Two of this week’s honorees are shown delivering stiff-arms — Long Beach Millikan’s Anthony League last week vs Long Beach Poly and Oakdale’s Wes Burford a few weeks ago vs Escalon. Photos: John Napalan / the562.org & Hudl.com.
It’s a bit of a twist to get this week started with the players of the week going first followed by new updated State TOP 50 Football Rankings that are broken down with each team. We’re still getting back to normal from travels to Europe. No matter, we still have some state record related honorees since two of those from SoCal have impacted all-time lists. This week’s winners are from Long Beach, Los Angeles and Chatsworth in the south and Oakdale, Los Gatos and Pebble Beach in the north.
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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
Wes Burford (Oakdale) Jr.
To find the NorCal honoree, we head to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and land just northeast of Modesto.
We get nominations from coaches and readers/subscribers almost every week for this feature and this week not only did Oakdale head coach Garrett Martin nominate Burford, but his nomination was preceded by a nomination by longtime subscriber Guy Lilly.
They like to run the football at “The Corral” stadium at Oakdale High and in his most recent performance, Burford churned out a ton of yardage just like he’s done all season for the 6-1 Mustangs and in 2023 when he was a sophomore.
Of the 594 yards of total offense Oakdale piled up last week in a 56-40 victory over Valley Oak League rival Patterson, Burford had the biggest chunk after rushing for 384 yards and six touchdowns on 26 carries. The Mustangs only attempted two passes in the game and completed one for eight yards, and of course, the reception went to Wes.
After a scoreless first quarter, Oakdale took a 6-0 lead on a 4-yard touchdown run by Burford. Patterson scored to take a 7-6 lead at the half, but it was at that point Burford began bullying his way into the end zone five more times before all was said and done.
The second TD run by Burford was a 44-yard scamper and then Martin called his number for a 2-point conversion that he ran in for a 14-7 lead. Patterson scored to close it to 14-13, but Burford answered with a 65-yard romp to pay dirt to make it 21-13. Burford then took it up a notch with a 93-yard scoring run and it was a 28-13 lead.
Patterson scored to make it 28-20, but on the ensuing kickoff Burford took it 90 yards to the house to give the Mustangs a 35-20 lead. Touchdown run No. 5 for Burford was a 1-yard plunge that gave Oakdale a 42-26 lead. Patterson scored to make it 42-32 but after a failed 2-point conversion, Patterson tried an onside kick that was recovered by Oakdale. If you guessed it was by Wes, you’d be correct. After Patterson scored with around two minutes left to cut the lead to 49-40, Burford left no doubt about the outcome after his sixth rushing TD of 29 yards was the game’s final tally.
The 6-foot, 200-pound junior even got into the act on defense with five tackles and a pass defended.
We usually check on reported stats ourselves, but Lilly did it for us. Before we outline what he sent us, we’re sure Burford would like to give a shoutout to junior teammate Chase Lopez who rushed for 135 yards and the only other rushing touchdown in the game.
As for the reported stats, heading into a Valley Oak showdown with Central Catholic of Modesto, the 1,513 yards rushing Burford currently has amassed is No. 3 in the state and tops in the Sac-Joaquin Section. For juniors, he’s No. 8 in the nation and No. 1 in California according to reported MaxPreps.com numbers. His 18 rushing TDs is No. 10 in the nation for juniors, No. 2 in state and tops in the section.
Overall, for all players, his rushing totals besides being No. 3 in California is No. 24 in the nation, and his touchdowns are No. 39 in the nation, No. 3 in California and No. 1 in section.
Burford had a solid season as a sophomore when he rushed for 1,819 yards and 27 touchdowns. It takes a little over 2,500 yards to make the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book Most Rushing Yards (Season) list and just over 5,000 yards to make the career list. With at least four games remaining and even if Oakdale is ousted in the opening round of the CIFSJS playoffs, he could very well crack the season list, and with 3,332 yards so far in his career he has a shot at the career list as well.
Los Gatos linebacker Henry Masters has been a masterful defender the past two seasons. Photo: The Los Gatan.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Henry Masters (Los Gatos) Sr.
The search for the NorCal honoree takes us to the southern portion of the Santa Clara Valley around 10 miles south of downtown San Jose where we find our honoree at Los Gatos High.
With the score tied 14-14 after the end of the third quarter last week in a Peninsula Athletic League – Bay Division showdown with Atherton Menlo-Atherton, visiting Los Gatos forced a fumble with around three minutes left to play and it was recovered by Masters who blasted his way 35 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
Masters also had five tackles on defense, and he even got a carry rushing on offense.
Only two games worth of stats are reported for this season, but last season Masters was one of the leading tacklers in the state with his 172 total tackles coming in as the No. 10 reported mark in California and No. 2 in the CIF Central Coast Section.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Fin Mink (Stevenson, Pebble Beach) Jr.
The southwestern part of the Monterey Peninsula is where we head in search of our NorCal honoree, and it’s at Pebble Beach not far from the famous 17-mile drive and several world class golf courses where we find Mink.
With his winning this week’s award multi-purpose style, Mink sunk visiting Santa Cruz in a 59-14 Pirates victory after the 6-foot, 175-pound junior quarterback accounted for 431 yards of total offense. In the air, Mink passed for 346 yards and five touchdowns, and on the ground he ran for 85 yards and a sixth score.
Next up for Stevenson is a matchup with visiting Pajaro Valley of nearby Watsonville and both teams are 3-0 in Pacific Coast League – Santa Lucia Division, so the Pirates’ faithful are hoping Mink can stay hot in the Stevenson drive toward the playoffs.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Anthony League (Millikan, Long Beach) Sr.
This week’s SoCal award winner had a huge hand in making the old expression “all good things must come to an end” a reality because in his most recent performance League was in a league of his own.
Last week, in 53-40 come-from-behind victory over Long Beach Poly in which Millikan trailed 26-14 at the half, League, a transfer from Los Alamitos, carried the ball 27 times for 258 yards and four touchdowns.
Because of his heroics in front of a packed house at Millikan’s DeHaven Stadium, the good thing that came to an end was an 81-game Moore League winning streak for Long Beach Poly dating back to 2015, one that went one game further than the Jackrabbits 80-game streak between 1994 and 2008.
Down two scores at the half, the host Rams got a fourth down stop to open the second half and on the next play League ran it in on a 44-yard TD run to cut it to 26-21.
Millikan got another stop, and League would have had even higher stats but a 65-yard TD was called back.
The Rams did take a 29-26 lead but Poly took it back. Millikan then scored to re-take the lead, but Poly took it back again at 40-35. League then scored on a 38-yard run and from there the Rams took control.
League took advantage of a Poly fumble to score his third TD and Millikan had a 47-40 lead. An interception by Malik Stacy set up the game clinching score when League sealed the deal with his fourth touchdown romp.
The Poly 81-game league streak is over, but for Millikan its losing streak to Poly goes all the way back to 2009 when the Rams pulled out a 35-34 overtime victory. That was one game after Lakewood ended Poly’s 80-game league winning streak.
The demons have been excised with a lot of help from League, and although they haven’t clinched the Moore League title yet, at 4-0 Millikan is in the driver’s seat with two games to go beginning with a visit to Lakewood and then hosting Compton in its league finale.
Jae’on Young from Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth has made big plays on defense all season long so far. Photo: X.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Jae’on Young (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth) Sr.
The northwestern portion of the San Fernando Valley is where we find this week’s SoCal defensive honoree and it’s in Chatsworth where he plies his trade.
Last week, in a 50-17 victory of Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks that gets Sierra Canyon to 2-0 in the Mission League and over .500 at 4-3 overall, the Cal-committed Young, who 247Sports analyst Greg Biggins reported last year “has a smallish frame but he can really run and shows off both initial quickness and long speed,” had two interceptions, including a pick six where he showed his sub 11.0 100 swiftness with a 65-yard romp to the house.
The four-star recruit is one of the top defensive backs in the state also had five tackles including one for a loss and a pass defended. He displayed his offensive skills as well, with a 5-yard carry and two receptions, including a 28-yard TD catch.
So far this season and heading into a league showdown for the Cal-Hi Sports No. 7 ranked Trail Blazers with visiting Bishop Amat of La Puente, the 5-foot-11.5, 155-pound Young has four interceptions, 10 passes defended, a forced fumble and 14 of his 18 tackles have been solo, with two for losses.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Jahmir Torres (King-Drew, Los Angeles) Sr.
The City of Angels around eight miles due south of downtown LA and off Compton Avenue not far from the I-105 is our destination in search of the SoCal recipient and the destination is King-Drew Magnet School.
When we expanded this category from strictly special teams to include multi-purpose it was because it can be hard to find a special teams player worthy of a statewide honor. This week, however, not only do we find a special teams player for the SoCal award, we find one that gets a spot in the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book as a punt returner.
Last week, in a 42-0 blanking of nearby Los Angeles Dymally, the torrid Torres was sizzling returning punts and gets a spot in the record book on the Most Punt Return Touchdowns (Game) list after he tied the state record by taking three punts all the way to house for touchdowns.
Stats for the Dymally game were not yet reported but Torres, in only his third game for King-Drew after transferring from Edgewood High near Baltimore, Maryland, came into the game with a couple of punt returns for 80 yards, 363 yards of total offense, 163 yards receiving, and 118 yards returning kickoffs.
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
