two weeks ago, Percoats rushed for 142 yards and two TDs in a 66-21 loss to Hanford. Add that to 127 yards rushing for the 2-1 Thunder in a season-opening 19-0 victory over Modesto Gregori, and Jaxson has 552 yards rushing this season and eight touchdowns. The rushing yards is the No. 10 reported mark in the state and No. 3 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section. The eight TDs is also No. 3 in the section.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Juan Enriquez (Clovis West, Fresno) Sr.
We head to the CIF Central Section, which now includes even more of the Central Coast region of the state this year as before, for this player, but before we make the stop we remind readers the for all of the Player of the Week features for all sports, boys and girls, the Central Section is considered Northern California.
For this week, we land in Fresno at a Clovis West school with a strong athletic tradition in boys and girls sports, and we kind of have an anomaly. We could have picked two Golden Eagles players for Player of the Week awards, but that is something we just don’t do, even though both players, senior kicker Enriquez and senior quarterback Ryan Markanian, were nominated in his weekly Milestones report by Central Section historian and longtime friend and Cal-Hi Sports contributor Bob Barnett.
Since we could only choose one of the Golden Eagles stars that set school records, we chose Enriquez as the Northern California Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week, and in doing so we picked our first placekicker in the new combined category this season for his record-setting performance.
Last week, in a 40-14 victory on the road in Lemoore that got Clovis West to 3-0 and keeps the team at No. 46 in the new state rankings, Enriquez set school records by making four field goals that measured 33, 38, 39 and 43 yards, and he was 4-of-4 on extra points for 16 kicking points.
Enriquez also has now made 53 consecutive PATs covering two seasons. That number makes the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book on the Most Consecutive Conversions Made list and is the No. 3 mark in Central Section history. Juan needs five more consecutive PATs to take over the No. 2 spot in the section and 11 more to move to No. 1 and pass the 63 straight PATs in 2012 by Jake Poindexter of Clovis.
The four field goals in a game is one shy of making the Record Book on the Most Field Goals (Game) list, and also one shy of the Central Section record.
We didn’t forget about Markanian, or for that matter three-star 2024 wide receiver prospect Marshel Sanders. Barnett mentioned him as well, and in some weeks he could have been the offensive honoree.
Markanian, who has stepped in for the injured Tyler Patrick, passed for a career high 403 yards on 21-of-38 with three touchdowns. The passing yardage is the No. 2 mark in school history. Sanders was the recipient of all three TD passes and finished with seven catches for 242 yards receiving.
Carson Mott is the defensive line leader of a Simi Valley squad that has had no trouble in each of its first three games. Photo: allbuffs.com.
Defensive Player of the Week
Carson Mott (Simi Valley) Sr.
Ventura County is our destination and just off the Ronald Reagan Freeway and a little over 5-miles east of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is where we land at Simi Valley High.
There we find a three-star Colorado-committed defensive end who many consider one of the top edge pass rushers in the state.
Last week he showed his stuff and had a big hand on defense in a 49-12 rout of crosstown arch rival Royal that lifted the Pioneers to No. 23 and a one-spot bump in the most recent state rankings.
The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Mott couldn’t have given much more after blasting through for four sacks and another tackle for loss in his six tackles, plus he had two quarterback hurries and a batted down a pass.
So far this season for the 3-0 Pioneers, Mott has six sacks which already equals his total from last season.
Dustin Reynolds celebrates after Apple Valley’s big win over Murrieta Valley. Photo: Twitter / Yahoo.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Dustin Reynolds (Apple Valley) Sr.
We venture out to the High Desert to find our Southern California Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week and at Apple Valley High around 5-miles east of I-15 we find a doozy.
In a shootout 56-51 victory by Apple Valley that had a wild finish for Reynolds and the Sun Devils fans, the 6-foot-2, 225-pound middle linebacker and running back came up huge a lot of ways in helping Apple Valley jump 10 spots to No. 33 in the most recent state rankings with the win over current No. 41 and previous No. 25 Murrieta Valley of Murrieta.
At halftime, the Sun Devils trailed 31-14 but in the second half they scored on each of their final five drives for the comeback win. With 4:04 left in the game, Apple Valley took the 56-51 lead on a 30-yard romp to pay dirt by Reynolds in which he broke four tackles.
On defense, he helped orchestrate the comeback with three third-quarter tackles for a loss and added a game-changing 45-yard interception return for a pick six.
Overall Reynolds had five carries for 78 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Besides his third-quarter prowess on defense, the Apple Valley defense still had to stop Murrieta Valley after his winning TD run and Reynolds did his part and finished with a team-high 14 tackles with the three for losses.
So far this season, the bruising running back had only rushed 17 times for the 2-1 Sun Devils but he’s accounted for 202 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He only has two pass receptions but one of them went for a score.
For the season on defense, the Northern Arizona-committed Reynolds has 36 tackles with nine for a loss, the one interception and a batted down pass.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Myles Jackson (Millikan, Long Beach) Jr.
We land in Long Beach in search of our Southern California Offensive Player of the Week and at Millikan we find a junior quarterback who is part of a group of very talented Rams’ juniors.
Last week, Jackson helped get Millikan to 2-1 and erase the sting of a heartbreaking 1-point home loss to Cathedral (Los Angeles) two weeks ago by throwing for 454 yards on 20 of 32 passing with three TDs in a 54-28 victory over previously state-ranked St. Francis of La Canada. Jackson also ran for a fourth score.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Jackson already has 20 Division I offers despite only being in week three of his junior season. Five of the offers are from Pac-12 schools and several others are from Auburn, BYU, Boston College, Kentucky, Louisville, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, plus more.
Two of Jackson’s targets are also high-level junior prospects, Ryan Pellum and Jordan Anderson. Pellum has 42 D1 offers with Alabama leading the list, and Anderson, who caught six passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns against St. Francis, has 24 D1 offers with many the same as Jackson.
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
