State FB Roundup & Final Projections

Trent Mosley breaks into the clear for Santa Margarita during CIF Southern Section D1 title game win vs Corona Centennial at the Rose Bowl. Photo: @SMCHS_Football / X.com.


Here is a one-stop place to find all of this weekend’s CIF section championship scores from across the state with some highlights from many of the games. It’s also where we’ve placed all of the teams the way we see them for this year’s regional bowl game matchups. The CIF section commissioners will meet on Sunday to finalize these matchups. All section champions in the state listed in this post.

For an explanation of how the CIF bowl games work and how the matchups are set up and how our projections are done CLICK HERE.

Note: What the hell, this is a post for all to see on CalHiSports.com. Please support our work with a Gold Club sub today. To check out getting a Gold Club membership to see all past projections plus all of our state football rankings, state record lists, totally authentic historical features, all of the upcoming all-state teams and more, CLICK HERE.

CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.

CIF state championship games on Dec. 12-13 will be played at Saddleback College (Mission Viejo), Buena Park High School and Fullerton Union High School District Stadium. Exact dates, times and locations will be revealed on Sunday, Dec. 7 after all of the regional winners are decided. Last season, the Open, D1AA, D1A, D2AA and D2A championship games were all held at Saddleback College.

OPEN DIVISION
Santa Margarita of Rancho SM (CIFSS D1) 10-3 vs.
De La Salle of Concord (NCS Open) 12-0

Comments: CIF Southern Section D1 finals in the era of competitive equity aren’t usually lopsided so the way that Santa Margarita dominated Corona Centennial in a 42-7 win on Friday night at the Rose Bowl was surprising to many. The Eagles, in their first year under new head coach Carson Palmer, just made too many big plays on offense to back up their defense, which has been a strength all season. It is the first CIFSS title for the Eagles since 2011 when they won the old Pac-Five Division title. That team later won the CIF D1 state title while the team this year’s Eagles will be playing in the Open Division against De La Salle, which won the CIF Open Division state crown that season. Wide receiver/ running back Trent Mosley (USC) didn’t play when the Eagles went to overtime and handed Centennial its only other loss. He gave a preview of the night he would have on the team’s first series with a 65-yard reception, 5-yard reception and 2-yard TD run. Mosley finished with 10 catches for 292 yards and three TDs receiving. CIFSS D1 title games don’t usually produce a state record listing but 292 yards is high enough for the single game list. Junior DL Isaia Vandermade also continued his recent dominance up front with three of the team’s seven sacks. Santa Margarita QB Trace Johnson, who played last season at a school in Florida, ended with 16 of 24 for 383 yards and four TDs. Centennial, which is the same team that beat two-time defending CIF Open Division state champ Mater Dei in the CIFSS semifinals, finished 11-2 and still may wind up at No. 2 in the state pending what happens in the final game. De La Salle has been in the No. 1 position in the north since early in the season when Folsom lost to Mission Viejo and never let up. The Spartans won their 33rd consecutive NCS title last week with a 24-17 win against Pittsburg.

DIVISION 1-AA

Folsom (Sac-Joaquin Sec D1) 12-1 vs. Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco (CCS Open) 12-0
Cathedral Catholic of San Diego (SD Open) 10-2 vs. Los Alamitos (CIFSS D2) 12-2

Comments: The biggest question on the minds of many from Folsom is the likelihood of whether the Bulldogs will be hosting the regional final against Riordan not about whether the Crusaders will be the team they will be playing after their team beat Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills on Friday, 21-14, to win the program’s fifth straight section title. For details of that game, CLICK HERE. Riordan, which topped Serra of San Mateo last week, 33-13, in the CCS Open final, also has a head-to-head win over NCS D1 winner Pittsburg. The Crusaders haven’t been in a NorCal regional before, but the Bulldogs traveled to play Pitt last year in D1-A so the expectation is that they will be at home this time. Cathedral Catholic clinched its spot in the D1-AA as the CIF San Diego Section Open Division winner with a 20-16 victory in that section’s Open Division final played last Tuesday night. It has a loss to De La Salle and then lost in the next game to Point Loma of San Diego when a lot of players were out with injuries. Back at full strength, the Dons beat Lincoln in league, beat Mission Hills of San Marcos in the SD Open semifinals, then got going with 20 points in the fourth quarter to pull out the win vs Carlsbad. In the CIFSS D2 final on Saturday at San Clemente, Los Al reversed an earlier league loss to the Tritons and won their title with a 33-20 victory.

DIVISION 1-A

Pittsburg (NCS D1) 12-1 vs. Central East of Fresno (Central D1AA) 11-1
Pacifica of Oxnard (CIFSS D3) 14-0 vs.
Granite Hills of El Cajon (SD D1) 10-3

Comments: There was no letup for Pittsburg in the NCS D1 final played on Friday against Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa after the Pirates came up short in their upset bid the previous week in the Open Division final vs De La Salle. After giving up a field goal to the Cardinals on their first series, Pitt started forcing three-and-outs after that and eventually posted a 42-17 win. Sophomore QB Javale Jones connected on 18 of 31 passes for 255 yards and three TDs — all in the first half — and sophomore WR Kenny Ward had nine catches 133 yards and two TDs. Central East, which won the CIF Central Section D1AA title one week ago with a 70-30 victory vs Clovis, seems like an easy choice to be Pitt’s opponent for a NorCal title on the line. With both teams at home last year in the regionals, which one will be home this year is a bit of an unknown. That will be announced Sunday. Down south on Friday, Pacifica of Oxnard topped Palos Verdes of PV Estates, 20-10, in the CIFSS D3 championship to win its second straight section title and third since 2019. Palos Verdes, last year’s CIF D2-A state champions, had to play without 2024 State Sophomore of the Year Ryan Rakowski, who suffered a broken thumb in the semifinals. The Sea Kings still took a 10-7 lead in the early in the fourth quarter on a 28-yard field goal by Niko Dragin. Pacifica, last year’s CIF D2-AA state runner-up, took it right back on a 61-yard TD pass from Taylor Lee to Will Jones Jr. After PV was stopped on a fourth down with less than three minutes left, the Tritons didn’t just kill the clock but scored on the final play of the game on a 42-yard run by Isaiah Phelps. Down south on Saturday, Granite Hills captured its fourth straight section title in the San Diego Section with a 41-29 win over 2024 CIF D1-AA state champ Lincoln. A touchdown pass in the third quarter from junior QB Zac Benitez to Noah Walker gave Granite Hills a 33-29 lead. The Hornets had a missed field goal in the fourth quarter and then the Eagles put it away with 1:25 left on a touchdown run by Gage Spalding. The Eagles won the SD Open Division title in 2023 with a D1 title last year and now one for this year. They started their run with a D2 section title in 2022. That 2022 team also is the only one (so far) that has won a CIF state title.

DIVISION 2-AA

St. Mary’s of Stockton (SJS D2) 11-2 vs. Serra of San Mateo (CCS D1) 8-5
La Habra (CIFSS D4) 11-3 vs Bakersfield Christian (Central D1A) 12-0

Comments: Bakersfield Christian stayed unbeaten one week ago with a 38-16 win vs Liberty of Bakersfield in the Central Section D1A title game. We have La Habra, a 27-13 winner on Saturday night over San Jacinto in the CIFSS D4 final, going up against the Eagles. The Highlanders won their eighth CIFSS title with the last coming in 2015. After a fourth down stop of San Jacinto in the red zone in the third quarter, La Habra took a 20-7 lead with 9:15 left in the game on a 7-yard TD run by Kevika Martinez.
In the north, Saturday night’s top game at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento featured Granite Bay vs. St. Mary’s of Stockton. Granite Bay had a 24-7 lead at one point, but the Rams got stops and scores after that and won their fourth section title with a 38-24 victory. Moses Alexander scored on a 26-yard run with 1:57 left in the third quarter to give St. Mary’s a 31-24 lead. The Rams then went on a 13-play drive in the fourth quarter to seal it. On Friday night in the CCS D1 final, Serra bounced back from a loss to unbeaten Riordan of San Francisco in the Open Division from the week before to beat Los Gatos, 28-21. Head coach Patrick Walsh’s team was in the CIF Open Division state final in 2021, 2022 and 2023 but lost in last year’s CCS playoffs to Los Gatos. The Wildcats almost beat Serra again. They were ahead 21-14 in the third quarter after trailing 14-7 at halftime. Junior Malakai Taufoou, a big-time D1 recruit as a safety, scored the winning touchdown for the Padres on a 5-yard run with 2:07 left. He also came up with an interception on defense a few minutes later to pretty much seal the win.

Dual-threat QB Josiah Melendez fights his way into the end zone for a Woodcreek of Roseville touchdown during win vs Oakdale in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D3 final on Friday in Sacramento. Photo: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.

DIVISION 2-A

Woodcreek of Roseville (SJS D3) 12-1 vs
Monte Vista of Danville (NCS D2) 8-5
Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia (CIFSS D5) 14-0 vs Santa Fe Christian of Solana Beach (SD D2) 13-0

Comments: Arroyo Grande pulled off a 24-21 upset of second-seed Bakersfield in the Central Section D2 final on Friday when kicker Dustin Reed made his third field of the game in overtime. The Eagles, who also beat top seed Tulare in the semifinals, have four losses on the season and thus we did not place them in the same spot as Bakersfield on our south board. Instead, we moved up Santa Fe Christian from D3-AA, which improved 13-0 with a 44-41 victory against Steele Canyon of Spring Valley in the CIF San Diego Section D2 championship. SFC also has a much higher computer ranking than AG. Dax Labrum threw for 268 yards and five TDs in the win. On Saturday night, despite Redondo of Redondo Beach scoring on a state-record tying 99-yard run by Bo Ausmus, Rio Hondo Prep still had more than enough depth to defeat the Sea Hawks, 29-7. Head coach Mark Carson’s program won its third straight CIFSS title, each time in a higher division. The Kares were in the D3-AA state final last year and lost in OT to Vanden (Fairfield). They just won in the same CIFSS division this year as Palos Verdes last year and PV won the state title in this division as well. Up north, Woodcreek’s exciting 56-52 win over Oakdale in the highest scoring playoff game in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section history was chronicled in our SJS recaps. CLICK HERE to see it. The Timberwolves can be ahead of Sonora (team that has win vs Oakdale) in the SJS pecking order and a matchup vs Monte Vista makes the most sense to us. Monte Vista, which won the NCS D2 title on Friday night with a 24-10 win vs Clayton Valley of Concord, has a win over California of San Ramon and California has a win over McClymonds. That’s why we moved up Monte Vista in front of McClymonds on our final NorCal order. Monte Vista RB Torin Dunphy rushed for 139 yards and two TDs for the Mustangs in their win.

DIVISION 3-AA
McClymonds of Oakland (Oakland Sec) 10-2 vs. Sonora (SJS D6) 13-0
Arroyo Grande (Central Sec D2) 9-4 vs. Ventura (CIFSS D6) 11-2

Comments: As mentioned above, Arroyo Grande wouldn’t be in D2-A after its overtime win over Bakersfield in the Central Section D2 championship on Friday. A spot in D3-AA also works well since Ventura came out on top in the CIFSS D6 final on Saturday against St. Pius X-St. Matthias of Downey. The Cougars were dominant in a 63-28 win and won their third CIFSS title, but first in 25 years. Big-time LB Tristan Phillips was reported with either 4.5 or 5.5 sacks pending final stats review. The 63 points also was reported as the most points scored by a Ventura County team in a CIFSS final. In the north, much of the talk among various media types at the Sac-Joaquin Section finals was about how high to place Sonora. The Wildcats were expected to post a running clock win on Saturday in their title game vs Ripon Christian they did, 56-13. Yes, they could be higher than Woodcreek, but that team has only a loss to D1 Inderkum and a win over D2 Jesuit so we would have Sonora next in line and a matchup opposite McClymonds, the perennial Oakland Section champs (with one of its two losses to Riordan) makes the most sense to us. Mack won its 11th straight section title last week with a 34-0 win over Oakland High.

DIVISION 3-A
St. Ignatius of San Francisco (CCS D2) 7-6 vs. Roseville (SJS D4) 11-2
Barstow (CIFSS D7) 10-3 vs Carson (LA City Open) 10-3

Comments: Roseville didn’t avenge one of its losses to Twelve Bridges, but in Saturday’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D4 championship at Sacramento City College the Tigers knocked off the East Union of Manteca team, 31-29, that had ousted Twelve Bridges in the semifinals. Austin Chang connected for a 24-yard field goal to win the game in the final seconds. Roseville (the alma mater of the great Tedy Bruschi) won its first SJS title since 1987. It’s possible the CIF could place Roseville higher than Sonora, but it was a super close game with EU and Sonora has been a lot higher ranked than EU all season. St. Ignatius also had a dramatic win on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats played their longtime rivals from Sacred Heart Cathedral in the CCS D2 title game and won, 24-21. They were behind 21-14 with six minutes left when Charlie Ball came through with a 65-yard interception return. They won it on a 40-yard field goal to walk it off by Thomas McKeon that barely cleared the crossbar. If SI and Roseville do play, someone please get a photo of the two kickers. Down south, Barstow won just the second CIFSS title in school history and its first since 1969 with a 10-7 win on Friday night in the D7 game vs Apple Valley. Carson played Crenshaw on Saturday for the LA City Open championship and rolled to a 36-0 triumph. The Colts now have 12 L.A. City titles but this was their first since 2003. A sequence in the second quarter in which Darren Panton had a punt return touchdown and an interception return touchdown within a few minutes gave Carson a 36-0 lead and the Colts coasted from there.

Max Bringgold did it all for Sutter on Friday when it topped Casa Roble in Sac-Joaquin Section D5 title game. Photo: Mark Tennis.


DIVISION 4-AA
Chico (Northern Sec D2) 11-2 vs.
Sutter (SJS D5) 12-1
Kennedy of Delano (Central D3) 11-3 vs. Immanuel of Reedley (Central D4) 13-0

Comments: In a matchup of top-seeded unbeaten teams for the Central Section D4 title on Friday night, No. 2 Immanuel put up a surprisingly one-sided 48-7 win over No. 1 Templeton. Tyler Romo led Immanuel with 13 carries for 183 yards rushing and two TDs. Kennedy won the section’s D3 title also on Friday and also in a rout, 49-13, over Independence of Bakersfield. Jace Demacabalin shined for the TBirds with 206 yards rushing on 23 carries plus he scored twice. We put the two Central Section title teams against each other since both are considered higher ranked than the CIFSS D8 champion and the San Diego D3 champion plus there would be what looks like more extreme travel situations if they aren’t against each other. The CIF could put Beckman of Irvine opposite Kennedy and Central of El Centro opposite Immanuel, but look at the map to see how far those schools are from each other. In the north, Sutter simply replaces Casa Roble of Orangevale in the same spot after avenging an earlier loss to the Rams with a 42-27 win in the SJS D5 final. For details, CLICK HERE. In Saturday’s Northern Section D2 final, Chico took the title with a 28-20 win against Foothill of Palo Cedro. Zaiveon Patrick’s 18-yard TD run in the third quarter pushed the Panthers to 28-20 lead from 21-20 and Foothill was unable to score in the fourth quarter. Chico and Sutter obviously aren’t far from each other and often there would be speculation in the years that Sutter was in the Northern Section about how it could do in the top division of the section.

DIVISION 4-A
Menlo-Atherton of Atherton (CCS D3) 7-6 vs. El Cerrito (NCS D3) 11-2
Beckman of Irvine (CIFSS D8) 9-4 vs Christian of El Cajon (SD D3) 7-7

Comments: El Cerrito replaced Ukiah in the mix by beating the Vikings 32-21 on Friday night at American Canyon High in the NCS D3 championship. The Gauchos won their 10th straight game and their third NCS title in the last four years. Gary Youngblood scored on a 90-yard reception late in the game to lift El Cerritos to a 32-14 lead. M-A won its section title on Saturday by defeating San Mateo High, 31-21. That is the team that ousted unbeaten Woodside in the first round. In the south, Beckman captured the first CIFSS title in school history with a 30-24 overtime triumph vs Brea Olinda. Makhi Czaykowski scored his third TD of the game to win it on overtime on a 10-yard run. He had 110 yards rushing and three TDs on the night. The Patriots needed to make a 35-yard field with seconds left to force the tie and that kick was made by Aiden Wimberly after holder Tyson Le fielded a high snap and put the ball down without re-touching his knee which would have negated the kick. In the SD Section D3 final played on Saturday, top seed Central of El Centro saw its run to a possible title denied in a 28-14 loss to Christian of El Cajon. The Patriots were not one of the top four seeds in the bracket and thus did not get a first-round bye.

DIVISION 5-AA
Ferndale (NCS D5) 13-0 vs Gridley (Northern Sec D3) 13-0
Valley Christian of Cerritos (CIFSS D9) 11-3 vs South Gate (LA City D1) 11-3

Comments: Ferndale’s lopsided wins way up north have been hard to miss and we admit there were a lot of questions about what the Wildcats would do when they have to face teams from much tougher leagues in the NCS D5 playoffs. They beat Salesian of Richmond last week, 35-7, and on Friday night it was a statement win of 26-14 vs defending D4-AA state champ St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma. That means that head coach Clint McClurg’s team also now has a 763-53 margin for the season with at least one more game to go. For these projections, we stuck Ferndale where we had St. Vincent before and left it there so it wouldn’t be a matchup with another NCS team like El Cerrito. And besides, what’s wrong with two 13-0 teams playing each other? Gridley made that possible on Saturday with an 18-15 win over Orland in the Northern Section D3 final. In the south, South Gate won an incredible LA City Section D1 final with a 63-58 win against Marquez of Huntington Beach. With the clock running down to 0:00, junior QB Michael Gonzalez heaved a 39-yard Hail Mary pass into a crowd in the end zone that teammate Nicholas Fonseca came up with for a game-winning touchdown. In Saturday’s CIFSS D9 final, Valley Christian held on for a 14-12 victory vs Ramona of Riverside. The Rams scored twice in the fourth quarter to come back from a 14-0 deficit, but they missed the PAT after the first score and after the second one they were stopped on a two-point conversion.

DIVISION 5-A
Miramonte of Orinda (NCS D4) 8-5 vs. Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland (NCS D6) 9-4
Valley Center (SD D4) 7-6 vs. Hillcrest of Riverside (CIFSS D10) 8-5

Comments: We still have the two NCS champs from D4 and D6 playing each other (both Bay area schools) but one division higher than before. Miramonte is from the same league as NCS D1 school Acalanes and has won the D4 title with a 28-21 win on Saturday over Hayward. It is the Matadors’ 11th section title. Sophomore QB Lane Dalton passed for 246 yards and rushed for two scores. He led the offense on a time-killing drive to end the game after the Farmers had scored with six minutes left to make it a one-score margin. Bishop O’Dowd was especially dominant in the NCS D6 final. The Dragons won their first section title since 2018 with a 59-21 win on Saturday vs Fortuna. Junior RB Lamar Ellis rampaged for 186 yards on 16 carries and scored five touchdowns. Opposite those two in the south we have Valley Center of the CIF San Diego Section and Hillcrest of Riverside. Valley Center won its title by 21-14 over Eastlake of Chula Vista. The Jaguars also won the sixth section title in school history. Hillcrest made history in its 63-34 win over Tahquitz of Hemet by becoming the first team in the history of the Alvord Unified School District to earn a CIFSS title.

DIVISION 6-AA
Calaveras of San Andreas (SJS D7) 11-2 vs. Bishop (Central Sec D5) 11-3
Valley View of Riverside (CIFSS D11) vs. Minarets of O’Neals (Central Sec D6) 12-1

Comments: Seeing the Bishop score come in early Saturday morning, a 69-21 victory over Woodlake in the Central Section D5 final, probably caused a groan or two in the CIF state office. Bishop’s remote location in the Eastern Sierra has been one reason why the Broncos have gotten a bye in the regionals in previous years. There are no byes this year so their travel situation will have to be considered. We checked the weather for the next week and see that the Sonora pass is still open (the Tioga pass is now closed for the season). That makes it possible for a Bishop-Calaveras matchup. Otherwise, the only teams that Bishop could play would have to be in the south with the 395 corridor. And if Bishop is in the south, a team from elsewhere in the Central Section would have to be in the north. Calaveras won the SJS D7 title early on Friday morning, 27-12, over Linden. It is the school’s first-ever section title after it had lost in eight previous title game appearances. In the CIFSS D11 title game played on Saturday night, Efrain Dominguez kicked a game-winning field goal in the closing seconds to give Valley View a 20-18 win vs Baldwin Park. The Eagles had given up a touchdown and two-point conversion with just over one minute left. Minarets played in a literal fog bowl on Friday night in the Central Section D6 title game. The Mustangs won, 21-14, against Orosi and never trailed. Torin Wolf passed for two TDs and ran for one for Minarets. Jason De La Cruz of Orosi, one of the state’s leading rushers, had two TD runs but his season is over.

Woodbridge of Irvine QB Waylon Smith looks for an open receiver during CIFSS D13 championship game vs Montebello. Photo: Fernando M. Donado / For OC Sports Zone.


DIVISION 6-A
Lincoln of San Jose (CCS D4) 7-5 vs. Winters (Northern Sec D4) 12-1
Morse of San Diego (SD D5) 9-4 vs. Grace of Simi Valley (CIFSS D12) 11-3

Comments: Winters had wrapped up its spot in the NorCal bowls on Wednesday of last week with a 32-29 win over previously unbeaten Hamilton of Hamilton City. The team’s only loss has been by one point to unbeaten Northern Section D2 champion Gridley. Lincoln of San Jose won its first CCS title in school history (it began in 1942) with a 49-21 win on Saturday over top seed Branham of San Jose. Lions’ standout Kyan Phillips scored six TDs and now has 41 for the season, according to the Bay Area News Group. It also was the second win of the season for Lincoln over Branham. If Lincoln and Morse are in this bracket and somehow would reach the state final, Morse has a scoring phenom of its own in senior Superior Garrar. In the Tigers’ 45-30 win on Friday vs Hoover of San Diego, Garrar had 32 rushes for 260 yards and two TDs and he scored on a 54-yard punt return. Morse won its first section title since 2018 while Hoover has never won one in the San Diego Section. In addition to Lincoln in CCS D4, we also had a switch for CIFSS D12 as Grace of Brethren overwhelmed Santa Paula in an all-Ventura County final on Friday night, 49-14. It’s first section title for the Lancers since they stopped playing for a year, then built the program back up beginning with eight-man football. Former head coach Josh Henderson’s team at Immanuel of Reedley also is on the south board in our projections, but his team is going to be higher up in any scenario. RB Jake Williams had 159 yards rushing and two TDs with brother Riley Williams at QB going 14 of 18 on passing for 208 yards and four TDs to lead the Grace offensive explosion.

DIVISION 7-AA
Piedmont Hills of San Jose (CCS D5) 10-3 vs. Balboa of San Francisco (SF AAA) 10-2
San Fernando (LA City D2) 5-8 vs. Woodbridge of Irvine (CIFSS D13) 6-8

Comments: We’re still going at the end with the bottom two teams in the L.A. City Section and CIF Southern Section not playing each other and instead crossmatching with each other even though computer rankings would say to to that. San Fernando won its first LA City Section title since 2017 with a 21-14 victory on Friday night over top seed Cleveland of Reseda. The Tigers also won their ninth all-time section title. Melvin Pineda gained 164 yards rushing with two TDs in the win. In the CIFSS D13 final on Friday night, Woodbridge edged Montebello, 24-23, when Montebello missed a PAT kick with 1:09 left that would have tied the score. Montebello also was looking to win its first CIFSS title since the school began in 1944. Up north, Balboa won the annual Turkey Bowl game that was a crazier shootout than expected, 54-42, over Washington of San Francisco. State scoring leader Mekai Smith raised his total from 40 TDs to 46 TDs, but the story also may have been the Bucs getting flagged for 35 penalties (the most we’ve ever seen in the Calif HS football game). In the CCS D5 title game played on Saturday, Piedmont Hills won its second section title (first in 2010) with a 31-30 win in overtime vs Sobrato of Morgan Hill. Sobrato had scored on its possession in the OT, but elected to go for a two-point conversion and the win. Instead, the Pirates stuffed a run up the middle and won by one.

DIVISION 7-A
Redding Christian of Palo Cedro (Northern Sec D5) 13-0 vs. Middletown (NCS D7) 11-2
South El Monte of El Monte (CIFSS D14) 10-4 vs. Santee of Los Angeles (LA City D3) 10-4

Comments: All four of these teams that we had at the bottom of our boards all won in section finals and we didn’t see a reason to change anything. Redding Christian blanked Maxwell, 26-0. Middletown defeated Piedmont, 37-23. It’s the first section title for the Mustangs since longtime head coach Bill Foltmer retired a couple of years ago. They had won four of them in his years. South El Monte downed defending champion Pioneer of Whittier, 14-6, for the first CIFSS title in that school’s history. And finally, Santee won its section title, 35-6, over Hawkins of L.A. behind state leading rusher Darnell Miller, who had 190 yards and three TDs (he didn’t play in the second half) and will have at least one more game to add to his totals.

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


Enjoy this article?

Find out how you can get access to more exclusive content, one-of-a-kind California high school sports content!

Learn More

2 Comments

  1. Alejandro Valdez
    Posted November 30, 2025 at 11:54 pm | Permalink

    Great coverage of High School sports…

  2. Matt
    Posted December 1, 2025 at 1:08 am | Permalink

    Montebello opened in 1909. Also, San Fernando went 11-3 this season…

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*

    Latest News

    Insider Blog