Two of this week’s honorees are QB Daryl Carpenter from River Islands of Lathrop and WR/DB Dylin Bruce of Huntington Beach. Photos: Jonamar Jacinto / Manteca Bulletin & X.com
We begin in Huntington Beach for a player who would have tied a state record if all three of his kick return touchdowns in one game were all on punts or all on kickoffs. Our other SoCal honorees this week are from San Diego and Baldwin Park. For Northern California, we have our first-ever winner from a school that is only three years old. Our other NorCal honorees this week are from Garden Valley in El Dorado County and Los Molinos in Tehama County.
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Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
Dylin Bruce (Huntington Beach) Sr.
In a game vs Redondo of Redondo Beach in which highly regarded QB Brady Edmunds of the Oilers was somewhat shut down as a passer, Bruce became the difference in their 28-14 victory by returning two punts for touchdowns plus a kickoff for a score. In the Cal-Hi Sports state records, there is a tie for the record with three punt returns in one game and three kickoff returns. Unfortunately, there isn’t one for combined kick return TDs. Three, however, would likely be tied for the record with the others or tied for second.
Bruce completed his junior season with 40 catches for 434 yards and six TDs as a receiver. He had two interception return TDs as a cornerback and he had one kickoff return TD and one punt return TD. Bruce also competed on Huntington Beach’s track team.
With that kind of quickness and speed, Bruce received a number of D1 college offers since the end of last season. He has committed to Arizona State and also took visits to Northwestern, Boise State, Vanderbilt and Utah.
Patrick Henry of San Diego QB Madin Gardini is well on his way to doubling up his season totals from 2025. Photo: Hudl.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Madin Gardini (Patrick Henry, San Diego) Sr.
A returning QB for the Patriots who had 23 TD passes last season, Gardini has sparked this year’s team to a 4-0 start to the season. In a 57-33 victory victory last week against Otay Ranch of Chula Vista, Madin made it work for 431 yards passing and five touchdowns. He completed 26 of 39 passes and he rushed for two TDs. His top target was Kymani Joseph, who had eight receptions for 251 yards and four of the five TDs.
Gardini, who also has played basketball during his high school career, opened the season by hitting on 14 of 19 passes for 257 yards and no interceptions in a 35-30 win against La Jolla. In that same game, he had 129 yards rushing. Madin still hasn’t thrown an interception in his first four games and he has 14 touchdown passes. He also has thrown for 1,143 yards with 373 yards rushing.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Landis Whitener (Baldwin Park) Jr.
What caught our attention at first about Landis is what appears to be an incorrect stat on MaxPreps that he had eight sacks in Baldwin Park’s 42-0 win last week over Sierra Vista of Baldwin Park. On the team’s Instagram page, however, Whitener still had impressive totals in that game and from the previous game and that was enough for him to get this honor.
In leading Baldwin Park to a big win its Bell Game rivalry contest vs Sierra Vista, the linebacker they call “Agent 0” wreaked havoc with 14 tackles, six of which for losses and he recovered a fumble. In the team’s previous game, which was a 39-21 triumph against California of Whittier, Whitener rang up 14 tackles with one sack and three tackles for loss.
Last year as a sophomore starter, Whitener helped Baldwin Park reach the CIF Southern Section D11 championship game. He averaged 7.5 tackles per game.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Daryl Carpenter (River Islands, Lathrop) Sr.
The River Islands community west of Lathrop opened its new high school just a few years ago and the Riptide are only in their third season of existence. The second senior class, however, will be able to say it had the school’s first-ever NorCal Player of the Week in football as Carpenter is getting the honors this week for his efforts at quarterback.
In the team’s 46-20 win last week against Modesto Christian, Carpenter connected on 23 of 28 passes for 423 yards and four touchdowns. The Riptide improved to 3-0 heading into this week’s game vs. Mountain House. Carpenter has passed for 1,089 yards and 13 TDs in those three games.
As a junior, Carpenter was an all-league performer at River Islands in both football and baseball. He had 1,579 yards passing and 10 TDs and rushed for 413 yards and six scores.
Wyatt Gillett is one of the top small school players in the CIF Northern Section. Photo: Crystal Sexton / Red Bluff Daily News.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
Wyatt Gillett (Los Molinos) Sr.
We figured at some point this season we’d pick the two-way standout from Los Molinos as a NorCal multi-purpose honoree and this became a good week to get it done.
Gillett led the Bulldogs on both sides of the ball in last week’s 37-36 win over Trinity of Weaverville. He rushed for 253 yards on 32 carries and scored four touchdowns. On defense, Wyatt registered 10 tackles, including two for loss. So far this season in Los Molinos’ 2-1 start, Gillett has rushed for 693 yards and 11 TDs and he has collected 29 tackles.
Last season as a junior in 11 games, Gillett piled up 2,187 yards rushing and scored 19 touchdowns. He had 83 tackles on defense with three sacks and two interceptions. Wyatt also has been a standout in baseball and has played basketball in his prep career. Last spring, he batted .494 on 38 hits with two homers and 26 RBI.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Ashton Monti (Golden Sierra, Garden Valley) Jr.
Golden Sierra had more than one player of the week possibility after its 28-7 win last week vs Mesa Verde of Citrus. Monti is the one who got the nod and for defense after he came up with three interceptions and three tackles. He also caught five passes on offense for 100 yards and one score plus he had a 25-yard run on his only carry.
Teammate Cody McCoard for multi-purpose also was considered. He had four sacks, caused a fumble, caught seven passes for 108 yards and one TD and rushed for 24 yards in the same game.
In his previous game, Monti had an interception and five tackles in a win by River Islands over Galt. He had 49 tackles and one interceptions with some limited offensive stats last season.
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
