CIF State Football Title Game MVPs

Some are easy, some are hard and we obviously have to do this without seeing all of the games in person. But we have an MVP for every CIF state championship game played since 2006 when the current event was renewed for the first time since 1927. The tradition continues from Dash Beierly of Mater Dei in the Open Division to Joseph Smith from Balboa of San Francisco in D7-A.

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Open Division
Dash Beierly (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
While senior Jordon Davison had an impressive outing with 17 carries for 113 yards rushing and two TDs and showed some toughness by coming back to play after suffering an elbow injury that knocked him out of a few days, the player of the game for the Monarchs in their 37-15 win vs De La Salle of Concord has to be Beierly. On two different occasions, he had to get the offense out of the shadow of the end zone and was wildly successful both times. The first time he dropped back inside the 5-yard line and lofted a bomb down the middle of the field to Gavin Honore, who took it 90 yards for a touchdown to give MD a 14-0 lead. The second time it was 3rd-and-12 and Beierly had to avoid getting sacked in the end zone and instead drilled a 14-yard completion to tight end Mark Bowman. If he hadn’t made that play, the Monarchs would have been punting the ball back to De La Salle and giving the Spartans a chance to tie the score at 23-23. Instead, Beierly kept the MD offense going down the field and a 15-yard TD run by Davison with 7:55 left in the game pushed the lead back tup to 30-15. For the game, Dash went 18 of 27 passing for 355 yards and three TDs. He also had some positive yards rushing, but suffered three sacks so his totals were just six carries for six yards. Beierly will play next at Washington.

D1-AA
Akili Smith Jr. (Lincoln, San Diego)
One week after the University of Oregon-bound QB had better numbers than five star junior QB Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park in the SoCal regional final, he did his job again for the Hornets in their 28-26 win against Pittsburg. While Akili didn’t make the play on defense that stopped a two-point convertion try for the Pirates with 1:19 left in the game and he didn’t rush for more than 100 yards like teammates Donald Reed III and Junior Curtis did, he directed the offense all night long. Smith Jr. also had three big touchdown passes, including one to Isaiah Grant for 77 yards. He also scored the team’s final touchdown on a 7-yard run with 3:44 left in the game for a 28-20 lead. Akili ended 6 of 11 passing for 171 yards and three TDs and he had 43 yards rushing on 10 carries. For best performance by a player for a team that didn’t win in the state final games we saw at Saddleback College, Pitt’s Jamar Searcy would get the nod. He had 23 carries for 198 yards and four TDs and he had five receptions for 67 yards.

D1-A
Julius Gillick (Edison, Huntington Beach)
The play of the game for the Chargers in their 21-14 victory vs Central of Fresno was the 54-yard pass catch and run by Jake Minter on a throw from Sam Thomson for a touchdown with just 20 seconds left in the game. Edison’s rock all season, though, and even in this game was its senior running back. Gillick had the team’s other two TDs in the state final on runs of 1 and 14 yards. He also ended with 129 yards rushing on 27 carries. Gillick also had two receptions for 14 yards. He had broken Edison’s single-season record the week before with 253 rushing yards against Granite Hills of El Cajon in the regional final. For the season, Julius totaled 2,474 yards and that was even though he was unable to play in the CIFSS D3 championship due to receiving two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the semifinals. He has recently decommitted from Montana and is looking for opportunities at other D1 colleges.

D2-AA
Luke Alexander (Grant, Sacramento)
It wasn’t just the 18-yard TD pass to Koby Shabazz with 22 seconds left that gave the Pacers their 35-28 win over Pacifica of Oxnard that displayed Luke’s ability to make big throws in the closing seconds of big games. Two weeks earlier, he connected on a game-winning TD pass with 34 seconds left to Zo Edwards when Grant got past Rocklin, 30-28, in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D2 championship and then in the CIF D2-AA NorCal final vs St. Francis of Mountain View it was Alexander who drove the Pacers for a field goal with one second left for a 32-30 triumph. Earlier in the game vs Pacifica, Luke had 9-yard TD pass to Brandon Lambert and a 26-yard TD pass to Edwards. For the game, he went 22 of 43 for 303 yards and three scores. Alexander had to come out of the CIF D2-AA state final in the second quarter last season due to an injury and Grant fell, 21-19, to La Serna of Whittier. He was healthy this time throughout and the Pacers sure were glad about that.

D2-A
Ryan Rakowski (Palos Verdes, PV Estates)
Just a sophomore, Rakowski already is CIF state championship legend. That’s what happens when you connect for six touchdown passes to tie the record for a CIF state final and lead the Sea Kings to their dominant 55-13 win against Twelve Bridges of Lincoln. Rakowski tied the record of six set in the 2014 D1 state final by Folsom’s Jake Browning. Rakowski, who completed 20 of 25 passes for 353 yards in the game, also had nine rushes for 41 yards and it’s that kind of ability to extend plays and run is what is perhaps his most impressive trait. In many PV games this season, Rakowski beat teams with his legs as much as his arm. He will be a highly regarded junior QB for the Sea Kings next season and is expected to be starting for the third straight season.

D3-AA
R.J. Green (Frontier, Bakersfield)
Defense was the primary reason that the Titans won their first CIF state title with their 18-14 win over high scoring Amador Valley, but no one defensive player had a multitude of sacks, interceptions or fumble recoveries and no tackle stats were available. Our associate editor, Harold Abend, saw the game and thought Green’s rushing on offense was a huge key to the Frontier win and that’s who he picked as game MVP. R.J., who himself has averaged more than five tackles per game on defense, churned out 149 yards rushing on 14 carries. He had a back-breaking 77-yard touchdown run after two straight false starts pushed back the Titans to a 1st-and-20 situation. Green played last season at Garces of Bakersfield and became eligible just before Frontier’s first game this season.

D3-A
Kalani McLeod (Vanden, Fairfield)
The 42-41 overtime win by the Vikings over Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia featured one team that threw it all over the place and the other that was unstoppable running the ball. McLeod was the one who was unstoppable as a passer. He had his third straight 400-yard game in the playoffs and that included what turned out to be a game-winning 5-yard TD pass on fourth down in overtime to Keitaro Davis. McLeod wound up 26 of 37 for 404 yards and three TDs. He also added one TD rushing. This comes after he had 484 yards and six TDs in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D3 championship and then 462 yards and four TDs in last week’s win vs Pleasant Valley of Chico in the regionals. For the season, Kalani totaled 4,494 yards passing and 39 TDs.

4-AA
Gabe Casanovas (St. Vincent de Paul, Petaluma)
Junior teammate Mason Caturegli was the Mustangs’ MVP when they won in the D6-AA title game last season, but this time it has to be Casanovas, their dual-threat junior QB. He didn’t rush for a score in the 25-23 win last Friday vs Highland of Palmdale, but he led them in rushing with 19 carries for 162 yards. Casanovas only threw 11 passes, but he completed nine of them for 106 yards and two of them went for touchdowns.

4-A
Cash Byington (Sonora)
This is a hard one between Cash and junior teammate QB Eli Ingalls, but Byington has been a standout all season for the Wildcats on offense, defense and special teams. In the 52-34 win against St. Pius X-St. Matthias of Downey for Sonora’s first-ever CIF state title, Byington had 10 carries for 41 yards and one TD plus three receptions for 153 yards and two touchdowns on offense. Ingalls had an 85-yard TD pass to Byington plus another TD pass and he rushed for 131 yards on 25 carries. On defense, Byington was credited with six tackles. Then on special teams, he had one kick return of 58 yards and finished with four returns for 154 yards.

D5-AA
Hudson Rutherford (Carmel)
It was a two-headed monster that led the Padres to their 48-7 romp past El Capitan of Lakeside with QB Rutherford and senior Ashton Rees. We went with Rutherford as the MVP. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Rutherford as going 22 of 32 passing for 309 yards and four TDs. He also scored on a 2-yard run. Two of Hudson’s TD passes went to Rees, who also had 17 rushes for 166 yards. Rees also had a two TD runs to go with the two TD catches. Carmel finished up a 15-0 season, which will go down as the best unbeaten record in the state for the season. The only other unbeaten team was 13-0 Mater Dei (Santa Ana). Rutherford, also a senior, Rees and others have already headed over to the basketball court for their senior seasons in that sport.

D5-A
Andre Lopez (American Canyon)
The Wolves mixed it up among many in their 68-47 triumph over Palmdale that will go down as the highest scoring CIF state final (two teams) in history. Lopez, a junior who two weeks ago was named the Offensive Player of the Year in the Redwood Empire Valley League, was one of them and had a big outing with 135 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Lopez scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter that pushed American Canyon out to a 45-33 lead after Palmdale had scored to close to within one score of the lead.

D6-AA
Luke Lemke (Arcata)
It’s a good thing that the Tigers were able to post their 27-21 win in overtime over Portola of Irvine because it would have been perhaps impossible not to pick Lemke as the MVP of the game win or lose. Instead, it was his 1-yard TD run in overtime that accounted for the winning score. Lemke has been a prolific dual-threat QB for Arcata (14-1) all season long. He had another strong outing in the state final with 99 yards rushing and three TDs plus 147 yards passing. Luke’s 33-yard TD run in the fourth quarter tied the score. For the season, Lemke finished with 1,807 yards rushing and 2,758 yards passing in 15 games. That’s more than 4,500 yards of total offense. It takes more than 5,000 to make the all-time state list in that category, but more than 4,500 is quite impressive just the same.

D6-A
Bryce Leveroos (Summerville, Tuolumne)
The junior QB and son of head coach Sean Leveroos got glowing reviews for his play in the NorCal title game win at Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton and it looks like he did even better for the Bears in their 38-21 in the state final vs Monte Vista of Spring Valley. The CIF San Diego Section school couldn’t stop Leveroos on the ground as he churned out 169 yards rushing on 21 carries and scored two TDs. Bryce only threw a handful of passes, but he completed 4 of 4 passes for 159 yards. One of those went for 75 yards to teammate Luke Larson.

D7-AA
Peyton Collins (Moreau Catholic, Hayward)
He was one of three players who had back-breaking plays for the Mariners in their 42-8 romp past Lindsay. For Peyton, it was a 79-yard pick six touchdown. He also had a rushing score and three tackles on defense. Jalen Arnold had a punt return TD and Eriq Fields had a fumble return TD. Neither of those two also had a TD on offense. Collins only had two carries on offense but had 30 yards.

D7-A
Joseph Smith (Balboa, San Francisco)
Sophomore RB made a name for himself this season on both sides of the ball and in the team’s 55-27 victory over Pioneer of Whittier that earned the school a second CIF state title it was Smith who shined the most. Stats were not available, but the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that he had four touchdowns and more than 200 yards of offense.