Prep Rally: These new quarterbacks are earning some attention

Mater Dei defenders Aydin Breland and RJ Fineanganofo,

Columnist

Aug. 28, 2023 6 AM PT

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Let’s take a look at some fresh faces among quarterbacks rising up two weeks into the high school football season.

QBs making impact

There’s some new quarterbacks gaining traction early in the football season.

Caleb Sanchez, who waited four years to finally start at quarterback for St. John Bosco, has guided the Braves to a 2-0 start, including passing for 340 yards and two touchdowns Saturday in Florida in a 20-7 win over St. Thomas Aquinas.

Kaleb Annett, a Boise State commit at Corona del Mar, has six touchdown passes in two games.

Steele Pizzella, a junior at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame who played last season at Simi Valley, completed 19 of 24 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Birmingham.

Sophomore Isaiah Arriaza of Damien has his team at 2-0 after passing for 222 yards and two touchdowns against Loyola.

Sophomore Bryson Beaver of Vista Murrieta has passed for 645 yards and six touchdowns in the return of coach Coley Candaele.

Junior Jarret Nielsen of Long Beach Jordan leads the state in passing with 876 yards and six touchdowns.

Senior Ivan Levant, a transfer from Santa Monica, has thrown eight touchdown passes for Fairfax in wins over Reseda and Sylmar.

Sophomore Chase Everett of Village Christian passed for 286 yards and five touchdowns in win over Granada Hills.

Junior John Sanders of St. Francis passed for 281 yards and four touchdowns in win over Mira Costa.

Freshman Ryan Rakowski has led Palos Verdes to a 2-0 start completing 19 of 32 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns.

Sophomore Wyatt Brown of Santa Monica has completed 31 of 39 passes for 457 yards and four touchdowns to help his team to a 2-0 start.

Football rewind

Freshman defensive end Richard Wesley of Sierra Canyon has six sacks in two games.

Sierra Canyon has left little doubt that it’s in the conversation as one of the top five teams in Southern California after routing Oaks Christian last week. Freshman defensive end Richard Wesley is headed to elite status with six sacks in two games. Here’s the report.

Corona del Mar is off to a 2-0 start and gearing up for a showdown with San Clemente in a couple of weeks. Here’s a report.

No. 1 Mater Dei and No. 2 St. John Bosco traveled to Utah and Florida, respectively, and each came away victorious with strong defense and strong quarterback play. Mater Dei defeated South Jordan Brigham 42-14. St. John Bosco ended a 27-game win streak by St. Thomas Aquinas.

Long Beach Poly’s trip to Oregon to face Las Vegas Bishop Gorman was a tough one. Bishop Gorman won 60-15.

Orange Lutheran traveled to Northern California and came away with a 35-14 win over De La Salle. Running back Steve Chavez, a transfer from Damien, rushed for 157 yards and scored three touchdowns.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is 2-0 after routing City Section power Birmingham 41-0. First-year coach Evan Yabu helped turn around Thousand Oaks’ program quickly and might be doing the same with the Knights, who should be 3-0 after facing Crespi this week.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Here’s week 1 top performances.

Here’s complete scores from Week 1.

Here’s the Week 2 schedule.

City Section football

Carson, an 11-time City champion, is 2-0 and showing lots of potential after a 49-7 win over Franklin. The Colts have one of the City’s best players in running back/linebacker Jerry Misaalefua.

Here’s a report.

Garfield defeated Crespi 41-0 and is performing well on offense even though starting quarterback Damian Cabrera injured his shoulder in a preseason scrimmage and will be sidelined several more weeks. The Bulldogs’ offensive line is creating opportunities for running back Damian Cornejo, who rushed for 111 yards and scored two touchdowns.

It wasn’t a good week for City Section pride. Birmingham was routed by Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Granada Hills lost to Village Christian. Venice was beaten by Harvard-Westlake. All three of those schools were much better last season being competitive with Southern Section teams.

Arleta is 2-0 under veteran coach Bill Coan.

Here’s this week’s top 10 City Section rankings.

Birmingham insurance

For a football scrimmage against Palisades, Birmingham coach Jim Rose distributed jerseys that weren’t exactly what their players wear during real games. Kicker Jacy Oliva was given No. 95, as if he were some unimportant player.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

“He’s not a normal City Section kicker,” Rose said.

Oliva made the tying 26-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in regulation last season to help the Patriots defeat Venice, 28-27, in double overtime. On Friday, he made two field goals and had six kickoffs for touchbacks against Royal in a 60-0 victory while wearing No. 29.

Here’s more on Oliva’s contributions.

Turnaround stories

Chatsworth's Isaiah Rameau, left, and Moorpark's Nick Andrade.

This is the high school football season in which the seniors are known as the COVID teenagers. They arrived as freshmen in the fall of 2020 when there were no sports and classrooms were locked. They did their school work from a computer at home.

It’s going to take years of research to understand the impact of the pandemic, but clearly many students were lost.

Two football players who have made inspiring comebacks in the classroom are Nick Andrade of Moorpark and Isaiah Rameau of Chatsworth.

Here’s the link to their story.

Soccer dispute

High school soccer officials working in the Southern Section remain unsatisfied with their three-year deal that offered little monetary growth compared to other sports. There have been threats of a boycott.

Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons issued this statement:

“There is currently a three-year officials fees agreement in place, for all sports, by a vote of 66-18 by the CIF Southern Section Council. Year 1 of the agreement was completed this year, with Year 2 coming up in 2023-2024, and Year 3 in 2024-2025.

“We are aware that some soccer officials have expressed their displeasure with the current fee structure. We have been in dialogue with the leadership of the Southern California Soccer Officials Association to review the current situation and discuss the process that will be in place beginning in May, 2024, to begin formulating the next official’s fees agreement. That will be the appropriate forum to address the concerns that have been expressed.”

So watch out for actions by soccer officials this coming season.

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Brother-sister stars

The brother-sister duo of Barry and Hayley Weatherspoon

Get ready for the brother-sister duo of Barry and Haylee Weatherspoon to become the first of what could be many 11-man and flag football stars from the same family competing in the same season and possibly on the same day in this new era of boys’ and girls’ football.

Barry is the star receiver for Eagle Rock’s 11-man team. Haylee is the star receiver, running back and defensive back for the inaugural Eagle Rock seven-on-seven girls’ flag football team.

Here’s a report.

Flag football

Corona won in its debut, defeating Norco 27-24 thanks to a last-minute touchdown pass from Victoria Aguilar to Ava Liaga during a Big VIII League tournament. Corona Santiago defeated Corona Centennial 25-24 on a touchdown with four seconds left.

Haylee Weatherspoon of Eagle Rock lived up to her summer potential with four touchdowns and two interceptions in Eagle Rock’s 55-0 win over Roosevelt.

Long Beach Poly traveled to Oregon and defeated Gardena Serra 31-6 in a special Nike NFL Kickoff event.

Girls’ volleyball

Village Christian won the Burbank tournament championship, going 7-0. Siena Morgan recorded 43 kills.

Taft has started 8-0 on the season with wins over St. Genevieve and Burroughs last week.

Mira Costa is 11-1 and has a showdown match with 12-0 Mater Dei on Tuesday at Mira Costa.

Baseball

Pitcher Levi Sterling of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

One baseball player who has raised his profile and his pro hopes for the 2024 season is Sherman Oaks Notre Dame pitcher/third baseman Levi Sterling.

He had a terrific pitching performance in the Perfect Game All-American Game. He also has made the USA 18U national team last week, along with Matt Champion of JSerra, Bryce Rainer of Harvard-Westlake, Ethan Schiefelbein of Corona and Derek Curiel of Orange Lutheran. Noah Franco, a Downey native who plays for IMG Academy, also made the team.

Coach Tom Dill reports Sterling has had a terrific offseason and could join the list of other top Notre Dame players from the past who became top draft picks, including Giancarlo Stanton and Hunter Greene.

Notre Dame finished as the No. 1 team in the Southern Section last season because of its strong pitching staff and will have another top staff this spring, including Sterling, Michigan commit Erik Puodziunas, Stanford commit Sam Petrocelli and rising senior Nate Kugler, a Dartmouth commit.

Little League champions

Louis Lappe (19) celebrates as he rounds second after hitting the walk-off home run

El Segundo won the world championship at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., with a walk-off home run from Louis Lappe for a 6-5 win over Curacao.

Lappe and Brody Brooks, a pair of 12-year-olds who figure to be stars in high school, came through with huge performances over six games. Lappe had five home runs. Brooks had 12 hits and scored a record-tying 13 runs.

Here’s the report.

Here’s a report on the community support.

Big win for Harvard-Westlake

The City Planning Commission voted last week to issue a conditional use permit, allowing Harvard-Westlake to proceed with its River Park athletic complex after the school bought Weddington Golf Course in Studio City in 2017.

Two all-weather fields, a gym, tennis courts, new pool are among the facilities to be built that will replace the golf course as part of development over 17.2 acres.

It will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. to the public. The decision is final but can be appealed to the City Council.

Next water polo star

JSerra's Ryder Dodd is considered the nation's No. 1 water polo prospect.

Ryder Dodd of JSerra rises up from the pool like a great white shark flying out of the ocean. He’s got a yellow ball in his right hand and fires it toward the goal with power and precision. If the goalie is agile enough to deflect it, the impact alone might feel different.

Call it the Dodd Dent, which is similar to the “Elway Cross” when John Elway’s spiral had so much velocity it was breaking the fingers of his receivers during his quarterbacking days.

“There’s no question in my mind he’s the best high school player in the country,” JSerra water polo coach Brett Ormsby said.

A profile of the next great American water polo player.

Notes . . .

Catcher Henry McDonald from Pasadena Poly has committed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. . . .

Pitcher Noah Reimer of Yucaipa and committed to Cal State Northridge. . . .

Greg Snyder is the new boys’ volleyball coach at Mira Costa after previously being an assistant. . . .

Infielder Adrian Beltre Jr. of Maranatha has committed to Washington. . . .

Receiver Jaden Landrum of Etiwanda has committed to Colorado State. . . .

Junior infielder Tyler Smith of Los Alamitos has committed to UC Santa Barbara. . . .

Pitcher Isaiah Hernandez of Bishop Amat has committed to UC Riverside. . . .

Michael Cooper has resigned as basketball coach at Culver City and moved to Cal State Los Angeles as an assistant coach. The former Laker was head coach for two seasons. . . .

Guard Scotty Belnap of Mater Dei has committed to Utah Tech.

From the archives: Devin Kirkwood

UCLA defensive back Devin Kirkwood (3) during Spring Showcase in Los Angeles, CA. (Kyusung Gong / For the LA Times)

Tall, athletic and competitive, Devin Kirkwood made a name for himself playing cornerback for Gardena Serra and he’s starting to make an impact at UCLA.

He’s gotten stronger and used his experience playing as a freshman in 2021 to show signs of being a confident and competent player at a position that tests individuals constantly.

He comes from a high school that has a history for producing top players. He and Rodrick Pleasant (Oregon) should be prominent former Serra players this season.

Recommendations

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on former El Modena High star Freddie Freeman and his father helping him develop his swing.

From the Washington Post, a story on the HBO documentary about Bishop Sycamore.

From USG, a story on former Hoover High and Indiana basketball star Joe Hillman becoming a golf standout at age 57.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time...

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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