Prep Rally: A look at some upcoming key high school football games

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Week 3 in high school football has the most top matchups so far. Let’s take a look.

Big week ahead

Unbeaten Los Alamitos has a big game against Servite on Friday night at Cerritos College.

(Nick Koza)

The matchups in high school football this week are outstanding, giving fans many choices to see top team vs. top team.

Corona Centennial at Bishop Gorman. If you want to take a quick trip to Las Vegas, this will be fun. Bishop Gorman put 60 points on Long Beach Poly, so the Huskies are going to need to score lots of touchdowns, but quarterback Husan Longstreet is coming off a game in which he completed 21 of 28 passes for 288 yards and one touchdown and ran for a school-quarterback-record five touchdowns with 109 yards rushing in a win over Punahou.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at JSerra. It’s the battle of first-year head coaches. Notre Dame (3-0) has outscored its three opponents 125-0 under coach Evan Yabu. JSerra is making steady progress at 2-1 under Victor Santa Cruz.

Long Beach Poly at Gardena Serra. These two teams are known for thrilling games. Sometimes it takes overtime to decide. Poly is coming off a huge win over Mission Viejo. Serra has recovered from an opening loss to Orange Lutheran to post to consecutive impressive wins.

Los Alamitos vs. Servite at Cerritos College: It’s a great game to see where these two teams are headed when league play begins.

Edison at Palos Verdes. Both teams are in The Times’ top 25. Palos Verdes knocked off Corona del Mar last week and has a freshman, Ryan Rakowski, starting at quarterback. Edison has another impressive collection of receivers.

Corona del Mar at San Clemente. The surfer schools always play an intense football game. San Clemente is showing early signs of being the team to beat in the South Coast League.

Maryland St. Frances Academy at St. John Bosco. St. Frances is 0-3 playing a national schedule, but this is a chance to compare St. John Bosco with Mater Dei, because St. Francis also plays Mater Dei in a week.

And, if you like surfing, six schools with lots of surfers will be matching up in football. The surfer-school matchups: Corona del Mar-San Clemente, Edison-Palos Verdes and Redondo Union-Huntington Beach.

Football rewind

Caden McCallum of Santa Monica takes off on a run against West Torrance.

(Craig Weston)

One of the most improved teams is Santa Monica, which went 2-8 last season but has started 3-0 after a 28-9 win over West Torrance. The Vikings have an improving sophomore quarterback in Wyatt Brown with quality receivers, a good offensive line and a running back, Caden McCallum, who rushed for 183 yards. Junior Charles Cravings had three interceptions. Here’s the report.

Mater Dei keeps rolling. Quarterback Elijah Brown passed for 372 yards and seven touchdowns in 62-0 win over Creekside

Long Beach Poly and Mission Viejo engaged in an exciting nonleague game that the Jackrabbits won with a touchdown in the final minute. Here’s the report.

Former Taft and USC star Steve Smith had his jersey number retired at halftime of the Taft-Dymally game. Here’s a report.

Sophomore quarterback Jaden O’Neal passed for three touchdowns in Newport Harbor’s win over La Habra. Here’s a report.

Moorpark won a double overtime thriller over Garces by scoring a touchdown, then two-point conversion with three seconds left in regulation to tie. Twice the two-point conversion attempt was nullified by penalties. On the third time, it worked.

In a 63-52 loss to St. Joseph, Newbury Park quarterback Brady Smigiel for 496 yards and seven touchdowns, giving him 17 touchdown passes in three games. Shane Rosenthal caught 17 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns.

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

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

Here’s top individual performances from Week 2.

Here’s this week’s City Section schedule.

Here’s the Week 3 schedule.

New City all-star football game

There’s a new high school football all-star game for City Section players that will take place Dec. 16 at Birmingham High, and every school in the city that plays football will be represented by at least one player.

Former Hamilton assistant coach Chuck Price and former USC and Dorsey star Keyshawn Johnson are among the organizers. The game has the endorsement of the City Section office.

Birmingham coach Jim Rose and Narbonne coach Malcolm Manuel will be the head coaches.

Called the L.A. City Gridiron Classic, the event will have players nominated by their coaches, and players who participate in each practice will be guaranteed of playing at least two series. Admission will be free.

Army calling

Salesian receiver-safety Jakiel Kendricks is committed to Army.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

At this time next year, if all goes as expected, all-league receiver Jakiel Kendricks of Salesian High will be an Army plebe, his dreadlocks gone, his room spotless for morning inspection and his vocabulary focused on answering, “Yes sir, no sir.”

Asked if he’ll be ready for the loud greetings and early-morning wake-up calls, Kendricks says, “I’m already in the Army. My coaches have fully prepared me for the worst of the worst. Like waking up at 4 a.m. to come to practice.”

Kendricks, 6 feet 3 and 182 pounds with a 4.1 grade-point average, moved to Los Angeles from Chicago while in middle school. He said he was a hothead back then. To become his level-headed self, he watched and listened to many adults seeking to offer insight for a path to success.

Here’s his story.

Flag football

Crenshaw’s Alani Anderson (left) and Talita Robinson go all out trying to make interception during 18-0 flag football win over Hawkins.

(Craig Weston)

League play has begun in flag football in the City Section in the Coliseum League.

Here’s a report on Crenshaw’s success and the adjustment teams and coaches are making in the inaugural season.

Participation rises

Participation in high school sports nationally reached 7.8 million for the 2022-23 school year, according to the latest survey from the National Federation of State High School Assns. That’s an increase of nearly 240,000 from the previous year and an indication that a decline during the pandemic has turned around. It’s the first upward movement since 2017-18.

Football participation also increased by almost 55,000 and was the first for the sport since 2013.

Cross-country

The first big cross-country meet of the season is still almost two weeks away, when the Woodbridge Classic takes place next Friday and Saturday at the Great Park in Irvine under the lights.

Brett Ephraim of San Clemente opened the season by running 14:34 to win his face at the Canyon Crest Academy Invitational.

Manny Perez of Cathedral won the Cool Breeze Invitational with a time of 14:23.

Girls’ volleyball

Mira Costa’s Rachel Moglia, center, celebrates a three-set win over Mater Dei on Tuesday night in Manhattan Beach.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

It was No. 1 vs. No. 2 in girls’ volleyball last week when Mater Dei faced Mira Costa on the road. The Mustangs didn’t let down their fans with a sweep to establish Mira Costa as the team to beat in Southern Section Division 1.

Here’s the report from the match.

One of the top players in Southern California is Temple City’s Taylor Yu, a Stanford commit.

Taylor Yu passes to teammate Elizabeth Hung during Temple City’s nonleague match against Pasadena.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Here’s a profile of Yu, who didn’t play last season.

Notes . . .

Westlake was in mourning this past week after the death of junior defensive end Julius Poppinga, who was suffering from a breathing issue after being hospitalized. He was 17. . . .

Palos Verdes is remembering former basketball coach Brian Edelman, who died after a 4 1/2-year battle with cancer. He was 36. Edelman was a Palos Verdes graduate who made a big impact with youth basketball in the community. . . .

Girls’ soccer standout Avery Oder of Oaks Christian has committed to Duke. . . .

Baseball player Xander Stolber of Campbell Hall has committed to Carleton. . . .

Anthony Jefferson resigned as football coach at Cathedral after two games. He had been head coach since 2018. Vince Jefferson (no relation) will be the interim coach. He was the team’s defensive coordinator. . . .

Linebacker Jackson Sievers from Capistrano Valley has committed to UC Davis. . . .

El Segundo will hold a parade for its championship Little League team on Sunday. The team was honored at Dodger Stadium last week. . . .

Baseball player Carter Bennett from Chaminade has committed to Claremont McKenna College. . . .

Village Christian entered this last week having recovered 26 onside kicks in three seasons. “It’s what we do,” coach Richard Broussard said. Nicky Youssef has recovered four onside kicks this season. . . .

Jack Mueller, a baseball player at Foothill, has committed to Cal State Northridge. . . .

Outfielder Will Paxton of Highland has committed to St. Peters University. . . .

Pitcher Jared Galang of Torrance has committed to Fresno State. . . .

Former Narbonne basketball star Marcus Adams has found a college. After previously being committed to Kansas and Gonzaga, he’s now committed to Brigham Young. . . .

Offensive lineman De’Andre Carter of Mater Dei has committed to Auburn.

From the archives: Gabe Kapler

San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler.

(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

Gabe Kapler, the manager of the San Francisco Giants, was a standout baseball player at Taft High. He’d go on to spend a semester at Cal State Fullerton, then Moorpark College and was a 57th round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers in 1995. He overcame the odds and doubts and hit 82 home runs in the majors.

He also received attention for his body building physique and has become a successful manager.

Here’s a 1998 story about Kapler’s days trying to find himself and his hard work to reach his goals.

Recommendations

From Noozhawk.com, a story on former Dos Pueblos catcher James McCann of the Baltimore Orioles.

From highschool.si.com , the troubles surrounding El Camino Real’s inability to get its football field repaired.

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