Five weeks down, five weeks to go in the high school football season.
Now that it’s halfway through the season, let’s take a look at the leaders for Orange County football’s top awards — offensive and defensive players of the year and coach of the year.
There will be others candidates when the playoffs are finished, especially among coaches. And the honorees won’t just be my selections. (Like at home, I get outvoted — a lot.)
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Luke Fahey, Mission Viejo, QB, Sr.: Playing against some of the better defenses around, Fahey (6-2, 205) has completed 73 percent of his passes for 1,464 yards, second-most in Orange County, and 15 touchdowns with only one interception. He passed for 323 yards and five touchdowns in a 53-14 win over Folsom in a battle of two teams ranked in the Top 10 in California.
Caden Jones, Crean Lutheran, QB, Jr.: Jones has been terrific for the Saints as they are off to a 5-0 start and are ranked No. 10 in Orange County. He has completed 76 percent of his passes for 1,432 yards and 10 touchdowns without an interception. Jones (6-3, 185) has had to run with the football only 14 times but is averaging 9 yards a carry when he does.
Chris Henry Jr., Mater Dei, WR, Sr.: Henry (6-5, 205) and his teammate Kayden Dixon-Wyatt are just about interchangeable as the top receiver in the county. Henry’s spectacular catches on what look like uncatchable passes give him the slightest edge. He has 17 receptions for 333 yards and three touchdowns and averages 83 receiving yards a game and 20 yards a reception.
Ethan Mundt, Troy, RB, Sr.: He is second in Orange County in rushing yards with 858 yards. Mundt (5-10, 205) rushed for 376 yards and six touchdowns, both school records, on 27 carries in a 49-21 win over Foothill. He is averaging 172 yards a game and 8 yards a carry.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Dash Fifita, Santa Margarita, LB, Sr.: Fifita, who committed to Arizona where his brother and Servite alum Noah Fifita is the quarterback, leads the Eagles in total tackles with 35 and solo tackles with 20. He can run down just about any offensive player with his sideline-to-sideline pursuit speed. And he hits like a runaway freight train.
JD Hill, Mission Viejo, DL, Sr.: Nothing against Northern Arizona, a fine school in a beautiful location, but it seemed that when Hill committed to Northern Arizona the reaction here was “He can do better than that.” Because Hill (6-3, 271) has the size, speed and skills of a high-level college football prospect. He leads Mission Viejo, the No. 6 team in the HSratings.com California rankings, in total tackles with 68, tackles for loss (16) and sacks (8.5).
Lenny Ibarra, Los Alamitos, LB/DB, Sr.: This guy does everything. Ibarra leads the 7-0 Griffins in solo tackles with 30 and total tackles with 62 and has two interceptions. He also is the team’s second-leading rusher at 278 yards (averaging 7 yards a carry) and leads the team in receiving yards with 363. He is 2 for 3 on field goals, 11 for 15 on point-after kicks and is averaging 43 yards a punt.
Rocco Tompkins, JSerra, LB, Sr.: When JSerra started the season 0-2 with losses to Sierra Canyon and Damien, Tompkins was one of the few thriving Lions. He had a team-high nine tackles in the 40-0 loss to Sierra Canyon and a team-high 16 tackles in the 34-31 loss to Damien. Tompkins, who is smallish for an elite Trinity League linebacker at 5-9 and 185 pounds, leads JSerra with 84 total tackles and 32 solo tackles and averages 17 tackles a game.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Ray Fenton, Los Alamitos: The Griffins lost two All-Alpha League players via the transfer pathways. Yet, here they are at 7-0 while playing a fairly aggressive schedule and looking like Mission Viejo’s top challenge in the outstanding Alpha League.
Chad Johnson, Mission Viejo: This again is the best public-school football team in Orange County. The Diablos (4-1) opened the season with a nail-biting 7-3 win over Santa Margarita, beat San Diego County’s best team Lincoln and the Central Valley’s best team Folsom.
Chris Reinert, Servite: The Friars (4-1) looked awful in a 42-14 season-opening loss to Corona Centennial. Reinert rallied the team and has Servite playing better every week with wins over Murrieta Valley, Chaminade, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks and St. Paul.
John Shanahan, Laguna Beach: “Football” is not among the first words one conjures when thinking about Orange County’s prettiest city. Shanahan has built and maintained a heck of a football program there, with the team off to a 5-0 start that includes a 36-15 win over Tesoro, which was an unthinkable outcome only a couple of years ago.
NOTES
• HSratings.com, the website that provides the team rankings that the CIF Southern Section will use to place teams into playoff divisions, stated that coaches have contacted the website to request a lower rating. A lower rating would place a team in a lower and more-winnable playoff division. …
• JSerra’s flag football team is ranked No. 1 in Orange County after beating previous-No. 1 Orange Lutheran 18-7 on Tuesday. …
• Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar are 1-2 in the CIF Southern Section boys water polo power rankings that will be used to place teams into playoff divisions and to seed them in those divisions. Santa Margarita is No. 3 and JSerra No. 4. …
• The eight-team Elite 8 Tournament in boys water polo on Friday and Saturday at Harvard-Westlake High will impact the rankings. JSerra plays Newport Harbor and CIF-SS No. 8 Harvard-Westlake in that tournament on Friday. …
• In Sunset League boys water polo, Newport Harbor is in first place with a 4-0 record. Corona del Mar is one-half game behind at 3-0. They play each other Wednesday, Oct. 8, at Newport Harbor. …
• This week the Massey System Ratings have Sierra Canyon at No. 1 in the CIF-SS girls volleyball rankings, followed by, in order, Marymount, Redondo Union and Mater Dei. Last week, Mater Dei defeated Marymount in the final of the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix. The Massey ratings will be used to place teams in the CIF-SS playoff divisions. …
• The Rumble on the Hill boys basketball tournament that again starts the season is Nov. 17-22 and will be played at Fullerton, La Habra, Sunny Hills and Troy high schools. Among the teams in it are the host schools plus Canyon, JSerra, Orange Lutheran, Servite, Sonora, Trabuco Hills, Villa Park, University and Woodbridge.
