It seems like folks around here don't really feel like dwelling on
post-mortems of the Notre Dame game, so I won't save this week's high school
updates for later. Stanford's recruits had a very full schedule this past weekend with
no byes that I know of. Cameron Collins sat out another game with his hand
injury but should be back in a week. I look forward to that since I think he's
an intriguing athlete, and I'd like to get some more recent data points on him. Brandon Clear sat out this week's game with a knee injury. To the updates:
* I feel like I could write a template for Moorpark's games and just post the
same thing for them each week. As always, they won this week on the strength of
a dominant running game in which Stanford offensive line commit George Halamandaris and the
other big uglies for Moorpark opened holes for superstar junior running back
Darrell Scott, who already reports 16 scholarship offers including USC and Michigan. The final score this week was 38-24 and Scott finished with
272 yards and four touchdowns, all in the second half of a dramatic comeback from a
17-point deficit. Said Halamandaris: "It's nice looking at the box score after a
game and seeing Darrell rushing for close to 300 yards. It's a personal victory
for us big guys. Knowing we have someone of his caliber in the backfield is
great. If the play is blocked well, he'll get five yards and he might get
another five, 10 or 15 because of his ability. Darrell makes the big plays." After losing the first game of the season, Moorpark has won four in a row and
Scott is on pace to break records.
* David Green and Mission Viejo played De La Salle in a big national TV
showdown. De La Salle, which has had trouble beating Mission Viejo (pretty much
the only team for which that is true in the last three decades), won 35-28 in a
game characterized by a ton of De La Salle fumbles out of their trademark veer
option offense. De La Salle apparently would have handled Mission Viejo easily
without the fumbles, although I didn't watch the game and can't speak with too
much authority. De La Salle should hold on to their national #1 ranking. I
presume Green was 4-of-4 on extra point attempts.
* L.D. Crow's Countryside team lost for the first time this season, 14-7, to a
team they blew out in their preseason kickoff classic. The loss comes as a
bitter disappointment since Countryside is the type of team that was
planning/hoping on an undefeated season going into the playoffs. Countryside's
offense really struggled, and Crow threw an interception in the end zone with the
score tied 7-7 in the last few minutes of the game. The opposing team then
scored in three plays to take the decisive lead with 12 seconds left in the
game. Devastating loss for Crow and Countryside.
* Like Countryside, Francis Parker, the school of Stanford commit Tyler Mabry
and possible commit Gino Gordon, suffered their first loss of the season. Parker
lost 49-28 in a game that must have come as a real disappointment to them.
* Eddie Morgan's McKinney team got crushed 44-7 on Friday night. They played
good defense well into the second quarter, but a few bounces went against them
and the game snowballed from there. They obviously didn't get much going on
offense.
* Chike Amajoyi seems to get better and better each week. This week, he
rushed for 278 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries in a 27-14 victory. As
always, Amajoyi also starred on defense. I'm getting more and more excited about
him as it appears that he has the size and versatility to perhaps help at
linebacker or fullback in addition to running back. Also, I saw a story earlier
this week in which Greg Biggins referred to Amajoyi as one of the best two way
prospects in the state and compared him to Stanford's own Michael Okwo. I would love
that kind of athlete in this class, even a poor man's version
* Oaks Christian will need to schedule a junior college team to get some
competition that will force them to break a sweat. After blowing out excellent
competition the last two weeks, they returned to playing more pedestrian
competition in a game that wasn't on national television for once. The lack of
the limelight didn't alter their intensity as they rolled to a 57-0 win.
Jimmy Clausen threw three touchdown passes to potential Stanford recruit Sean Wiser (a five-yarder, a six-yarder, and a 53-yarder). After the last two weeks of Marc Tyler
looking like Jim Brown on national TV, Oaks Christian's opponent game planned
completely around Tyler, holding him to four yards rushing in the first half. Oaks
Christian has too many weapons for that strategy to work, though, and Clausen
just had a field day passing to Wiser and Christopher Potter. As Oaks Christian
watchers know, they play backups in the second half, so the stats for Clausen
and Wiser could have been much gaudier had Oaks Christian not totally outclassed
the competition.
* Kellen Kiilsgaard and Auburn continued to stake their claim as one of the
Northwest's premier teams by staying undefeated with a 43-0 win. The defense was
dominant and pitched their second straight shutout, which I like since K2 would
presumably be a safety at Stanford. On offense, Auburn spread the ball around big time (17
players carried the ball, three players passed even though the team only had six
completions, and five players scored). Said K2: "It's pretty incredible. I'm even
amazed at what we did tonight. Everyone contributed... All of our tools on offense
were firing and our defense really stepped up. We shut down all aspects of their
offense. We're on such a roll as a team that this is becoming a truly memorable
season." His stat line wasn't great (5-of-7 passing for 57 yards and a
touchdown, 10 yards rushing and a touchdown on seven carries and a fumble at the
goalline), but it didn't need to be. Said his coach: "I think we've got the
best football player in the state. And when he needs to, he can carry us. But we
have a lot of good athletes and try to spread the ball around."
* In another note that seems like déjà vu from past updates, David Paulson's
Auburn Riverside preserved the prospects of a showdown between undefeated Auburn
teams. This week, they won easily by a final score of 43-3. Paulson did not play
a huge role as Auburn Riverside's two running backs racked up huge yards on the
ground. I'm really looking forward to the final game of the season between
Kiilsgaard and Paulson, assuming both are still considering Stanford by then.
* Harrison Smith's team stayed undefeated but faced their toughest challenge
of the season, winning 35-34 in overtime. Smith scored a big seven-yard
touchdown on 4th & 2 in the fourth quarter of the game, which was obviously close. The team
they played isn't considered as good as Smith's team, but it was the big rivalry
game of the year and Smith called it “the best win we've had all year.” After
the game, Smith flew to South Bend to watch Notre Dame play Stanford. At this
point, I assume that Stanford is out of it for Smith's services, but I am curious
to hear his thoughts on the game. Smith would make a huge difference for this
recruiting class.
* Like Smith, Jason Peters is as big of a recruit as Stanford has on
its board and
plays for a Catholic high school in the South. His team also stayed undefeated
with a 39-3 victory. As my last update noted, Baton Rouge Catholic is among the
most dominant teams in the nation. There was a recent Scout.com piece on Peters that
provided some details on his season and recruiting timetable, and I encourage
folks to read up on him if they haven't. He's an enticing prospect who actually
still seems serious about Stanford.
* Matt Bentler's team won their second game in a row, improving their record
to 4-2 with a 33-0 win. This is the third time this season that they've shut out
the opposing team. They only gave up one touchdown in the fourth win. It's a
stifling defense by any metric, so I hope Bentler is an instrumental part of
that unit and I'm sure he is. On offense, where I assume Stanford is recruiting him,
Assumption has struggled much of this season but has recently broken out
big-time the last few weeks. This week, their running back had a huge game and
credited his offensive line for “making holes,” which made me smile.
* Doug Baldwin is back from his injury. I mistakenly wrote that he was out
last week, but it turns out that the real story was that he was ineffective
coming off his injury. He's usually a real weapon receiving and returning kicks
and punts, but was limited last week to a couple of catches and a modest punt
return. This week, his team lost 21-14 as he continued to come back from injury. They've only won once in six games this season. In this game, his team's second
touchdown was a 46-yard bomb to Baldwin that he caught with a leaping grab in
the end zone. Their comeback fell short after a fourth down pass to Baldwin fell
incomplete.
* Bryan Anger's Camarillo team fell to 1-4 with a 14-6 loss. The offense was
totally dominated most of the game, so I'm sure Anger got plenty of work
punting. Scout.com stories on Anger are probably the best place for information on
his punting exploits. In this game, an opposing defender made a game-saving
interception when Camarillo tried to pass to Anger, who is also his team's star
receiver. Said the defender, "We were in a Cover 2, and I just
decided to go after their tall receiver, Bryan Anger, who I thought they would
throw to."
* After a 70-20 win last week, Matt Howe's Colleyville Heritage team was
brought back down to earth this week, getting killed 56-7 by perennial Texas and
national powerhouse Southlake Carroll.
* After last week's bitterly disappointing loss to end hopes of winning the
mythical national championship, Hoover bounced back with a win but needed a late
touchdown to pull ahead for the 21-14 victory. As I mentioned earlier, Brandon
Clear missed this game with a knee injury. His coach says he's a game-time
decision to play next week. Earlier in the week he was awarded a slot in the
Army All-American game in San Antonio, so congratulations to Brandon! Byron Clear really does not get any publicity other than puff pieces on the twins as a
pair, so I'm curious for more information on what kind of football player he is.
* Johnathan Frink's Oxford team won 42-21 to improve to a perfect 7-0 on the
season. Despite some disappointing losses by some of the teams on my radar,
there are still a few teams out there with a chance for a dream season.
* Jamaine Olson's Jesuit team is another team that stayed undefeated. They
won 52-0 in their rivalry game. Olson caught a 60-yard touchdown pass. He seems
to be a pure cornerback rather than a two-way player, so that's a nice moment
for him, not to mention an encouraging data point for Stanford.
* Matthew Masifilo's team lost 21-17. I believe he returned from injury but
only played offensive line instead of defensive line, but I need confirmation on
that. His team is a running-oriented team. In this game, they rushed almost
every play, ending up with a 4.5 yards per carry average. Sounds like a pretty
middle of the road team from what I read, which is a bit surprising given Masifilo's recruiting profile. I hope he doesn't have much around him to work
with. I look forward to follow-up reports on him to gauge how he's recovering
from the injury and to assess whether he's more of an offensive lineman or
defensive lineman. It sounds like he's more of an offensive lineman at the high
school level, and he'd be a great get for the interior line.
* Todd Huber's Peninsula team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 46-10
win. Peninsula had a player who had two interception returns for touchdowns that
totaled 135 yards, made field goals of 43 yards and 24 yards, converted 4-of-5
extra point attempts, and had a 60-yard rushing touchdown. Huber is a two-way
linemen for Peninsula and their most prominent player.
* After a rough start, Derrick Hallman's team has put together two good games
in a row, winning this week by a 35-0 final score.
* Claremont, Victor Ojukwu's team, fell below .500 with a 21-20 loss.
* Charlie Hatcher's team got shutout 24-0 against Colerain, one of Ohio's
powerhouses, a team that has five shutouts in seven games and has given up only
three
touchdowns in 28 quarters of football.
* Matt Conrath's team improved to 6-1 with a 35-14 win. The Chicago Sun-Times
ran a story this weekend handicapping the Player of the Year race in the Chicago
area and called Conrath “a monster on defense.” I'm holding out hope that he's a Kiwanuka-like matchup problem at defensive end, although I must say I'm a little
skeptical about players that tall. Still, I love it when any player
Stanford is after
is dominant at the high school level.
* Mitchell Schwartz' team won their game this week 35-14.
* And, you guessed it, the weekly Chase Minnifield update: Minnifield had
seven
catches for 127 yards in a 48-20 victory as his team stayed undefeated. He also
had an eight-yard touchdown run and a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown. After
giving up some points in some earlier games, his team's defense has been more
stifling of late, only giving up one touchdown last week and only giving up 19
rushing yards and 99 total yards in the first half of this game before the
contest became a laugher.
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