Top candidates for The Sacramento Bee’s high school football defensive Player of the Year
The touchdown makers provide a lot of the game’s thrills, but in this sport, it comes down to blocking and tackling.
And the best stoppers are often the ones who can make the difference between a championship team or a near miss.
In pondering the top defenders in the Sacramento region for high school football, we take note of those in the trenches, the linebackers and the secondary men for schools with large enrollments to the smallest. Each of these players on this list is up for The Sacramento Bee’s Defensive Player of the Year award with playoff team success sure to make a difference down the stretch.
In the case of Rio Americano rush specialist Toby Black, Raiders coach Reid Sanders and defensive coordinator Jordan Botha understand they need every ounce of their defensive anchor to really disrupt teams from here on out. That includes Friday against Vista del Lago’s vaunted passing attack in a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV quarterfinal.
It’s not just strength or speed for stoppers like Black that set them apart. It’s skill and desire, including being a thinker on the fly.
“He’s surgical,” Sanders said of Black. “Everything is calculated. He knows exactly how to attack his opponent. Relentless when it comes to getting after the quarterback.”
Some guys carried rolling momentum from last season into this one, including Evan Combs of Casa Roble. The linebacker continues to draw high praise from his appreciative coach, Chris Horner, as a player and a leader.
“He is far and away our best defensive player and is an absolute menace,” Horner said. “He’s tough as nails and has a motor that won’t stop. He’s a leader on and off the field and loves to play special teams. He’s an absolute dude.”
Combs is also a dude who gives more than the bruises and welts to opponents on tackles. He volunteers in the fourth-grade class of Horner’s wife, Michele, “and the little Junior Rams at Oakview Elementary all idolize him,” Horner said.
Auckland Asiata
DE | Sutter | Senior
There’s a reason AA is committed to Fresno State on scholarship — he’s a disruptor bent on ransacking backfields and a load to deal with at 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds. He has 13 tackles for loss, 7 ½ sacks and 24 quarterback hurries. And in facing the top-seeded D-VI Huskies, it’s not just one load in the trenches, it’s three with 225-pound Eric St. Onge, who has 9 ½ sacks, and 235-pound Tristan Leal, who has 8 ½ sacks and 24 quarterback hurries, not to mention 220-pound linebackers Jeevan Chata (94 tackles) and Mason Cartwright (93 tackles) and sophomore cornerback Max Bringgold, who has seven interceptions for the top-seeded club in D-VI.
Toby Black
DE/LB | Rio Americano | Senior
He’s 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds of endless pursuit for the 9-2 Raiders, who seek revenge against a Vista del Lago team that beat them 41-15 on Oct. 13. Black vows to alter some of that. He has has 20 sacks and 55 tackles for the best Rio team in 30 seasons.
Evan Combs
LB | Casa Roble | Senior
A tackling machine with the ability to read plays and get to them in a hurry, the scrappy 5-11, 180-pound Combs has 147 tackles, 20 for loss, and eight sacks for the 9-1, No. 2-seeded D-V Rams. He had 145 tackles and 15 sacks for a 9-2 team last season. Now, the aim is to win this bracket, and the defensive “Comb Over” will be a big reason if it happens.
John Correa
DE/DT | Rocklin | Senior
A strong and gifted presence on the edge at 6-3 and 225 pounds, Correa is a paramount reason the Thunder are 9-1 and seeded second in D-II. He leads the team with 5 ½ sacks, but his impact goes well beyond those numbers. You go to a Rocklin game and you will know he was there. Correa is joined in the trenches by the 6-3, 265-pound double-trouble combo of Koen Bell and Spencer Patton, meaning a triple load of trouble for the Thunder.
Frank Cusano
LB | Granite Bay | Senior
The Washington State-bound leader was named the Sierra Foothill League Defensive Player of the Year, and that’s the best conference in Northern California. The 6-2, 210-pound Cusano leads the D-II Grizzlies with 72 tackles despite missing two games with an injury, and he heads a unit that also includes a stopper in Isaiah Ene (four interceptions, 71 tackles). Bonus points: Cusano’s father, Dave Cusano, was a member of The Bee’s 1980s All-Decade Team from his defensive line prowess at Folsom, and he later played well for the Oregon Ducks.
Anthony Gallagher
DB | Twelve Bridges | Senior
He’s not the biggest guy at 5-8 and 160 pounds, but AG can sure cover. He has three interceptions and five pass breakups for the 10-0, top-seeded D-V Ragin’ Rhinos of Lincoln. The D has been strong all season with a host of leaders for a unit that has allowed seven or fewer points seven times, including leading tacklers in 180-pound linebackers Eli Wade and Zeke Wood and 6-4, 250-pound defensive end Nate Sheiring, who has 10 quarterback hurries.
Theo Greule
DE | Folsom | Junior
He has a name that fits in the trenches, especially one who wreaks havoc on the line over four relentless quarters as the only two-way starters for Folsom. Greule has impacted games since his freshman season, using power and smarts to have his way for the top-seeded Bulldogs, who seek a section three-peat. Greule has 46 tackles and 20 quarterback hurries for Folsom, which is bolstered on defense right on through the secondary with RJ Whitten, a cover corner, a nickel defender and a blitzer whom coach Paul Doherty said can be “dominant”.
Elijah Gulewich
DE | Folsom | Senior
Double team Greule (see above) and face the wrath and rush of fellow defensive linemen leaders Lucas Hardeman or Gulewich, who has 15 sacks and seven forced fumbles as a third-year starter. Gulewich has improved each season and has controlled games from his end position, waiting to pursue and pounce in leading the area’s top defensive outfit with losses only to Northern California No. 1 Serra of San Mateo (21-14) and De La Salle of Concord (14-7).
Christian Harris/Baron Taylor
DBs | Inderkum | Seniors
These two are so good that we will group them together as they have combined for 11 interceptions, six pass breakups and a lot of terrific coverage. They are not doing all the dirty work alone, certainly. Harris and Taylor are flanked by some stout stoppers, including linebacker Danny Kirkpatrick, who averages 15 tackles a game, and linebacker Kamarrion Cook, who averages 12 tackles and has seven sacks for the 10-1, D-I contending Tigers. And there’s the massive 300-pound Josiah “Sugar Bear” Sharma, an anchor on the D-line.
Markus Hoffman
DT | Oak Ridge | Senior
The bulk and power source of the Trojans defensive fury, the 6-2, 250-pound Hoffman is a load in the interior of the line with the ability to overwhelm opponents. Have you seen this guy’s arms? Do not sleeve them, ever. Despite missing the first two games, he has 49 tackles, 21 ½ of them for loss, with 12 ½ sacks for the D-I title contending Trojans.
Camden King/Matt Long
DBs | Vista del Lago | Seniors
Thanks to the guys applying the heat in the trenches, including the stout 6-4, 255-pound Brandon Nazworth, the 210-pound Logan Murray and 200-pound Max Vota, the secondary leaders in King and Long have feasted. King has six interceptions and averages 5.1 tackles per game. Also a star receiver, Long has five picks, two returned for touchdowns for the 9-1, No. 2-seeded Eagles, who seek a D-IV championship.
Thomas Rominger
DE | Valley Christian | Senior
Yeah, yeah, the Lions of Roseville are a small school with 120 students and loom as a darkhorse in D-VII. But this guy can play anywhere, and he looks the part at 6-3 and 220 pounds. He also plays the part, leading the country with a reported 219 tackles, 51 of them for loss, to go with 32 quarterback hurries. Rominger has also passed for 31 touchdowns and rushed for five as a one-man terrorizing unit.
Jeremiah Tuiileila
DE | Grant | Junior
Yes, he transferred from Inderkum, but Tuiileila also came full circle as he grew up with a good many of his Pacers teammates. The 6-2, 235-pound rush specialist leads the top-seeded D-III team with 86 tackles, 28 for loss, and 18 sacks. Grant has had a lot of monstrous stoppers over the decades on their eight section championship teams, and the best ones really up their game in the playoffs.
Drew Vassar
DB | Jesuit | Senior
Instinctive, tough, quick and determined, the 5-11, 160-pound Vassar has 13 tackles for loss for the 9-1, No. 3-seeded D-II Marauders. He also has eight rushing touchdowns, doling it out on offense with the same amount of energy that he gives on defense.
Mason Vicari
DL | Christian Brothers | Senior
The 6-3, 265-pound UNLV-bound two-way lineman has 17 tackles for loss and five sacks and can really rumble downfield, be it on a handoff for kicks on offense or a defensive fumble recovery for a Falcons team determined to return to the section D-III finals. And he’s not alone in defensive pressure as 205-pound linebacker Josiah Campbell leads CB with 93 tackles to go with 15 tackles for loss.
James Williams
DL | Woodcreek | Junior
He’s undersized at 5-8 but packs a wallop at 200 pounds in getting under the skin of opponents, powering or slipping his way around guards and tackles to record nine sacks and 20 quarterback hurries. He isn’t alone in his defensive pursuits as Woodcreek includes 6-2, 210 junior linebacker Brody Krupp, who leads the No. 2-seeded, 9-1 Timberwolves with 82 tackles.
This story was originally published November 8, 2023 at 10:43 AM.