Prep Rally: A look at the early standout freshmen in football

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. There’s a group of freshmen making an impact at the varsity level in high school football. Let’s examine some of the early contributors.

Freshman standouts

Huntington Beach freshman uarterback Brady Edmunds (6).

(James Carbone/James Carbone)

Every football season, there are a group of freshmen who become immediate contributors at the varsity level.

• Richard Wesley, Sierra Canyon: The defensive end started off with three sacks each against JSerra and Oaks Christian, serving notice he was no ordinary freshman.
  
• Ryan Rakowski, Palos Verdes: Rakowski has guided Palos Verdes to a 6-0 start as the quarterback, showing poise and maturity beyond his years.
  
• Duvay Williams, Gardena Serra: Playing receiver and defensive back, he has future stardom written all over him.
  

• Brady Edmunds, Huntington Beach. He has surpassed 1,000 yards passing in six games as a starter for the Oilers.

  Here’s the link to additional class of 2027 making an early impact.

Football rewind

Gardena is suddenly very much in the Marine League title hunt after a 12-7 win over San Pedro, its first win over the Pirates since 2004. Gardena is 7-0 under coach Monty Gilbreath.

Crenshaw is back. The Cougars defeated King/Drew and will get to play for a Coliseum League championship on Friday night against Dymally. Here’s the report on the Cougars’ resurgence.

Carson is unbeaten and opened its new field with a victory over Narbonne. Here’s the report.

Birmingham is back to playing City Section teams and opened West Valley League play by routing Granada Hills. Here’s the report.

Mater Dei, coming off a close road win in Maryland, began Trinity League with a 49-0 rout of Servite. Here’s the report.

Corona Centennial coach Matt Logan picked up win No. 281, making him the winningest coach in Riverside County history. Quarterback Husan Longstreet completed 12 of 15 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns.

Moorpark survived 470 yards passing from Brady Smigiel and rallied from a 21-0 deficit to defeat Newbury Park 35-28.

JSerra could be the third-best team in the Trinity League after knocking off Orange Lutheran 24-14 in a huge win for first-year coach Victor Santa Cruz.

Here’s a report on Newport Harbor’s win over Huntington Beach.

Here’s the link to top individual performances for Week 6.

Here’s the City Section top 10 rankings.

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

Here’s last week’s scorelist.

Here’s this weekend’s schedule of games.

First prep game set for SoFi

SoFi Stadium will host its first high school football game on Oct. 13 matching Warren against Downey.

(Jeff Miller / Los Angeles Times)

For the first time since it opened in 2020, SoFi Stadium will host an official high school football game.

Rivals Warren and Downey have agreed to play their Gateway League game there on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. as part of “LA Bowl Friday Night Lights.”

Tickets will be $35 for general admission and are available via Ticketmaster. Student tickets will cost $15. Parking will be $20. The Downey Unified School District helped subsidize financing for the game.

Here’s the report.

Flag football

Newport Harbor quarterback Maia Helmar has tossed 57 touchdown passes in the Sailors’ 19 games this season.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Newport Harbor continues to look like one of the best flag football teams in Southern California after an 18-0 win over Edison last week.

Here’s a report on the rise of the Sailors and other teams at midseason.

Birmingham finally played its first flag football game last week and came through with wins over Panorama and Verdugo Hills. The team features eight softball players, led by quarterback Jessica Rose, the daughter of coach Jim Rose.

The City Section will be holding a City championship in two divisions in November. San Pedro and Eagle Rock look like they are the two strongest teams.

Guitar phenom

Newbury Park senior Luke Thykeson played the national anthem on his electric guitar and received a loud ovation.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

In the world of YouTube, teenagers can teach themselves anything.

Take the case of 18-year-old senior Luke Thykeson of Newbury Park High.

He started learning to play guitar two years ago watching videos.

He asked principal Steve Lepire if he could play the national anthem at a football game.

The rest is history. Here’s the report.

Water polo

After starting the season with 14 consecutive victories against top opponents, JSerra is clearly the No. 1 team in Southern Section boys’ water polo. But the competition remains intense.

JSerra won the Harvard-Westlake tournament championship last weekend in dramatic style with a 10-9 win over Newport Harbor on a winning goal from Bode Brinkema in sudden death overtime.

Girls’ volleyball

Mater Dei (32-2) and Mira Costa (25-2) continue to separate themselves in girls’ volleyball.

The Monarchs began Trinity League play with easy match victories. Mira Costa had to go five games before beating rival Redondo Union in the Bay League. Mira Costa has a showdown road match with Palos Verdes on Tuesday.

In the City Section, Palisades is 24-3 and 8-0 in the Western League.

Cross-country

Trabuco Hills’ Ryan Stanley set a course record at the Central Park Invitational, running 14:51.8 to lead his team to victory.

At the Bellarmine-Sacred Heart Invitational, Samuel Franco of St. Francis overtook Max Fields of Palisades to win at 15:42.50.

Samantha Pacheco of Granada Hills won the girls’ race in 19:14.0, establishing her as the favorite for the City Section championship.

This weekend is the Clovis Invitational.

Notes . . .

Junior girls’ soccer standout Riley Crooks of Edison has committed to Texas A&M. . . .

Mater Dei junior baseball player Brandon Thomas has committed to Washington. . . .

Crean Lutheran has picked up a huge transfer for its basketball team with the return of guard Vyctorius Miller, who once played for the team until moving to Arizona to play for Compass. . . .

Softball player Sienna Mayer from El Segundo has committed to North Texas. . . .

The comeback story of any year continues. Nathan Santa Cruz of Venice scored his first touchdown. In the first game of 2022, he suffered a brain injury that required surgery. Here’s his comeback tale. . . .

Marko Asic is the new girls’ water polo coach at Dana Hills. . . .

There’s a feud brewing between soccer officials and the Southern Section, with assistant coaches possibly being recruited into action to officiate games this winter if there’s a walk-out by officials over pay, according to a commissioner’s report. . . .

Receiver Aaron Butler of Calabasas is no longer playing with the team. He is committed to Colorado and plans to graduate by January. . . .

Zach Merrill is the new wrestling coach at Santa Margarita. . . .

Cole Leinart, a sophomore quarterback at Mater Dei and the son of Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, has transferred to Newport Harbor. Newport Harbor has filed transfer paperwork. Here’s the report. . . .

Agoura baseball player William Michelman has committed to Lewis & Clark. . . .

From the archives: Mason White

Birmingham defensive back Mason White begins his senior season as a 16-year-old in 2019.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Mason White was the City Section football player of the year in 2019 for Birmingham and started a streak of the Patriots having the No. 1 player in the Open Division, followed by Arlis Boardingham and Peyton Waters.

White got caught up in the pandemic sports delay, ended up going to junior college at Mt. SAC and is now finally playing at the collegiate level for TCU. At Birmingham, he was known for his play at defensive back, receiver and blocking kicks. He was only 16 years old as a senior.

Here’s a 2019 story on White’s football talents.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a story on a high school runner running for his Native American heritage.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune, a story about a girls’ tennis player who speaks Mandarin and shines on and off the tennis court.

From Baseball America, a story on former JSerra infielder Trent Caraway at Oregon State.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on a 15-year-old Latina trailblazer in the NWSL.

From On3.com, a story on former Birmingham tight end Arlis Boardingham at Florida.

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