One of this week’s honorees, DB Dylan Black of Burlingame, had a record-tying three interception returns for a touchdown in a single game. Photo: Courtesy of Ethan Kassel
This week we return to doing the Cal-Hi Sports State Football Players of the Week with executive editor Mark Tennis on Holiday. We asked for help from statewide media sources and others on X and got several nominations. We also saw one of the award winners live on our trip to Northern California last week. Thanks two of our nominations we also have two entries into the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, including one that ties an all-time record, and tracking those potential entries is one of the purposes of this feature beside uncovering hidden talent for statewide recognition. This week’s winners are from Los Angeles, Encino and Arleta in Southern California, and from Santa Rosa, San Jose and Burlingame in Northern California.
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Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Thaddeus Breaux (Hamilton, Los Angeles) Soph.
To find the SoCal Offensive Player of the Week we went down the list of top performers in the Southland published weekly by legendary Los Angeles Times prep sports columnist Eric Sondheimer.
Sondheimer had several worthy offensive standouts that could have been honored, as did a couple of other SoCal prep journalists, but as we said in the intro, one of the purposes of this feature is the track entries into the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, and Breaux makes the grade.
Last week, in a 41-6 win over crosstown L.A. Washington, and in a game that snapped a 0-3 start of the season, Breaux, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound sophomore quarterback, was 40-of-52 passing for 502 yards and six touchdowns.
The 502 yards passing earns Thaddeus a spot in the record book on the Most Yards (Game) list in the Football Individual Records: Single-Game Passing section.
So far, the Yankee doodle sandy signal caller has passed for 909 yards with 10 TDs and only one interception and has a .760 completion percentage.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Noah Sanchez (Crespi, Encino) Jr.
There were several defensive nominations by SoCal prep journalists that tickled our fancy, but none that really jumped out at us, except another player from the list of top performers in the Southland published by Eric Sondheimer of the LA Times.
Sondheimer sent us to the San Fernando Valley and Crespi of Encino to find Sanchez, who now adds the SoCal Defensive Player of the Week award to the honor of making Sondheimer’s list as well as being a LA Daily News Athlete of the Week as selected by Ethan Hanson.
Last week, in 40-0 blanking of Oak Park, Sanchez was the linchpin of the Celts’ defense.
Not only did the 6-foot-2, 215-pound junior linebacker that can also play on the edge recorded 16 total tackles with 10 solo, two for loss and one quarterback hurry, he also had an interception he returned 70-yards to the house for a score.
So far this season for 4-1 Crespi, Sanchez has recorded 44 tackles with six for losses including three sacks, three quarterback hurries, the lone interception plus a fumble recovery and two forced fumbles.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
Alexander Gonzalez (Arleta) Jr.
The search for the SoCal Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week came down to a player we saw in L.A. Daily News Athletes of the Week by Ethan Hanson and a nomination by Orange County Register and Prep Redzone California contributor Michael Huntley.
In the end we headed out to just south of San Fernando and about a half-mile southwest of the I-5 to Arleta High, where we honor Gonzalez, who now adds a statewide award to being named one of four of the L.A. Daily News Athletes of the Week.
According to Hanson’s article, “the junior linebacker gave Arleta what it needed in all aspects of the game,” and that’s exactly what earned him this week’s SoCal Multi-Purpose award in a 47-0 whitewash of Van Nuys Grant that helped Arleta get to 4-0 to start the season.
Besides recording three tackles with one for a loss, he had an interception he returned 27 yards to the house for a touchdown on defense. On offense, Gonzalez had a 23-yard TD reception, and on special teams he fielded four punts, one of which found pay dirt on a 47-yard return.
That’s three touchdowns three different ways and indeed that is multi-purpose.
Because there is no Stat Stars this week we wanted to give a shout out to the player who was a close second and was nominated by Huntley: Tustin defensive tackle and fullback Jeremiah Williams. The 6-foot-1, 305-pound Williams had four sacks on defense and when the big fella gets it down close on offense he undoubtedly is hard to stop and had two rushing touchdowns in the Tillers’ 28-21 victory at Westlake of Westlake Village.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Offensive Player of the Week
Chris Alvarado (Andrew Hill, San Jose) Jr.
We found this week’s NorCal Offensive Player of the Week by perusing the nominations posted by Christian Babcock for the Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week. So we say “do you know the way to San Jose” just like the title of an old song and there we found Alvarado at Andrew Hill High.
According to Babcock, it was Alvarado that got Hill over the hill last week’s 59-20 victory over cross-town Del Mar.
The Falcons’ junior quarterback did it with big plays that produced big numbers. As a passer he completed 15 of 20 attempts for 326 yards with four touchdowns. The dual-threat quarterback also rushed for 120 yards on just four carries with two of them going for touchdowns.
Chris must be doing something right in southeast San Jose, as Hill is now 3-1 after going 0-10 last season.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Defensive Player of the Week
Dylan Black (Burlingame) Sr.
Since Burlingame played on Thursday last week, the choice for the NorCal Defensive Player of the Week pick was pretty much a slam dunk, and it came before most teams had even played their games on Friday and Saturday.
The reason is that once we saw the post of Bay Area sports journalist Ethan Kassel on X/Twitter and then saw the story on his Bay Preps Insider, it was pretty obvious Black was going to be the choice since not only does he get his name etched into the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, but he also ties the record for the category.
In a 59-6 drubbing of visiting Hillsdale of San Mateo, Black, a 6-foot-1, 170-poiund senior defensive back and wide receiver, had three pass interceptions as a DB and took all three of the to the house.
No one from the CIF Central Coast Section and only nine others have done it since 1978 with Hakim Reynolds of Sacramento Grant in 2023 the last to accomplish the feat. Black returned a pass 40 yards to pay dirt in the first quarter, then added 25 and 60-yard pick-sixes in the third.
In a bit of a twist, Kassel compared Black to Cal’s Kingston Lopa. He had three picks in the Golden Bears’ win over Syracuse, but unlike Black he only returned one to the house, and in an even stranger twist, Lopa was a teammate of Reynolds when he got his three pick-sixes.
“The Juice” was electric for Newman last weekend. Photo: Harold Abend
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week
James “JUICE” Curoso (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa) Jr.
The bottom line for this week’s NorCal Special Teams/Multi-Purpose Player of the Week is junior phenom James “JUICE” Curoso has come home to roost. And we saw the roasting of Clayton Valley of Concord where he captured this statewide honor, with our very own eyes.
In a 45-7 Cardinal Newman victory over Clayton Valley where the JUICE roasted the Ugly Eagles, Curoso was like a one man wrecking crew.
Although he had a tackle on defense on the Clayton Valley opening drive to start the game, the host Uglies took the opening kick-off and went 80 yards in 16 plays that 10 minutes and 11 seconds off the clock, but from there the JUICE started flowing.
He scored all six of the Cardinals’ TDs on 19 carries for 202 yards. A couple were short runs out of the Wildcat formation, but on his third TD that followed a 46-yard field goal that made it 24-7 Newman, he showed not only his speed by blowing past three defenders, but the strength that the 5-foot-10, 199-pound reining runner-up in the CIF State wrestling 165-pound weight class possesses by running over tacklers as well.
Besides the six TDs and 202 yards rushing, he also had a three pass receptions for 59 yards. On defense Curoso had seven total tackles, and on special teams he had a 38-yard punt return.
When we say coming home to roost we mean it literally. When Curoso claimed his wrestling fame it came at Clovis where he also had 1,507 yards rushing and 27 TDs while also catching 28 passes for 329 yards and five TDs as a sophomore. JUICE also had 110 tackles, five sacks, and an interception at Clovis.
But he was born and raised in Santa Rosa and came back with his family much to the delight of the Cardinal Newman faithful.
“I’m loving it here,” Curoso said after the game. “I grew up playing with these boys since I was 4 years old since it great to finally get to come back and play with my boys.”
It’s likely you haven’t heard the last of footballer and grappler James “JUICE” Curoso.
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
