All-State Football 2023: Small Schools

The 45th annual Cal-Hi Sports All-State football honors marches on with the small schools. There are five from first team last year who have repeated for the 2023 season led by a Washington recruit who has posted one of the highest career sack totals in state history. Another repeater, QB Boone Lourd of L.A. Brentwood, also joins Small Schools State Player of the Year Hunter Babb on first team offense. Escalon leads all schools with three honorees. A bunch of other schools, including two CIF state title teams, have two.

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It’s the halfway point of that time of the year when the annual Cal-Hi Sports All-State Football Teams are selected and released. The 45th edition of these teams continues now with the top players from those teams that were deemed small schools during the 2023 season. The medium schools team will be next and then it be be the elite overall top 30-player teams plus large schools.

Small schools state No. 1 Escalon leads the way for the two teams below with three players named. The Cougars, who moved up to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D4 playoffs and to the CIF D3-AA regional final and will have to be medium schools next season, landed junior Ryan Lewis on first team multi-purpose, junior Sam Jimenez on second team defense and senior Donovan Rozevink on second team offense.

Lewis plays tight end on offense and linebacker/edge rusher on defense and has D1 college athleticism and skills. The four-year varsity starter next season caught 37 passes for 478 yards and six TDs and he had 72 tackles with 8.5 sacks. Jimenez could have been multi-purpose but was placed on defense for these honors. Jimenez caught 71 passes for 1,019 yards and 18 TDs. He had eight interceptions on defense. Rozevink, a three-year starter, passed for 2,106 yards and 36 TDs.

Other schools with more than one all-state small schools player include CIF state champions Woodland Christian and Colusa. The others are Ontario Christian, Hughson, Xavier Prep of Palm Desert, Linfield Christian of Temecula, St. Pius X-St. Matthias of Downey, La Jolla Country Day, Carmel and University Prep of Redding.

There are five players this year who have repeated as first team all-state small schools players. The group is led by defensive lineman Ratumana Bulabalavu from Army-Navy of Carlsbad. He ranked among the reported state leaders in sacks for three straight seasons and ended with 19.0 this season to go with 99 tackles. Bulabalavu, who has signed with Washington, also ended with 60.5 career sacks, which is believed to be among the top 10 totals in state history and a San Diego Section all-time best.

QB Boone Lourd from Brentwood of Los Angeles and WR Jeremiah Bernard of Modesto Christian have also repeated as first team all-state small school honorees. Lourd led Brentwood to a 9-3 record and to a No. 7 state small schools final ranking. He had his second straight 2,000 yard passing season and wrapped up his career with 5,832 yards passing and 78 TDs. Lourd also had 1,003 yards career rushing and 16 TDs. Bernard’s team at MC struggled to a 2-8 season, but played a tough schedule and he still had 79 catches for 1,479 yards and 20 TDs. Bernard, who has signed with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, also ended with career receiving totals of 188 catches for 3,012 yards and 34 TDs.

Hughson offensive lineman Navi Arretche and Salesian of Los Angeles offensive lineman Juan Rodriguez also are repeaters on first team. State Small Schools Player of the Year Hunter Babb of Caruthers, who was second in the state in rushing, was second team as a junior. He was joined this year on first team with another CIF Central Section running back, Andrew Camarillo of Orosi, who was fifth in the state for rushing yards with 2,562 yards. Camarillo also ended with state record book qualifying totals for rushing yards (6,540) and touchdowns scored (92).

Another player who moved up from second team to first team this season was defensive lineman Auckland Asiata of Sutter. Asiata has signed with Fresno State.

Another first teamer who was considered for the player of the year honor was Wyatt Simoni from St. Bernard’s of Eureka. He led the Crusaders with 1,962 yards rushing and 31 TDs, he caught 25 passes for 568 yards and four scores, and on defense he had 104 tackles with 15 sacks, one interception and three fumble recoveries.

This year’s small school teams ended up on offense with three receivers and two running backs on first team and then one receiver with a tight end and three running backs on second team. For defense, the final alignments were 5-3-3 for first team DLs, LBs and DBs plus 4-4-3 for second team.

Note: Schools broken down into large, medium and small based on section playoff divisions but also on where they’ve been traditionally. We also will not generally consider a school close to or above 1,500 enrollment small school at all no matter what section or state playoff division that school is placed. This means schools like Bell Gardens, Banning of Wilmington and Sweetwater of National City, which won CIF regional titles this season, can’t ever be a “small” school. Medium, yes. Small, no. Many of the CIF L.A. City Section playoff teams, including D2 and D3, can’t be small schools, either, for same reason.

Cal-Hi Sports All-State Football
Small Schools

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

WR Jeremiah Bernard (Modesto Christian) 6-1, 180, Sr.
WR Marquis Bradley (Ontario Christian) 5-11, 170, Jr.
WR Cameron Brewer
(Bishop Montgomery, Torrance) 6-2, 175, Jr.
OL Navi Arretche (Hughson) 6-4, 300, Sr.
OL Luke Farr (Army-Navy, Carlsbad) 6-6, 265, Sr.
OL Jackson Lloyd (Carmel) 6-7, 290, Jr.
OL Juan Rodriguez (Salesian, Los Angeles) 6-3, 290, Sr.
OL Elijah Vaikona
(Xavier Prep, Palm Desert) 6-7, 340, Jr.
QB Boone Lourd (Brentwood, Los Angeles) 6-2, 200, Sr.
RB Hunter Babb (Caruthers) 5-9, 185, Sr.
RB Andrew Camarillo (Orosi) 5-9, 170, Sr.
PK Jeremy Maloney
(Linfield Christian, Temecula) 5-11, 180, Sr.

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

DL Auckland Asiata (Sutter) 6-3, 245, Sr.
DL Ratumana Bulabalavu
(Army-Navy, Carlsbad) 6-4, 260, Sr.
DL Aseli Fangupo (Sacred Heart Prep, Atherton) 5-10, 275, Jr.
DL Kyle Hill (Xavier Prep, Palm Desert) 6-5, 215, Sr.
DL Kevin Johnson (St. Pius X-St. Matthias, Downey) 6-4, 230, Sr.
LB Kado Felder (Washington, Easton) 6-1, 200, Sr.
LB Daniel Jones (Rancho Christian, Temecula) 6-3, 220, Sr.
LB Chinedu Onyeagoro (King/Drew, Los Angeles) 6-2, 220, Jr.
DB Joshua Barnes (St. Monica, Santa Monica) 5-11, 175, Sr.
DB Christian Harris (St. Pius X-St. Matthias, Downey) 5-9, 175, Sr.
DB Justin Wyrick (Salesian, Los Angeles) 5-9, 165, Sr.
P Santiago Martinez (Mary Star, San Pedro) 6-2, 170, Sr.

FIRST TEAM MULTI-PURPOSE

QB/RB Jared Doolittle (Western Christian, Upland) 6-3, 185, Sr.
RB/WR/DB Noah Hinkle (Woodland Christian) 5-10, 180, Soph.
TE/LB Ryan Lewis (Escalon) 6-4, 230, Jr.
QB/RB Jaden Mangini (La Jolla Country Day) 6-2, 205, Sr.
RB/LB Wyatt Simoni (St. Bernard’s, Eureka) 6-1, 200, Sr.
PK/QB/RB Jerod Bubba Smith (Fowler) 6-0, 190, Jr.

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

WR Jack Davis
(St. Vincent de Paul, Petaluma) 5-10, 180, Sr.
TE Adrian Ortiz
(St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, Temecula) 6-4, 205, Soph.
OL Marshall Dodge (Scotts Valley) 6-4, 235, Sr.
OL Reegan Dunten (Lassen, Susanville) 6-2, 270, Jr.
OL Luke Givens (La Jolla Country Day) 6-4, 225, Jr.
OL Sawyer Kundin
(Twelve Bridges, Lincoln) 6-3, 235, Sr.
OL Jackson Ludwig (Sonora) 6-2, 230, Sr.
QB Donovan Rozevink (Escalon) 6-3, 200, Sr.
RB Nathan Crawford
(Twelve Bridges, Lincoln) 5-11, 190, Sr.
RB Juan Esquivez (Orestimba, Newman) 5-9, 190, Sr.
RB Sol McGarey (Nordhoff, Ojai) 5-9, 165, Sr.
PK Aiden Bunas (University Prep, Redding) 6-4, 200, Jr.

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

DL Parker Ashton (Menlo School, Atherton) 6-2, 225, Sr.
DL Emilio Fimbres
(Vincent Memorial, Calexico) 6-0, 235, Sr.
DL Devin Huegel
(University Prep, Redding) 6-5, 245, Sr.
DL Zander Gimenez (Woodland Christian) 6-3, 265, Jr.
LB David Burns (Hughson) 5-11, 200, Sr.
LB Battle Gideons (St. Margaret’s, SJ Capistrano) 6-1, 225, Sr.
LB Will McCoy (Colusa) 5-10, 200, Sr.
LB Fermin Velarde (Holtville) 5-8, 185, Sr.
DB D.J. Horton (Weed) 6-2, 185, Sr.
DB Sam Jimenez (Escalon) 6-1, 170, Jr.
DB Ashton Rees (Carmel) 6-1, 170, Jr.
P Brenden Gratt (Taft) 6-0, 215, Sr.

SECOND TEAM MULTI-PURPOSE

RB/DB Michael Cherry (Rosemont, Sacramento) 5-11, 185, Sr.
QB/RB Bo Coronado (Colusa) 5-9, 155, Sr.
RB/LB Nate Curtis (Rio Hondo Prep, Arcadia) 5-10, 160, Jr.
RB/KR Donald Moore (Rock Academy, San Diego) 6-1, 175, Sr.
RB/KR Jacob Poole (Strathmore) 5-10, 165, Sr.
DL/QB Thomas Rominger (Valley Christian, Roseville) 6-5, 220, Sr.
QB/RB Hayden Slegers (Ontario Christian) 5-11, 190, Sr.
RB/DB Jeaden Underwood
(The King’s Academy, Sunnyvale) 5-7, 185, Sr.

SMALL SCHOOLS STATE PLAYER OF THE YEAR (previously announced):
Hunter Babb (Caruthers) RB

SMALL SCHOOLS STATE COACH OF THE YEAR (previously announced):
Jeromy Blackwell (Strathmore)

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports