Can’t tell by the number but based on shoes he’s wearing, we’re pretty sure this is Casa Roble’s Dunedin Tupou (left) forcing a fumble in team’s win last week vs Nevada Union. At right is D1 quarterback recruit Michael Wynn from St. Genevieve of Panorama City. Photos: Orangevale Live / Facebook.com & @gens_football / X.com.
We didn’t have any entries for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book to track this week, which is one of the purposes of this feature, but not only did we fulfill another reason we do this feature, and that’s to uncover hidden talent for statewide recognition, we got a chance to play a rhyme game like we often like to do with our honorees’ first and last names. This week we visit Panorama City, Corona and Pacific Palisades in Southern California, while in Northern California the stops are in Orangevale, Moraga and Antioch.
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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 Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Michael Wynn (St. Genevieve, Panorama City) Sr.
The San Fernando Valley is our destination in search of the Southern California Offensive Player of the Week and we find this week’s award winner just west of Highway 170 and east of the I-405 in Panorama City at a St. Genevieve Catholic school that is looking to compete in a higher division in the CIF Southern Section playoffs than D9 from last year.
If the first three wins are any indication of how well the noble Valiants are going to do this season, it may very well be better than their quarterfinal finish in last season’s CIFSS D9 playoffs – and obviously by garnering a statewide honor to go with local kudos, Wynn has had a lot to do with winning and a 3-0 start for St. Genevieve.
Last week was a perfect example. According to a post on X/Twitter the Valiants’ 6-foot, 195-pound senior quarterback went on a recruiting trip to Fresno State on Saturday but not before he turned some heads once again by coming up huge in a 42-8 win over Pasadena La Salle where Wynn passed for 462 yards and five TDs, plus he rushed for a sixth score.
Two weeks ago, he also had 462 yards passing with six TDs in a 47-12 victory over host Antelope Valley of Lancaster.
Even before the season started, Wynn turned the head of noted 247Sports National Recruiting Analyst Greg Biggins, who wrote after seeing Michael at a camp in April that “St Genevieve QB Michael Wynn has some juice in that arm, strong camp today.”
The juice is still flowing for Wynn and his winning ways. After three games he’s passed for 1,166 yards on a completion rate of .750 with 13 TDs and no interceptions, and that translates into an astronomical 156.3 quarterback rating.
The 462 yards passing falls seven yards short of making the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book on the Most Yards (Game) in the Football Individual Records: Single-Game Passing section. However, the 1,166 yards so far this season comes in at No. 14 in the state for reported passing marks and No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section, and with a whole bunch more games to play, Wynn may have enough juice in his arm to still garner a record book spot.
Jaden Walk-Green of Corona Centennial is shown running back an interception for a TD during earlier game vs Bingham of Utah. Photo: cen10.football / Instagram.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams
Player of the Week
Jaden Walk-Green (Centennial, Corona) Jr.
To find the Southern California Multi-Purpose Special Teams Player of the Week we head to the Inland Empire and land in Corona at Centennial High.
For this feature, we quite often shy away from players on teams in the upper echelon of the Cal-Hi Sports State Rankings and instead try to focus on players that don’t always get to shine in the spotlight.
However, this week is an exception, and for very good reasons, and it’s not just because Walk-Green covered more than one of the bases for this category, it’s because Jaden was basically the player of the game in Centennial’s 43-36 victory for the Cal-Hi Sports No. 4 ranked Huskies over previous Cal-Hi Sports and national No. 1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana.
On special teams, the 6-foot, 190-pound junior booted two field goals in two tries and was 5-for-5 on PATs as well.
Playing defensive back, Walk-Green had two interceptions, the first one he took to the house and after he kicked the PAT it gave Centennial a 14-0 lead. His second interception came late in the game and sealed the deal when a pass that could have been ruled a completion for Mater Dei saw Jaden take the ball away from the would be receiver.
Besides the two interceptions, the Huskies’ two-sport star, who also plays on the Centennial baseball team, had seven tackles.
What a time to have the game of your life in the biggest spotlight of all, and at the same time earn a statewide honor to boot.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Demare Dezeurn (Palisades, Pacific Palisades) Jr.
A little less than 20-miles due west of downtown Los Angeles is where we sort of locate our Southern California Defensive Player of the Week, and it’s at Palisades in Pacific Palisades that this week’s honoree plies his trade as a defensive back.
We say sort of because for those of you readers that don’t remember, as it used to be, the school our award winner plays for, Palisades Charter High School, was damaged by the Palisades Fire last January – and the school has yet to be rebuilt. Students now attend classes at the old Sears Building in Santa Monica, and the football team plays its home games at Santa Monica City College.
Despite that overwhelming adversity, the students have been resilient, and so has the football team that’s off to a 3-0 start, and Demare, a speedy 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior free safety and track star who transferred from Bishop Alemany of West Hills where he set state freshman sprint records two years ago, has been a big part of the defensive secondary this season.
Last week, in a 49-34 victory at nearby Brentwood of Los Angeles, Dezeurn was a doozy on defense after picking off three passes, one of which he returned 75 yards to paydirt for the game’s final tally. He also had two tackles.
Demare got into the act on offense as well with 11 yards rushing on one carry and 35 yards receiving on two catches.
This isn’t the first time Dezeurn has come up big for Palisades this season, only the first time it was on offense as a wide receiver.
In a season-opening 37-34 victory on the road in Studio City at Harvard-Westlake, Demare made an immediate impression in his first game for the Dolphins after snagging 12 pass receptions for 194 yards and four touchdowns.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Dunedin Tupou (Casa Roble, Orangevale) Soph.
We head to the metropolitan Sacramento area of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section in the hunt for the Northern California Defensive Player of the Week and we find this week’s honoree about 20-miles northeast of the state capitol and it’s not far from Folsom Lake in Orangevale at Casa Roble where we locate Tupou, who now gets statewide recognition to go with local recognition.
To say Tupou has been a tackling machine this season for a Casa Roble team that is off to a 3-1 start this season, would be a bit of an understatement, because on defense Dunedin has done it all for the Rams, and his most recent performance caps the first four weeks.
Last week, in a 39-14 win on the road in Grass Valley at Nevada Union, Tupou, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound outside linebacker, had a whopping 18 tackles with two for losses including a sack. He also forced a pair of fumbles. Dunedin also does some punting for Casa Roble and had two punts for a 34.5 yard average
So far this season, and heading into a Golden Empire League opener in two weeks after a bye this week, Tupou, who has been playing varsity since his freshman season, has 58 tackles (14.5 tackles per game average), with eight for losses including four sacks. He’s also forced two fumbles and defended two passes.
The 58 total tackles is the top reported mark in the Sac-Joaquin Section and No. 8 in the state.
Zach Tabibian boots a kickoff for Campolindo. Photo: X.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams
Player of the Week
Zach Tabibian (Campolindo, Moraga) Sr.
The Central Contra Costa County portion of the CIF North Coast Section is where we head in the search for the Northern California Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week, and it’s east of Oakland through the Caldecott Tunnel and up the hill south of Highway 24 and not far from St. Mary’s College in Moraga at Campolindo High where we find this week’s honoree, who now adds a statewide award to some local recognition.
When we expanded this category to include multi-purpose it was because there were weeks when it was difficult to find a special teams player worthy of statewide recognition, but this wasn’t one of those weeks because Tabibian is primarily a kicker, and he gets his kudos with his foot.
In a solid 16-13 victory last week over 2024 CIF Division 3-A Bowl Game champion and visiting Vanden of Fairfield, it was Tabibian who booted the Cougars to victory with a perfect day as a kicker. He only attempted one PAT and converted that but it was his field goal kicking that was the difference in the outcome of the contest.
Zach’s first field goal cut the Cougars deficit to 6-3 at the half, but it was field goals No. 2 and 3 that were instrumental in the victory.
With around eight minutes left to play, a Campolindo drive stalled and Tabibian came on to split the uprights to tie it at 13-13, and then, after the Cougars’ defense did its job and kept Vanden off the scoreboard, Tabibian stepped onto the gridiron with under a minute to play and calmly hit a game-winning 39-yard field goal that gets Campolindo off to a 3-0 start this season.
Proving he’s not just a placekicker, the senior who also plays running back, was the leading rusher in the game with 61 yards.
So far this season and heading into a non-league matchup with Brentwood Heritage, Tabibian is 6-for-6 on PATs and 3-for-3 on field goals. He’s also second on the team with 103 yards rushing and one touchdown.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Adrian Masaniai (Deer Valley, Antioch) Sr.
The CIF North Coast Section and the East Contra Costa County area adjacent to the Sacramento River Delta is where we find this week’s Northern California Offensive Player of the Week and it’s in Antioch at Deer Valley High.
It’s been quite some time since Deer Valley got off to a 3-0 start. In fact, it’s one game more than the Wolverines won all last season and one less than two years ago.
Heading into league play in the tough Bay Valley Athletic League, the Wolverines’ start puts them in a position to possibly make the playoffs for the first time in a while and the young man that some on social media are calling “The Throwin’ Samoan,” just like former NFL quarterback Jack Thompson, has a ton to do with the team’s resurgence and has come up huge in the last two games for Deer Valley.
Last week, in a 54-27 victory over Berkeley, Masaniai, a 6-foot, 155-pound senior signal-caller, threw for 396 yards and seven TDs on 20-of-25 passing.
Two weeks ago, in a 27-0 whitewashing of Novato, Masaniai tossed four TD passes and had 366 yards passing.
So far this season, and heading into a date in San Francisco this Saturday at Abraham Lincoln, Adrian has passed for 873 yards with a completion rate of 70.9 percent with 14 TDs and only two interceptions. That’s a very solid 136.2 quarterback rating.
Although he’s not among the state leaders since the NCS teams have only played three games and other sections have played four games, the 873 yards passing is the top reported mark in the section.
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
