Positions: RB Height: 5′ 11″ Weight: 200 Class: 2010 School: Mira Mesa High School San Diego, CA
The CIF playoffs are finally here, and Damien Williams made sure his Mira Mesa Marauders weren’t going to have an early exit. The 5’11” 200 lb running back ran all over the Carlsbad Lancers, rushing for 275 yards and 2 touchdowns as he led his team to a 48-29 victory. Lancers head coach Bob McAllister was well aware of the explosive ability of Williams telling the North County Times, “He’s the real deal, we knew we had to stop him, and we didn’t. We just had to tackle better than we did.” Williams now has 2, 285 rushing yards with 24 touchdowns on the season. Next up for Williams and the Marauders is a date with the #3 ranked Escondido Cougars in a division 1 showdown this Friday. With Williams and the all-time CIF San Diego rushing leader Ricky Seale positioned to receive a lot of carries, both defenses might want to brace themselves for an all out rushing assault for the ages.
Positions: RB Height: 5′ 8″ Weight: 165 Class: 2010 School: Mt. Carmel High School San Diego, CA
Kenneth James Jr. ran, and ran, then ran some more, and didn’t stop running until he had rewritten the record books. The 5’8” 165 lb running back out of Mt. Carmel High School set the CIF San Diego Section single-game rushing record by torching the defense for 424 yards and 4 touchdowns last Friday, while beating the Westview Wolverines 49-32. James edged the previous rushing mark set back in 2003 by 14 yards. Mt. Carmel football coach Sanford Carvajal told the North County Times, “If the opportunity presented itself, we were going to ride that horse until he fell over dead.” As it turned out it was the defense that looked 6 feet under, allowing rushes of 84, 70, 63, 39, 34, and 21 yards by James. James, however, was quick to share the glory with his teammates telling the North County Times, “I just hit the holes, and everyone made their blocks. Everyone played a part in it.” Now, James and his Sundevils can only wait and hope their impressive victory will be enough to vault them into the playoffs. After witnessing James’s spectacular performance, Coach Carvajal is positive his team will receive a playoff bid saying, “I can’t see us not getting in now.” Very few would be inclined to disagree.
Nolan Mera is a center fielder for the University City High School baseball team. Nolan also plays for the SoCal Blast. Visit Nolan’s full profile and see his video below.
Nick Sloan is kicker/ punter for Scripps Ranch High School. The 5’11 185lb junior has been a member of the varsity squad since his sophomore year and was named the Special Teams MVP in 2008. Visit his full profile and see him in action below.
Mar Vista High Softball pitcher, Angelica Iacovetti has received much recognition for her talents, named 1st Team All-Southbay League Led league in HRs(6) 2nd Team CIF San Diego Section Div III Union Tribune Athlete of the Week(5-12-09) and San Diego Section III CIF Finalist. Angelica has her sights set on a few schools: St.John’s University; Academy of Art University; Stanford; University of California; Berkeley; Wagner College; San Francisco State; Savannah College of the Arts. Visit her full profile.
Shelby Isley is a midfielder for the Girls Soccer team at Archbishop O’Leary High School in Alberta, Canada. She is also a member of the track and field team. See her video below and visit her full profile.
A senior at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, CA, Thomas Pluschkell plays third base and first base. Thomas received the All Academic Team AZ Fall Classic HS Coaches Award and is looking at MT, UCLA, Stanford, USC, UCSD and Notre Dame to continue his baseball career. See his video below and visit his full profile.
Chelsea Maestas is a junior at Murrieta Valley High School and plays second base and center field for the Nighthawks softball team. She also plays for the San Diego Legacy and was a member of the the 2009 League Champions and recieved the 2009 Golden Glove Award. Check out her full profile.
Positions: QB Height: 6’5″ Weight: 215 Class: 2010 School: Valhalla High School, El Cajon, CA
Quarterback Peter Thomas has etched his name into San Diego high school football history. With a 14-7 win last Friday, Thomas led his Valhalla Norsemen to their first league football championship in the school’s 35-year history. Thomas threw the game winning 65-yard touchdown pass late in the 3rd quarter to secure the win. He was elated after the game telling The San Diego Union-Tribune, “This is absolutely awesome, no one in the 35 years of our school has ever experienced this moment before.” Thomas, who is ranked by MaxPreps.com as a top 100 player and the 6th best pro-style quarterback in the country has committed to playing football at Arizona State University next fall.
Many SportsForce athletes have been receiving local recognition and one continues to receive national press coverage as Dillon Baxter continues his quest to be the national player of the year for high school football. With the high school fall sports season wrapping up, national signing day is inching closer we are looking forward to more amazing athletic performances throughout the play offs.
Dillon Baxter is receiving constant attention as he moves forward in a phenomenal season breaking records along the way. This has caused many people to draw comparisons between Dillon and a few other football players from San Diego. MaxPreps took on the subject comparing Dillon to Helix High School Alum, Reggie Bush:
Baxter has had an outstanding season, punctuated by his performance Friday night against Lincoln. The 6-foot, 205-pounder, who lines up at quarterback for Mission Bay, threw for 282 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 268 yards and two scores. He also intercepted a pass on defense.
For the season, Baxter has amassed 781 passing yards and 1,090 rushing yards. He’s even kicked three PATs.
Baxter has good speed, excellent balance and the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, all characteristics that have folks in the San Diego buzzing about the area’s next great rusher.
In a September matchup with Paloma Valley, Baxter rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another as Mission Bay won 38-15. Paloma Valley head coach Bert Esposito was highly complementary of Baxter after the game.
“That’s the best high school football player I’ve ever seen, and I saw Reggie Bush at this age,” Esposito told North County Times afterward. “But this kid’s phenomenal.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune published November’s Athletes of the Month. Two former SportsForce Athletes of the Week received honors, Lauren Birks for Girls Volleyball and Kenny Stills for Football. The Union-Tribune writes of Lauren:
Helping the Torreys to a glittering 27-1 season record, Birks, a junior outside hitter, was credited with a team-leading 287 kills on 478 attempts. Showing her all-around ability, Birks compiled 230 digs and 39 service aces.
Stills, a senior, led the Mavericks to a 4-0 record in October. For the month, Stills caught 23 passes for 447 yards and three touchdowns. He tossed a 29-yard touchdown pass and ran for 26 yards on four carries. On defense, he picked off one pass and recovered a fumble.
Despite his small stature, Point Loma running back Stephan Jackson continues to come up big for the Pointers this season. He rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown on only 7 carries to help propel his team over conference rival Serra last Friday. Jackson is averaging nearly 8 yards per carry this season and has 363 total yards from scrimmage. Jackson looks to continue his stellar play this season when the Pointers take on the Hoover Cardinals in a battle of 5-3 teams this Friday night.
Ricky Seale continues to dominate the opposition. The 5’10” 190lb senior running back out of Escondido rushed 25 times for 162 yards, including a 60-yard TD run, in a 21-21 tie with Torrey Pines last week. Seale, who now has 5,600 career rushing yards, is looking to become the all time rushing leader in San Diego-CIF Section history. He needs only 50 yards against #2 ranked La Costa Canyon to break the all-time rushing mark set by Demetrius Sumier of Cathedral Catholic. PAC-10 powerhouses including, USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, and Washington are heavily recruiting Seale for next years college football season.
Sam Hoekstra is an explosive running back/ defensive back out of Santa Fe Christian High School in California. Sam was simply unstoppable when his Santa Fe Christian Eagles took on the Coronado Islanders last week. Sam scored 2 touchdowns while amassing 226 rushing yards on only 13 carries, including an impressive 75 yard punt return touchdown. Sam now has 865 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns in only 6 games this season while averaging a staggering 16.32 yards per carry. Sam and his 6-0 Eagles look to extend their unbeaten streak when they faceoff this week against their conference rival, the 5-2 Christian Patriots.
SportsForce athlete and Christian High School place-kicker, Michael Gruber was recently featured by the San Diego Union-Tribune in an article highlighting the superior abilities of Christian’s special teams. Gruber is a talented athlete all around as the Union-Tribune reports:
“Gruber, a starting catcher for the Christian baseball team, never thought about football until the beginning of his junior year. His place-kicking career began by chance after his father, Curt Gruber, and former football coach and now Christian athletic director David Beezer watched him play goalkeeper for the Patriots soccer team.”
“I knew he was raw, but I got a bag of balls just to see what he could do as a possible kicker,” Beezer said. “I kept it simple, and he’s gotten better and better.”
Gruber’s accuracy is especially impressive: “Gruber has placed 21 of his 25 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. In the past two seasons, Gruber and the Patriots are 16-for-16 in recovering onside kicks.”
Gruber is an extremely dedicated athlete and has taken many measures to ensure his success as a place-kicker: “When the kicking carrot was dangled in front of him, Gruber went after it. He attended a San Diego summer combine with 50 kickers and won the field goal kicking competition. He has connected on 4-of-6 field goal attempts this season with a long of 47 yards for Christian (5-2), which plays at Santa Fe Christian at 2 p.m. Saturday.”
John Matich, is a former NFL and NCAA kicker and now owner and director of The Kicking System, which offers Camps & Private Kicking Lessons in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles.
Ian Autman is a sophomore running back out of Olympian High School in Chula Vista, CA. Ian Autman had a breakout game vs. San Ysidro which included 10 carries for 110 yards with 3 TD’s.Ian is a compact runner with explosive speed and agility. Built in the model of other undersized running backs, like Maurice Jones-Drew or Darren Sproles, his quick footwork and low center of gravity make him elusive and difficult to tackle. He is the leading rusher averaging almost 7 yards per carry for the undefeated 5 – 0 Olympian Eagles.
