The 2019 football season in the state of California is upon us. Californiapreps.com’s annual rankings of the top football teams in Southern California is also back.
Here are the teams ranked 6-10 in our top 10 for 2019 headlined by Oaks Christian and senior Stanford commit Bryce Farrell.
We’ll have the top 5 teams in tomorrow’s article.
6. Oaks Christian
The top ranked team from the Valley is Oaks Christian. The Lions went 12-1 in 2018 and advanced to the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs in head coach Charles Collins’ first season.
The Lions have a pair of talented senior transfers battling it out for the starting quarterback job in Patrick Roberg (Westlake) and Jameson Wang (Harvard Westlake).
Sophomore Derek Boyd is in the mix with others for the running back job replacing Michigan's Zach Charbonnet.
Stanford commit Bryce Farrell and Arizona State junior commit Alonzo Fontenette form a potent wide receiver duo.
Victor Benitez and junior Giovannie Smith should lead the offensive line. Junior Ethan Calvert and Mister Williams form a Division 1 linebacking duo to lead the defense.
Kaylin Moore had a pair of interceptions and 26 tackles last season in the secondary as a sophomore.
First Game: Friday August 23rd at Chaminade
7. Mission Viejo
The Diablos should once again be very good in 2019. Chad Johnson went 6-6 in year one of replacing Bob Johnson. They had to forfeit four wins due to an ineligible player.
Junior quarterback Peter Costelli should be the replacement for departing Arizona State freshman Joey Yellen. Costelli threw for 2,292 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore at Santa Margarita.
Jacquez Robertson flashed last season with five rushing touchdowns.
Yale commit Shaun Gold is back at wide receiver, along with talented junior Mavin Anderson and senior Chase Nenad, who had 802 receiving yards last year from Costelli.
Senior Tony Villarreal should be among the leaders on the offensive line.
Keanu Tanuvasa and Lance Keneley form a powerful Division 1 duo on the defensive line.
Junior Easton Mascarenas led the team in tackles from his linebacker position as a sophomore with 91. Senior John Burns is back in the secondary; he had 36 tackles and an interception as junior.
First Game: Friday August 23rd at Konawaena of Hawaii
8. Sierra Canyon
Sierra Canyon enters 2019 in our top 10 after just missing the final top 10 of 2018 in December. Jon Ellinghouse’s team finished 12-4 in 2018 with a CIF Southern Section Division 3 Championship and fell just short in the State Division 1-A final.
Junior Chayden Peery is back for his third year as the starting quarterback. He has thrown for 4,571 yards total in his two seasons and already has Division 1 scholarship offers.
The running game lost EJ Gable to graduation but returns the trio of Hunter Williams and his 16 touchdowns, JD Sumlin, and Brendon Gamble. Each had between 496-713 yards on the ground.
DJ Harvey is back at wide receiver. The two-way threat made an impact on both sides of the ball last season with 647 receiving yards. That position is aided by the arrival of 6’3 junior Terrell Long, who had 600+ yards as sophomore at Harvard Westlake.
The defense returns its four leading tacklers from last season. The linebacking trio of JD Hernandez (168 tackles), Josh Bryan (123 tackles) and Cole Bullock (109 tackles) are all back.
The defensive line is led by Jake Hixon and Zach Thannum who each had 50+ tackles and 2-3 sacks.
The secondary has a talented duo of junior Harvey and sophomore Kamari Ramsey. Each are loaded with Power-5 scholarship offers. Harvey had seven interceptions as a sophomore, while Ramsey had 95 tackles as a freshman.
First Game: Friday August 23rd at Westlake
9. Upland
Darryl Thomas gets the first crack at replacing legendary coach Tim Salter at Upland. Salter spent 25 years at Upland and had a 12-3 record in 2018, a CIF Southern Section Division 2 title and berth in the CIF State SoCal regional.
Evan Rowe is back in 2019 after throwing for 17 touchdowns and just two interceptions last season. Tyevin Ford and junior Julian Dedman will be the feature running backs in 2019.
DonJ'rael Brooks is expected to make an impact on offense after playing mostly defense as a junior. His versatility is needed for the position group that is replacing its top five leading receivers.
The offensive line is led by senior Joseph Church and sophomore Maika Matelau.
The defense is led by the best defensive player in the country in Justin Flowe who had 145 tackles last season. Also back is Kyle Floyd who had 133 tackles last season. Junior Jonathan Flowe, Justin’s young brother, had 67 tackles last season and completes the linebacking corp. He also led the team in sacks with 11.
Joshua Garcia is back on the defensive line; he had eight sacks last season. Isaiah Loera had a pair of interceptions last season.
First Game: Thursday August 22nd at home versus La Habra
10. Serra
Serra opens up 2019 in our top 10. Scott Altenberg’s team was 5-6 in 2018 but return their quarterback, leading rusher, and receiver in 2019.
UNLV commit Doug Brumfield threw for 3,112 yards but he is being pushed every day by 6’4 super sophomore Maalik Murphy.
Jaylon Armstead rushed for 9 touchdowns in 2018. Lavon Bunkley-Shelton is among the best wide receivers in the state. UNLV commit Ronald Gilliam joins him on the outside.
6’3 junior Devin Kirkwood is also poised for a big impact at wide out.
The defense returns six of the top seven tacklers, headlined by their leading tackler 4 star senior Justin Houston who had 105 tackles in 2018. He is joined by Tyray Odell and Lando Brown at linebacker; each had 70+ tackles as sophomores.
The secondary is led by the duo of Maryland commit Devyn King and UNLV commit Justin Pinkney.
First Game: Friday August 30th at home versus Garfield
Just missed: Calabasas, Corona Del Mar, Rancho Cucamonga, among others.
