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:

Visit Dillon Baxter’s SportsForce profile HERE

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:

Lauren Birks, La Jolla Country Day

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.

Visit Lauren Birk’s SportsForce profile HERE

While Kenny had another month of stand out performances,

Kenny Stills, La Costa Canyon

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.

Visit Kenny Stills’ SportsForce profile HERE

By Craig at 619Sports.net

VALLEY CENTER- The Valley Center Jaguars are an elite Division IV program, with five CIF championship banners to prove it. But each year when they meet Oceanside in Valley League play, coach Rob Gilster’s team gets to see a level of talent and speed that rarely travels up Cole Grade Road.

“Our kids only see speed like that once a year,” said Gilster.

On Friday night, #1 Oceanside raced past #4 Valley Centerso quickly, the Jaguars and their fans barely got a glimpse before the Pirates were off with the treasure. Oceanside (9-0, 5-0) jumped out to a 24-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and completely throttled the Valley Center offense in a 45-7 final that was not nearly as close as the score.

Pirates head coach John Carroll was proud of his team’s intensity on a night when the Pirates’ first-team defense held the Jaguars (8-1, 4-1) to 37 yards, three first downs and zero points in 13 possessions.

Oceanside scored two touchdowns in the first 2:44 of the game to quickly drain any drama from a matchup of 8-0 teams. The Pirates marched 72 yards on the opening drive, scoring on a Devin Taverna wide receiver option TD pass to Demario Coleman. Moments later, senior cornerback/running back Noah Tarrant picked off a Beau Reilly pass in the left flat and easily scampered 26 yards for a pick six, making it 14-0.

Oceanside racked up 152 of their 381 total yards of offense in the first quarter, with quarterback Quentis Clark (9-for-17, 125 yards, TD) hooking up with Jerry Whittaker on a 27-yard scoring toss to make it 21-0. The Pirates ran for a combined 210 yards, with Whittaker (8 carries, 82 yards) and King Holder (3 carries, 52 yards, 2 TD) leading the way.

But the story on this night was on the other side of the football, where the Pirates’ defense regularly induced gasps from the Valley Center crowd with their pad-rattling hits. Stanton Upson, an all-league running back who entered the game with over 1200 yards and 13 touchdowns, was held to a paltry 26 yards on 22 carries.

With Upson under wraps and the score out of hand, the Oceanside defenders were left free to pin their ears back and chase the quarterback. Beau Reilly wound up being sacked six times, three times by Molesi.

Noah Tarrant, meanwhile, enjoyed an unusual two touchdown day. After his pick six score as a corner, Tarrant found himself in the right place at the right time in the third quarter, when a bad snap on a punt left Jaguars’ punter David Last awkwardly booting a scrambling kick from his end zone. Tarrant grabbed the short wobbler on the run and raced 12 yards for his second non-offensive touchdown of the game:

On a night where there wasn’t much to enjoy from a Valley Center perspective, head coach Rob Gilster saw something very important on the field: a Jaguars team that met the physical challenge offered by the Pirates without backing down.

Oceanside further bolstered their #1 section and #5 state ranking, and at 9-0, they are a week (and a win over Ramona) away from both securing another Valley League title and completing a 10-0 regular season. While John Carroll’s team once had a 10-0 season that included a forfeit, they’ve never completed a 10-0 regular season on the field, a fact he shared with his team in the postgame huddle.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars will still be a #1 or #2 seed for the Division-IV playoffs, where they will likely roll until they see another brilliantly fast San Diego athlete, Mission Bay’s Dillon Baxter.

–Courtesy 619Sports.net

This past weekend, Ricky Seale broke the San Diego CIF rushing record that has been standing since Demetrius Sumler (2002-05) set it. Seale surpassed the 5,650 yard record by 161 yards. 619Sports.net writes:

“Seale electrified the boisterous home crowd in Escondido by eclipsing the section rushing record on the game’s first series, scampering 28 yards for a touchdown. That gave him 50 yards for the game and 5,651 yards for his career, one more than Demetrius Sumler of Cathedral Catholic. But while Seale kept the 5th ranked Cougars (6-1-1, 1-1-1 Avocado) close, once running 10 straight times on a drive out of the wildcat formation, eventually he wore down. After carrying 26 times for 178 yards in the first half, Seale was held to just 34 yards in the second half by the athletic “Gang Green” defense of LCC.”

Another San Diego football star who has been garnering lots of attention is La Costa Canyon wide reciver, Kenny Stills. The question now stands where Kenny will play after high school. 619Sports.net caught up with Kenny to see what schools top the list:

“I’m looking at Florida and Oklahoma, and if I can stand the cold weather, I could go to Michigan,” said Stills, who plans on making his official announcement on December 1st.

However things could change:

“If Stills delays his decision, that would be good news for two more schools who have popped up on his radar screen. Stills told 619 Sports he’s been offered a scholarship by the University of Miami, a school that has a tradition of developing NFL wide receivers.”

Stills’ Miami trip isn’t scheduled until December 11th-13th, so the Hurricanes have to hope Kenny is still undecided by that point. Stills also said the only way he will be at school for the spring semester (he’s on target to graduate in December) would be if he is trying to qualify academically for Stanford.”

Kenny is also very grounded when it comes to his recruiting decision

“’I know this body still needs to fill out, and my education is really important to me. You need something to fall back on after football is over.’”

Visit 619Sports.net for both full articles.

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.

Visit Ian’s SportsForce profile to learn more.

By Craig at 619Sports.net

ESCONDIDO–Fans, college scouts and media came together at Wilson Stadium to watch one of the great running backs in San Diego Section history, Ricky Seale, as undefeated Escondido took on Vista in the 619 Sports Prep Game of the Week. But on a night of hard-hitting, the Cougars defense stole the show from Seale. Escondido (5-0) stifled the talented Vista (3-2) offense for 3 1/2 quarters, sacking the Panthers six times in a 21-10 win.

Cougars head coach Paul Gomes came into the game with his top two stars having missed practice all week. Seale was sick and seemed slowed in the game with what teammates called mono, while fullback Tim Zier was resting after a mild concussion suffered against Rancho Bernardo. That took both out of the starting defense, but Gomes said the unit didn’t skip a beat:

Zier will go a step further. He believes his Cougars defense is a championship unit:

Hear from Ricky Seale, Andrew Wahlquist, and more from Zier and Gomes below:

Tim Zier and Ricky Seale lined up in the Escondido backfield (619 Sports)

Both Seale and Zier played on offense, and both broke long scoring runs in the first half but were shut down from there. Seale struck first on a 39 yard cutback scamper through the heart of the Vista defense, making it 7-0 on the game’s opening drive. But he ran for only 32 yards on 17 carries from there. Zier led the team with 22 carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns, including a 59 yard second quarter burst up the middle.

Seale was more than happy to let Zier shoulder the load in the second half against a punishing Vista team that was keying on his every move:

The Panthers defense-led by senior linebacker Ofisa Kose-stifled the Escondido rushing attack in the second half. Seale, Zier and quarterback Cruz Navarro (10 carries, 61 yds rushing, 1-3, 33 yds passing) were held to a combined 27 yards on the ground after intermission. That set the stage for the Cougars defense to shine, and they held Vista to just a pair of second-half first downs before the final drive of the game.

Vista has a couple of highly talented playmakers on offense, but they rarely got an opportunity to find open field. With SDSU’s Brian Sipe in attendance on the sidelines, hopefully the Aztec coach took note of 5′6″ jitterbug Jordan Alexander (10 carries, 39 yards/3 catches, 49 yards, TD) , who displayed a series of spin moves, hesitations and cutbacks that brought back memories of Reggie Bush at his best. Alexander turned two screen passes into big plays, including a 36 yard catch-and-run for Vista’s only touchdown of the night.

Most of the time, Vista QBs Chris Liuchan and Christian Gallardi were staring at the Escondido sky after hitting the ground hard, with a host of Cougars on their back. Andrew Wahlquist, a senior linebacker, recorded two of Escondido’s six sacks on the night:

While Ricky Seale’s numbers were pedestrian on this Friday, Tim Zier knows Seale will have plenty more chances to rack up stats. Not just on Fridays, but Saturdays and Sundays as well:

–Article Courtesy 619Sports.net