Author Archives: Mark Tennis
Top Football Duos In State History?
After seeing Mater Dei’s inside defensive tackles duo of Tomuhini Tupui and Semi Taulanga in the team’s first game vs St. John Bosco this season, it was tweeted out and they were told that they were the best pair of defensive tackles that we’d ever seen in 45 years of covering California high school football....
FINAL Divisional State FB Rankings
When the very first Cal-Hi Sports state football rankings were compiled in the late 1970s by founder Nelson Tennis, they were done in five divisions (Class AAAA, etc.). We don’t do these anymore during the season, but to keep the archives going so that we have a version of them for every season we have...
State Basketball Players of the Week
It’s Christmas week, but there still was plenty of action last week all across the state and worthy candidates for these honors were not hard to find. We’re taking a break for New Year’s for this feature next week and then we’ll be back going week-to-week for the rest of the season. This week’s stops […]
FINAL Medium/Small State FB Ranks
As earlier announced, Newbury Park and St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma were named teams of the year for medium & small schools just after the CIF state finals. Now, we have expanded, final rankings for both breakdowns. Those moving up the most for medium at the end include Cardinal Newman, Beaumont, San Jacinto and...
FINAL State TOP 75 FB Rankings (1-25)
It’s the eighth time in the last nine seasons that Mater Dei and St. John Bosco finish in the top two slots. The only time they didn’t was 2021 and that No. 2 team, Servite of Anaheim, is going to have two first round NFL draft picks in April. De La Salle also did enough...
FINAL State TOP 75 FB Ranks (26-75)
This group features the other two teams from Orange County’s Alpha League, Los Alamitos and San Clemente, plus we have some other CIF Southern Section squads getting final boosts as a result of Palos Verdes winning the CIF D2-A state title by a large margin vs previously unbeaten Twelve Bridges. The Sea Kings also go...
State Stat Stars & Record Updates
It’s a mix of football and basketball but for football it’s just a few wrap up items, including final career passing stats reported for Fresno Sunnyside’s Tanner Wilson, who finished in front of Bryce Young and behind Jayden Daniels on the all-time state list. We also have milestone basketball coaching wins for Richard Masson of...
State Basketball Players of the Week
It’s our second group of honorees this season for boys and girls basketball. We’ll do another foursome next week on Christmas Eve, take a break for New Year’s and then we’ll be back going week-to-week for the rest of the season. This week’s stops are in Kerman and Vista for the boys and then we […]
Mater Dei State Team of Year 2024
Here is the official updated list of the California high school football state teams of the year that goes back for more than 120 years with Mater Dei of Santa Ana now added for 2024. Since the Monarchs also were No. 1 in the pandemic season when there were no section/state playoffs, it’s now four […]
More State FB Teams of Year
This was one of the hardest final State Small Schools Team of the Year selections in more than 40 years of doing one at the end of a season. Corona Centennial also gets another State Public School Team of the Year honor, Newbury Park already had wrapped it up for medium schools and we have...
