Cal-Hi Sports Insider Blog

Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.

More Stat Stars of the Week

All of the delays from last week prevented us from getting in big totals onto the site, so this week we’re doing an honor roll of top outings for the last two weeks. Note that this list doesn’t include players from Top 50 ranked teams (their totals are in those team writeups) or players from the CIF Central Section. For Central Section, see separate blog post provided by Bob Barnett. Be sure to send stat star updates for football and now basketball to markjtennis@gmail.com.

E.J. Ane (Silver Valley, Yermo): Powerful player rushed 36 times for 259 yards and four TDs in 49-40 win over La Quinta in CIFSS D13 semifinals. Ane, who also had eight tackles and a fumble recovery on defense, now had 2,809 yards and 33 TDs for the season.
Ash Borgeson & John Harris (Bishop Diego, Santa Barbara): Borgeson is the leader in tackles in CIFSS D6 by a lot despite two lost games due to a concussion. He had 11 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack and 3 hurries in a big win over Saugus last week. On offense, Harris was a monster with 16 carries for 304 yards rushing and four scores.

Manteca QB Gino Campiotti is a three-sport athlete who already has been part of several CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship teams. Photo: Mark Tennis.

Gino Campiotti (Manteca): The senior standout has rushed for five TDs and had one TD pass for two straight weeks. The first came in a Sac-Joaquin Section D3 playoff game vs. American Canyon. Campiotti did it again last week when the Buffaloes beat Christian Brothers of Sacramento 43-38 in the semifinals. In that game, he also rushed 20 times for 142 yards and completed 12 of 19 passes for 162 yards.
Jaden Casey (El Camino, Oceanside): In an avenging 49-42 win over arch-rival Oceanside in the San Diego D1 semifinals, Casey scored on a 1-yard run with 10.8 seconds left. It was his second TD of the game to go with 246 yards and three TDs passing.
Erik Cuellar (Covina): A two-pointer in OT was good to give the Colts a 57-56 win over top-seed Culver City in the CIFSS D11 semifinals. Cuellar, a sophomore, shined for Covina with 45 carries for 303 yards and five TDs. Fellow sophomore QB Nin Burns also went 14 of 16 for 250 yards and two TDs with 48 more yards rushing on nine carries.
Sean Dourseau (Citrus Hill, Perris): He didn’t have any interceptions in his team’s 30-20 loss to St. Francis of La Canada two weeks ago and therefore ended the season with 13. If Citrus Hill had kept on going, Dourseau could have threatened the single-season state record of 17.
Takahashi Drayton (Cleveland, Reseda): In another of several crazy shootouts last weekend, Drayton connected on 16 of 27 passes for 477 yards and six TDs to lead the Cavs past top-seeded Eagle Rock 55-54 in overtime in the L.A. City Section D2 semifinals. Jalne McFall caught six passes for 216 of those yards and two TDs. Isiah Adams had five catches for 197 yards and four scores.
Antonio Faaetee (Fremont, Oakland): He was just about a one-man team for the Tigers this season. In their 49-40 loss to Oakland Tech in the Oakland Section semifinals, Faaetee rampaged for 440 yards on 18 carries and score four touchdowns. For the season, Antonio had 164 carries for 2,626 yards and 31 TDs. He also had 87 tackles and nine sacks playing defense.
Jake Gookin (Sonora): In a wild-and-wacky 56-55 loss to Colfax in the SJS D5 semifinals, Gookin ran for six TDs and passed for two more. He didn’t make it on a two-point conversion, however, with 22 seconds left that would have won the game.
Miles Hastings (San Marcos): In his team’s 62-41 loss to Helix of La Mesa in the San Diego Open Division semifinals, Hastings ended with 410 yards passing and four TDs on 22 of 35 attempts. He also had 309 yards passing and three TDs when the Knights won two weeks ago 41-20 against St. Augustine.
Giles Jackson (Freedom, Oakley): His 7-yard TD run in OT gave the Falcons a 45-39 win over Antioch in the CIF North Coast Section D1 semifinals. He also capped a big night in which he rushed for 260 yards and scored four TDs. Jackson and team will now play Liberty of Brentwood in the title game and also will be trying to avenge an earlier loss. The winner of the NCS D1 playoffs does not go to a CIF bowl since the NCS puts up its Open Division runner-up instead.
Cooper Jones (El Toro, Lake Forest): In El Toro’s 37-16 win over previously unbeaten Lompoc in the CIFSS D3 playoffs, Jones hit on 13 of 18 passes for 373 yards and five TDs. He threw two TDs each to Austin Derrico and Shane McLaughlin.
Jarmar Julien (McClymonds, Oakland): Junior RB who made a name for himself as a sophomore at previous school (Oak Grove of San Jose) rambled for 221 yards on 15 carries and scored twice when the Warriors won the Oakland Section title by topping Oakland Tech last Friday 42-14.
Justin Keeling (Valley View, Moreno Valley): One of the state’s rushing leaders, Keeling had 31 carries for 264 yards and five TDs when Valley View beat Pacifica of Garden Grove 59-27 in the CIFSS D10 playoffs. Keeling also had two catches for 41 yards in the same game.
Austin Maciel (Rio Mesa, Oxnard): In a 63-28 victory over Kaiser of Fontana two weeks ago in the CIFSS D8 playoffs, Maciel connected on 16 of 23 passes and had seven TDs. He also ran for a pair of scores and helped the Spartans pile up 551 yards of offense.
Josh McCurty (Eastlake, Chula Vista): Prolific tackling star racked up a season-high of 22 tackles in 21-16 triumph over Rancho Bernardo in CIF San Diego D1 semifinals. The 6-foot, 220-pound junior has more than 150 reported tackles for the year.
Deontae McKinney (Steele Canyon, Spring Valley): He rushed for 275 yards and three TDs as Steele Canyon set a school record for points when it knocked off previously unbeaten Bishop’s of La Jolla 61-52 in the CIF SD D2 playoffs.
Theori Oliver (Encinal, Alameda): In his last game for the Jets, which was a 49-32 loss to Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa in the NCS D3 playoffs, Oliver had three TD runs and one TD pass. It was Encinal’s first loss of the season. Oliver ended the season with 49 TDs accounted for (rushing, passing). He did not score 49 TDs, which according to MaxPreps makes him one of the state leaders.
Spencer Petras (Marin Catholic, Kentfield): Before the Wildcats played Bishop O’Dowd in the NCS D3 semifinals, they had to get past Acalanes of Lafayette in the quarterfinals and they did 38-31. Petras completed 16 of 28 passes for 448 yards with five TDs and one pick for a 126.49 QB rating.
Isaac Sharp (Hilmar): He rushed for 247 yards and scored twice as the Yellowjackets won the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D6 title with a 42-13 win over Modesto Christian. Hilmar, which was only 5-5 entering the postseason, won its seventh section title with the last one coming in 2011.
Emilio Simbeck (Menlo School, Atherton) – ​T​he senior quarterback completed 18 of 29 passes to six receivers for 265 yards, throwing for a pair of TDs and running for another in a 26-21 win against Scotts Valley in the CCS D5 semifinals. He also had a team-high 24 carries for 107 yards. ​Simbeck ​led the Knights 12 plays​ and 94 yards​ to their winning drive​ as the Knights returned to the CCS D5 championship game.​


NEW CIF Sac-Joaquin Sec Top 20

Once again, since the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section is the one for our home base in Stockton, we’ll put together a weekly Top 20 in football for that section this season. Watch the FOX40 Final Quarter this week on Friday at 10:45 p.m. for all the playoff highlights. Our Top 5 lists and the 11 p.m. half-hour show are done for the season.
Read more…


CIF Central Sec: Trujillo Tru-iffic

Here’s some record updates and highlights of top players & teams from the recent week as reported to us from CIF Central Section historian Bob Barnett of Fresno. Bob has done phenomenal work on behalf of CIF Central Section schools, athletes and coaches for more than 40 years.
Read more…


Boys BB: 2017-18 Transfer Rundown

Here’s a quick-hitting list of transfers likely to impact this year’s boys basketball state rankings. It’s been a hectic off-season and we offer a rundown of where some of California’s elite players ended up, including some whom left the state.  Read more…


Sac-Joaquin Top 5: Single Season TDs

We are happy to say that for the fifth straight year the CalHiSports.com web site and Cal-Hi Sports have been part of the weekly Final Quarter high school football show on Friday nights on the FOX 40 station in Sacramento.
Read more…


Why CIF Vball May Be 2 Weeks Earlier

Nothing has been announced officially by the California Interscholastic Federation, but moving up the CIF state championship calendar by at least one week for the 2018-19 school year has been common knowledge to many in the media and for many coaches.

For years, the CIF fall sports calendar has had state championships in cross country first and this year’s meet will be this weekend at its longtime home at Woodward Park in Fresno. The CIF girls volleyball state finals will then be held the following week on Dec. 1-2 at Rancho Santiago College in Orange.

The easy path for the CIF in moving up fall events by one week would be simply to move up cross country, girls volleyball and then football. That’s not so easy, however, and here’s why.

Vendors who are signed up by the CIF have a monster day during the Friday before the Saturday at the cross country championships. It’s the biggest CIF event of the year in terms of competitors (thousands and thousands) and since it’s always Thanksgiving weekend all of those competitors run the course the day before the actual races. All of their parents are there with them and buy all of their souvenirs on that day as well. The CIF’s many business partners therefore probably won’t want to see that Friday bonanza moved one week earlier.

So what’s the solution? It’s simple. Girls volleyball can be two weeks earlier and cross country stays the same. Moving up girls volleyball by two weeks also would align the California season with the rest of the nation. States that just ended with championship events last weekend were Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. As it stands now, California doesn’t end for two weeks and is the only state still going. With the two-week change, the California season and the national season would then be over at the same time as those other states.

Moving up the girls volleyball calendar by two weeks may have a big impact on some of the late-season tournaments like the Santa Barbara TOC, but all in all it’s probably the correct move for the CIF.


NEW CIF Sac-Joaquin Sec Top 20

Once again, since the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section is the one for our home base in Stockton, we’ll put together a weekly Top 20 in football for that section this season. Watch the FOX40 Final Quarter this week on Friday at 10:45 p.m. for all the playoff highlights. Our Top 5 lists and the 11 p.m. half-hour show are done for the season.
Read more…


CIF Central Sec: 1,163 yds for 2 teams

Here’s some record updates and highlights of top players & teams from the recent week as reported to us from CIF Central Section historian Bob Barnett of Fresno. Bob has done phenomenal work on behalf of CIF Central Section schools, athletes and coaches for more than 40 years.
Read more…


Sac-Joaquin Top 5: Single Game TDs

We are happy to say that for the fifth straight year the CalHiSports.com web site and Cal-Hi Sports has been part of the weekly Final Quarter high school football show on Friday nights on the FOX 40 station in Sacramento.
Read more…


Few more State Stat Stars of Week

Here are more individual totals we need to record onto the site from last week’s football games. This list doesn’t include any SoCal/NorCal players of the week or those from the CIF Central Section, who are featured in a separate post on this blog. Even more players are mentioned in our various State Top 50 team highlight writeups. We follow state stat stars each week in support of our exclusive Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book and are adding categories to the on-line files all the time. To see new record updates and stat stars from top-ranked teams, join our Gold Club by CLICKING HERE.
Read more…


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