Dean Sommer of St. Helena has scored touchdowns four different ways this season for the Saints. Last week, he did it on defense and special teams for the Saints. Photo courtesy of Paul-Moser Napa Valley-Register via X.
With publisher Mark Tennis off on holiday, we had to look for other ways to accept nominations to find three players from Southern California and three from Northern California worthy of statewide recognition. So, we turned to our prep sports colleagues statewide and the response was phenomenal. Not only that, but one of the goals of the feature besides tracking potential entries in the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book is to find hidden talent that might only get local recognition, and our nominators found us a couple of legitimate diamonds in the rough. We will be acknowledging their nominations in the writeups and will have a special add-on at the end for those that didn’t get chosen but still would have easily qualified for the Stat Stars feature that will return next wek. This week our winners are from Whittier, Lake Arrowhead and San Diego in Southern California, and in Northern California we visit Pleasanton, St. Helena and Fresno.
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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 Northern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Dean Sommer (St. Helena) Sr.
The Redwood Empire portion of the CIF North Coast Section and the famous and picturesque wine-producing Napa Valley is where we head in search of the NorCal Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week. We were sent there by Santa Rosa Press Democrat prep sports writer Gus Morris, who was the nominator of Sommer.
It’s been quite some time since we visited St. Helena at the epicenter of the world famous Napa Valley Wine Country. In fact the last time was in 2011 when we did a Family Ties profile on St. Helena running back Charles Bertoli, the great-grandson of Charles “Chili” Bertoli, for whom he is named, the 1930 Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Football California State Player of the Year.
Summer may have just recently concluded, but it’s still Sommer time in the heart of wine country in St. Helena and last week was a perfect example of the kind of season Dean is having.
In a 53-23 victory over Kelseyville that gets St. Helena off to 5-0 to start, Sommer, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior wide receiver, defensive back and return specialist currently getting some college interest with Sacramento State on his list of schools, had two interceptions he took to the house for pick sixes of 40 and 30 yards, plus he had a batted pass. Dean the Scoring Machine also took a punt 50-yards for a TD on special teams.
Sommer didn’t score on offense, but he did have one carry that went for 34 yards and three pass receptions for 37 yards. All told that’s 191 yards total yards combined.
So far this season, Sommer has one rushing TD, two receiving TDs, two interception returns for TDs and two punts returned for touchdowns and 640 total yards.
Of note is Sommer is a three-sport star at St. Helena. Besides football, he stars in basketball and baseball for the Saints.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Vinnie Maiorana (Amador Valley, Pleasanton) Sr.
The East Bay portion of the CIF North Coast Section is where we head in the search for the NorCal Offensive Player of the Week, and its at the direction of veteran prep scribe Mitch Stephens of High School on SI and the San Francisco Chronicle who was the initial nominator of Maiorana, although he was subsequently nominated by the Bay Area News Group for its Boys Athlete of the Week award.
Its been a bit of a rough start for an Amador Valley team that won the 2024 North Coast D2 title and then the CIF Northern Regional Division 3-AA Bowl Game before falling just short in a four-point loss to Bakersfield Frontier in the CIF 3-AA state title game.
Not only did the Dons lose a ton of talent to graduation, but concurrently they upped the difficulty of the their non-league schedule to boot. They were competitive in their first four games, including a 40-28 loss to Cal-Hi Sports No. 43 Downey, but lost all four.
That all changed last week for Amador Valley in its rivalry game against cross-town arch-rival Foothill. For the past four years the visiting team has won the battle for P-Town, including a 48-12 victory last year by the Dons at Foothill.
This year it was home standing Amador Valley taking local honors and it was Maiorana leading the way. The 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior running back rushed for 330 yards and six touchdowns. Maiorana scored on runs of 47, 13 and 47 yards to give Amador Valley a 22-0 lead after one quarter. His fourth TD on a 5-yard run made it 30-7 at the half and then he had a 3-yard TD run and a 23-yard romp in the second half to account for the six touchdowns.
The six TD’s falls short of making the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, but more importantly gets Amador Valley into the win column.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Jareal Albert (Washington Union, Fresno) Jr.
To find the NorCal Defensive Player of the Week, and with several players sent to us with two interceptions but not double-digit tackles or multiple sacks, we decided to run with the nomination of Cal-Hi Sports long-time contributor and CIF Central Section historian Bob Barnett, who sent us Albert in an addendum to his weekly “Milestones” missive.
Speaking of the Central Section, we like to remind readers that for all player of the week features in all sports, boys and girls, the Central Section is considered Northern California.
Last week, in a 28-6 victory on the road at Coalinga, Albert, a 5-foot-10, 195-pound junior defensive back, had two interceptions he returned for 48 yards, one pass defensed and 10 total tackles. Jarael also got into the act on offense and although he didn’t score, he had six carries for 36 yards.
Albert now has four interceptions this season on defense and 396 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
The four interceptions is tied for the No. 14 reported mark in the state and is No. 2 in the Central Section.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Noah Contreras (Hoover, San Diego) Sr.
We head to a place that claims to be “America’s Finest City” in search of the SoCal Defensive Player of the Week and we find this week’s award winner a little less than five miles northeast of downtown San Diego on El Cajon Boulevard at Herbert Hoover High.
Of all the nominations we received this week the fewest that came in were for defense, so left to our own devices we scoured the reported statistics and found a player that came remarkably close to making the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book with an amazing performance in his most recent outing.
Last week, in a 42-0 rout of visiting Vista, the Cardinals senior outside linebacker came up with five sacks that totaled 37 yards in losses, nine total tackles with three quarterback hurries, and for good measure Contreras also forced a fumble. The sack total is just one shy of making the state record book. Noah also got into the act on offense at running back with 34 yards rushing and one touchdown.
So far this season for 3-2 Hoover, Contreras has nine sacks, and that is tied for the top reported mark in the CIF San Diego Section and is No. 4 in the state.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Tatum Ortiz (Rim of the World, Lake Arrowhead) Sr.
The SoCal Offensive Player of the Week comes to us by way of a nomination from Eric-Paul Johnson of the Southern California News Group who covers the Inland Empire.
To find our award winner Johnson sends us up the hill north from San Bernardino on Highway 18, also known as the Rim of the World Scenic Byway, to the town of Lake Arrowhead, and it’s at the school that bears the name of the byway it sits adjacent to that Ortiz stars at.
The Fighting Scots senior running back didn’t have the biggest numbers of the plethora of SoCal offensive nominees we received, but no one had more impact on the outcome of a game than Ortiz did. Not only that, there’s also a family connection that adds even more sizzle to the saga.
According to reports from SCNG reporter Taylor Blake Ward who covered Rim of the World’s 31-26 victory over visiting Grand Terrace, fog shrouded the roadway on the way to Lake Arrowhead and rain began to fall as the second half began making throwing the ball a little difficult, but that didn’t bother Tatum because he did his damage on the ground. In fact, he had all but 30 yards of the Fighting Scots total offense and three of the team’s four touchdowns.
Prior to the game Tatum had talked about goals. One of them was to rush for 300 yards, and indeed Ortiz did that when the workhorse-like running back carried the ball 40 times for a career-high 301 yards and three touchdowns.
Tatum got the Fighting Scots on the scoreboard early when on the fourth play from scrimmage, he bolted 76-yards to paydirt to give Rim of the World an early lead. Not only did he have the first say in the affair he had the final say as well, and it came on defense when at linebacker he came up with a sack on the final play of the game that snuffed out a potential game-winning Grand Terrace score.
Besides his rushing prowess, Ortiz had five tackles, including the sack, and two quarterback hurries. The bottom line is Tatum was plenty trouble for Grand Terrace.
The second goal Ortiz talked to Johnson about was he would like to break his father’s school rushing mark. Jason Ortiz, a 1990 graduate of Rim of the World and an All CIF Southern Section honoree that season, rushed for 2,010 yards. Tatum also wears the same No. 45 that Jason wore, as well as his brother Tyler Ortiz, a 2017 graduate of Rim of the World who rushed for 1,051 yards and 10 TDs in his three-year varsity career.
So far in a 5-0 start for Rim of the World, Tatum has surpassed his brother’s career rushing mark and he’s over half way to his father’s seasonal mark.
In five games, Tatum has rushed for 1,225 yards and 17 touchdowns. The 1,225 yards is the No. 2 reported mark in the both the state and the CIF Southern Section, and the 17 TDs is tied for tops in the state.
At a current 245 yards per game average this season, Ortiz is closing in on his father, but we’re going to give him another goal. At this point it appears the Fighting Scots are playoff bound, and if they make any kind of a run and Tatum continues his torrid pace, he may not only have a chance at making the state record book cutoff (2,500 yards), but may have a shot at breaking the school record of 2,610 yards set in 2010 by Jamie Taylor. Stay tuned.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Multi-Purpose/Special Teams Player of the Week
Landon Armenta (La Serna, Whittier) Jr.
Of all the media colleagues that responded to our request for assistance with identifying potential Cal-Hi Sports State Football Player of the Week honorees, not surprisingly the first was Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles who forwarded his “High school football top performers in the Southland” weekly feature.
A number of players from Sondheimer’s feature stood out, and some even got additional nominations from other media members, but the one that really caught our eye was Armenta. We were aware he played a role in what was called the “upset of the night” in the Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 25 Weekend Scoreboard. What we didn’t realize was how big a role he played in the 23-21 upset by La Serna over visiting previous No. 23 Edison of Huntington Beach.
Armenta, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound kicker, wide receiver and free safety, made a significant impact on special teams and offense and even got into the act on defense in a victory that evened the Lancers record at 3-3 this season. Landon certainly put his stamp on the game by not opening the scoring but getting the game’s final tally.
On special teams, Armenta booted home a 42-yard field goal, his lone attempt of the game, that gave La Serna a 3-0 lead. He also was 2-for-2 on extra points and had 45 yards on two kickoff returns.
Armenta, who had a tackle on defense and also had one short rush on offense, was also the Lancers leading wide receiver. Of the team’s 15 receptions for 167 yards receiving and two TDs, Armenta had 12 catches for 124 yards and both touchdowns. However, it was his second TD catch that sealed the deal and helped him earn a statewide honor to go along with local recognition.
With under two minutes remaining, La Serna quarterback Grady Long orchestrated a nearly 60-yard drive that included a 22-yard completion to Armenta that set up the game winner. Then, with just four seconds left, Long found Landon on an 11-yard TD pass that secured the victory over a state TOP 25 ranked opponent.
So far this season Armenta is the Lancers’ leading wide receiver and his 34 receptions for 427 yards receiving with five TDs is nearly half of the La Serna totals in all three categories. As a kicker, he’s been a perfect 17-for-17 on PATs and 2-for-2 on field goals.
Player of the Week Nominations That Just Missed
With no Stat Stars feature running this week we decided to include some players that were nominated by our media colleagues that would certainly have made the Stat Stars and just missed player of the week honors:
From Sondheimer and Cal-Hi Sports Managing Editor Ronnie Flores
A potential winner had his team won was Seth Solorio of San Pedro who passed for a school-record 444 yards and three touchdowns in loss to Laguna Beach. His favorite target, Elias Redlew, also set a school record with 10 receptions for 218 yards and two touchdowns.
Also from Eric Sondheimer
Ceasar Reyes of Los Angeles Garfield rushed for 259 yards and scored four touchdowns in win over Huntington Park. Dylan Elmer of Irvine University set a school record with 341 yards passing and three touchdowns in win over Glenn of Norwalk, and his favorite target, Cruz McMullens, caught six passes for 216 yards and one touchdown. Jacob Kerekes of South Torrance caught 13 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns in win over West Torance. Derrick Johnson II of Murrieta Valley of Murietta had two interceptions in defeat of San Clemente. Thomas Jones of Long Beach Wilson had two interceptions in win over Long Beach Millikan. Kingston Sula of Carson had eight tackles, including four sacks, in a win over St. Pius X-St. Matthias of Downey. La’Brenten Wilson of Cerritos had an 80-yard punt return for touchdown in win over Hacienda Heights Wilson.
Tarek Fatel of High School on SI
Sent us quarterback Brady Bretthauer of Valencia, who passed for 238 yards and five TDs and rushed for 100 yards and two more scores, and Canyon of Canyon Country running back Keyshawn Wooten who ran for 326 yards and two TDs in a 42-0 blanking of Castiac.
From the Bay Area News Group
Bryan Bullock of Washington (Fremont) completed all 10 of his pass attempts for 328 yards and six touchdowns to lead Washington to a 48-20 win over crosstown rival American. Dominic Marini of Christopher (Gilroy) had 10 tackles with two for losses, four QB pressures and a sack to lead Christopher to a 28-6 win against San Jose Overfelt.
Ethan Kassel of Kassel Media
Michael Mitchell Jr. of Riordan (San Francisco) passed for 364 yards and four TDs in the Crusaders’ first win at St. Francis of Mountain View since 1971. Jayden Duarte rushed for a school record 339 yards, accounting for five touchdowns, in 62-40 win by Alisal (Salinas) over Monterey.
Gus Morris and High School Coach
Sebastopol Analy quarterback Matthew Medina started the game with a pick six, but then came back with a monster seven TD performance in a win over Kimball of Tracy.
Section Central Historian Bob Barnett
Quarterback Aldo Rodriguez of Woodlake helped the Tigers stay unbeaten on the season as they beat Corcoran, 63-6. Rodriquez accounted for six TDs for the game on 369 yards passing and five touchdowns, plus 59 yards rushing and one score rushing. Jayden Najera of Golden West (Visalia) passed for a career high of 417 yards and four touchdowns in a 39-3 win over Tehachapi. Malachi Davis of McFarland had quite a night in a losing effort, as he accounted for 571 total yards. He passed for 407 yards and three TDs, and rushed for 164 yards in a 34-27 loss to Mendota.
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
