Windsor’s Hayden Anderson adds a state Player of the Week award for multi-purpose excellence to two preseason All-State multi-purpose selections. Photo: Harold Abend.
With Cal-Hi Sports Executive Editor Mark Tennis in Europe and covering the De La Salle game from London this week, we had to dig deeper to select this week’s six State Football Players of the Week. It turns out after we reached out to our friends and reliable media sources in both Northern and Southern California, we had over three dozen nominations for the six honorees, with all but a couple coming from longtime Cal-Hi Sports Southern California contributor and current freelancer Lance Smith. We even had an entry for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book to track, and on top of that, discovered some hidden talent that usually would garner only local kudos. Our visits this week are to Pleasanton, Rio Vista and Windsor in NorCal and the stops are in Palm Springs, Mission Viejo and Brawley in SoCal.
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Notes: We will continue to have flexibility to one of the honorees by calling it 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
Offensive Player of the Week
Tristan Tia (Amador Valley, Pleasanton) Sr.
We visit Tri-Valley in search of the Northern California Offensive Player of the Week and it’s near downtown Pleasanton and a couple of miles southeast of where I-580 and I-680 intersect that we find our honoree at Amador Valley High.
Playing in the tougher “A” Mountain Division of the East Bay Athletic League (that includes state-ranked Concord De La Salle and Danville San Ramon Valley) has meant to get ready for league play, Amador Valley had to schedule strong in non-league. However, despite that fact the leading passer so far among teams not only in the EBAL – Mountain, but in the entire CIF North Coast Section, and also holding down the No. 15 reported mark in the state is the Dons 6-foot-3, 190-pound senior signal-caller.
Tia has thrown for over 225 yards in all six of the Dons games so far this season. Last week during a 48-12 romp on the road at cross-town rival Amador Valley for town bragging rights, Tia threw for a season-high 362 yards on 20-of-21 passing with five touchdowns, including a 70-yarder. Tristan also rushed for 41 yards and a pair of two-point conversions. The passing package earned an astronomical 173.1 quarterback rating.
The 20-for-21 passing just misses making the Cal-Hi-Sports Online Record Book Best Perfect Passing Performances (Game) list, since it takes a perfect passing performance to make that list. There are two other record book lists Tia could possibly make after we verify that info: Most Consecutive Completions, where the threshold is 16, and/or Most Consecutive Completions in one or more games, where it takes 18 to qualify.
Be as it may Tia, who has several offers including Boston College, Colorado State, Montana, UNLV, San Jose State, Northern Arizona and Appalachian State, plus others, currently has passed for 1,677 yards on 109-of-136 (a whopping 80.1 completion percentage( with 15 TDs and only one interception. All that translates into a very formidable 154.0 quarterback rating.
Editor’s note: Tristan got back to us after the feature was published to let us know he indeed did have 16-straight completions and that qualifies for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book Most Consecutive Completions list.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Charlie Jeffers (Rio Vista) Sr.
The search for the NorCal Defensive Player of the Week takes us to a town just about halfway between Lodi and Fairfield on Highway 12, smack dab in the middle of the Delta. It’s a stone’s throw from the banks of the Sacramento River in Rio Vista where we land at the high school that bears the town’s name to locate this week’s honoree.
The defensive performance of the Rio Vista senior defensive end falls just short of making the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book Most QB Sacks (Game) list, but when a player has five sacks in a game, we take notice. In last week’s 49-3 victory over Vacaville Christian, Jeffers had five sacks and that secures him statewide recognition and this week’s defensive honors. Jeffers finished with nine total tackles, including seven solo.
So far this season for 4-2 Rio Vista and heading into a Sierra Delta League match-up this week at Mesa Verde of Citrus Heights, Jeffers has 13.5 sacks and 29 total tackles, with 22 solo.
With his big week, Jeffers has vaulted himself to the top reported mark for sacks in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and the No. 2 mark in the state.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Hayden Anderson (Windsor) Sr.
We like to muse about traveling to the various cities and towns to find the State Football Players of the Week, but this past week we were actually in the Redwood Empire, north of Santa Rosa in the flesh, to see the performance by Anderson in a 35-8 victory that earned the Windsor two-way standout this week’s honors among NorCal multi-purpose standouts.
It’s befitting that Anderson wins this week’s award since he was a preseason Cal-Hi Sports All-State third team choice and a preseason Redwood Empire first team Multi-Purpose selection.
Anderson, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound Nevada Las Vegas-committed senior edge/defensive back and wide receiver, hardly touched the ball in the Eureka win. In fact, he only played on offense until the second play of the second quarter and on defense to just before halftime. Even so he did a lot of damage. He only had four pass receptions for 88 yards, but three of them went for touchdowns of 43, seven and 26 yards.
On defense Anderson had two pass interceptions, returning one of them 22 yards. He also had a sack and two other tackles for losses. Anderson was also the punt returner, but Eureka kicked it away from him. He fielded two punts with fair catch and a 5-yard return, once again all in the first half.
By and large coaches of the top teams in the Redwood Empire don’t usually roll up the score and stats, and if Windsor head coach D.J. Sexton did, there’s no telling how much greater the production of Anderson would be.
“Hayden hasn’t played a complete game, and barely past halftime in most games,” said Sexton, who Jaguars improved to 5-0 and have outscored opponents 206-36 overall this season.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Samuel Mourhees (Desert Chapel, Palm Springs) So.
The Coachella Valley is our destination in the search for the SoCal Offensive Player of the Week, and it’s in Palm Springs at Desert Chapel that we find our honoree (nominated by freelancer Lance Smith) that makes Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book.
Last week, in a 60-42 victory over Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac of Temecula, Mourhees got free enough to throw for 486 yards on 21-of-34 passing with seven touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound sophomore also rushed for 47 yards and an eighth score.
The 486 yards passing earns Mourhees a spot in the record book in the Most Yards (Game) list. The seven passing TDs falls one short of the Most Touchdown Passes (Game) list.
So far this season for Mournees, who also plays basketball and baseball for Desert Chapel, and heading into a matchup this week at home versus Vasquez of Acton, Samuel has passed for 1,621 yards and 16 TDs with six interceptions.
The 1,621 yards is the No. 11 reported mark in the CIF Southern Section and No. 21 in the state.
J.D. Hill is a top defender for the Diablos. Photo: HUDL
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Jayden “J.D.” Hill (Mission Viejo) Jr.
Southern Orange County is where we head in the search for the SoCal Defensive Player and we end up at Mission Viejo where we honor a 6-foot-2, 245-pound junior defensive end that was more like a one-man wrecking crew in his most recent performance.
Last week, in an impressive 49-14 victory by Cal-Hi Sports No. 3 Mission Viejo over visiting No. 36 Long Beach Poly, Hill registered three sacks and seven total tackles with four for losses, two forced fumbles, three quarterback hurries, a pass break up, and for good measure a blocked field goal. Quite a night’s work against a quality opponent.
So far this season for 7-0 Mission Viejo and heading into an Alpha League match-up with No. 44 and host San Clemente, Hill has 45 total tackles with a whopping 14.5 for losses, 8.5 sacks, 14 quarterback hurries, an interception, the two forced fumbles, blocked field goal and three batted passes.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Matthew Gutierrez (Brawley) Sr.
Do you know the way to Brawley? If you don’t longtime Cal-Hi Sports SoCal contributor Chuck Nan can help you find the Imperial Valley city located just south of the Salton Sea because he sent us there with his nomination. That player is the Wildcats’ 6-foot, 205-pound senior quarterback and linebacker and after the performance he had, Gutierrez is this week’s choice.
In a 55-14 victory last week over visiting Mission Bay of San Diego, Gutierrez had four TD passes of 80, 69, 16 and eight yards, and he rushed for two more scores on TD runs of nine and 45 yards.
On defense, Gutierrez had two pass interceptions.
Heading into a match-up this Thursday on the road at San Diego University City, Gutierrez has passed for 1,012 yards and 16 TDs, rushed for 303 yards and six more scores, and on defense has the two sacks for a Cal-Hi Sports Medium Schools Bubble Brawley team that is 6-0 so far this season.
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
