Prep Rally: Dijon Stanley is the football player of the year

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. It’s football awards time. The Los Angeles Times announces its All-Star team.

Speed matters

Dijon Stanley of Granada Hills prepares to take off behind the blocking of Phyllip Hamburg-Martinez.

(Craig Weston)

It’s not every football game that fans begin to realize whenever one player has the ball in his hands, a touchdown could be coming. Dijon Stanley of Granada Hills High was that player this season.

He was so electrifying that choking on food was a possible reaction at the suddenness of his impact.

Armed with 400-meter speed that made him a City Section track champion, Stanley looked for any hole while playing running back and quarterback in Granada Hills’ double-wing shotgun formation, and when one opened, he was gone.

He rushed for 2,756 yards and scored 33 touchdowns in leading Granada Hills to the City Section Division I championship, the Highlanders’ first title since 1987. Committed to Utah, Stanley is The Los Angeles Times’ player of the year in Southern California high school football. Here’s the report.

The back of the year is linebacker Deven Bryant of St. John Bosco. Here’s the report.

The lineman of the year is Raymond Pulido of Apple Valley. Here’s the report.

The coach of the year is John Lester of Laguna Hills. Here’s the report.

Here’s the report on the 24-man Times’ All-Star team.

The final top 25 rankings is led by No. 1 St. John Bosco. Here’s the report.

Here’s the link to all the stories in one place.

Early signing day

The early college signing period for high school senior football players begins on Wednesday. It could be an interesting week to see who’s changing their mind.

There have been lots of coaching changes. Some want to keep their commits and others don’t. There’s also the transfer portal. That creates lots of drama.

Then there’s name, image and likeness options for a select few. If one gets a better offer than another, look for switches to take place.

There’s already been a big switch locally. Apple Valley lineman Raymond Pulido has gone from Alabama commit to Arizona commit on Sunday. Let the fun begin.

Basketball rewind

St. Paul had a huge win over La Mirada 63-60 behind Maurice Wright Jr., who scored 28 points. The Swordsmen are 9-2.

Sierra Canyon played in a national TV game at home. Sierra Canyon traveled to Ohio, where Bronny James got to play against the same high school his father made famous. Sierra Canyon was beaten. Here’s the report.

The best rivalry in City Section basketball, Fairfax vs. Westchester, resumed with a game not decided until the final second ticked off. Here’s the report.

Etiwanda is 10-0 in girls’ basketball after an 86-43 win over St. Paul in which Kennedy Smith scored 38 points.

Crenshaw is off to a 9-0 start in boys’ basketball and could be a City Section Open Division team this season. Grant (4-0) and Northridge Academy (13-0) are also unbeaten.

Harvard-Westlake is 13-0 after picking up two victories in Arkansas. The Wolverines are off until facing Narbonne in the Classic at Damien on Dec. 27.

West Ranch is 8-0 after pulling out an 81-77 overtime win over Village Christian. Oaks Christian is 11-0 after a 52-39 win over Royal in which Stevie Amar scored 20 points.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings for boys.

Christmas tourneys

There’s no busier time for basketball tournaments than right after Christmas. Most are starting on Dec. 26 and Dec. 27.

The biggest and best boys’ tournament is the Classic at Damien. Here’s the link to complete brackets. The Platinum Division has the top teams, including Harvard-Westlake and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

Other tournaments are at Covina, Torrey Pines, Palm Desert, South Pasadena and Anaheim.

Lynwood will be the site for a one-day tournament on Dec. 31 with games going on from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for the Real Run Winter Classic. The featured game has Narbonne facing Bishop Montgomery at 4:30 p.m. Watch basketball, then go see the fireworks.

Here’s a link for showcase events for 2022-23.

Soccer rewind

There were a number games involving top girls’ soccer teams last week, with JSerra winning the biggest of all, the top division of the Best of the West tournament. The Lions and Villa Park tied 0-0 in the championship game but JSerra won on penalty kicks. Villa Park distinguished itself with a 2-1 win over Oaks Christian in the semifinals.

Corona Santiago (6-0) has established itself as one of the best in girls’ soccer after a 3-1 win over defending Division 1 champion Temecula Valley. Santiago has recorded shutouts in five of its six victories.

San Pedro is 8-0 in girls’ soccer, including a 6-0 win over Carson in which Mariyah Bumgarner scored three goals. Mira Costa and Redondo are playing in the championship game of the South Torrance tournament on Monday.

San Clemente is making some early noise in boys soccer. Kai Trager had two goals in a 4-0 win over Santa Ana.

Cathedral went 2-0 in the Del La Salle Showcase in Northern California.

Birmingham has beaten Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Rancho Mirage in its only two boys’ soccer games, and the Patriots will get a lot stronger on Dec. 23 when several transfer students and likely starters become eligible.

It was last year for the Southern Section boys’ soccer playoff game at Hesperia against Oak Park.

(Oak Park Athletics)

Oak Park and Hesperia played on Saturday in boys’ soccer in a “cool” rematch of their snow playoff game from last year at Hesperia. Oak Park won 2-1 under clear skies.

Transfers become eligible

The sit-out period for transfers who did not move ends next week for winter athletes, which will offer huge help in the sports of basketball and soccer. For the City Section, athletes are eligible on Dec. 23. For the Southern Section, it’s Dec. 25.

For boys’ basketball, Thousand Oaks gains 6-foot-10 sophomore Trent MacLean from Westlake. Redondo Union adds sophomore guard Hudson Mayes from Fairfax (yes, he played for Reggie Morris Jr. at Fairfax but since no one is complaining about his transfer and he moved before Morris took the job at Redondo Union, he’s eligible).

Sierra Canyon is adding guard Osiris Nalls from Viewpoint.

In girls’ basketball, Mater Dei, Etiwanda, Corona Santiago and Chaminade are all adding big-time transfers that will make them a lot better.

Birmingham soccer is adding several key transfers, including Julio Chacon from El Camino Real.

JSerra hires college coach

JSerra has gone to the college ranks for its new football coach.

Victor Santa Cruz, a former head coach at Azusa Pacific who was the defensive coordinator at Hawaii, is the choice to take over the Lions’ program. He was head coach at Azusa Pacific for 15 years before leaving for Hawaii.

Notes . . .

Edison all-Sunset League offensive lineman Nathan Gates has committed to Washington State. . . .

Kory Minor has left St. Margaret’s after five years as football coach. . . .

Tony Uebelhardt is no longer the football coach at Castaic after four seasons. . . .

Jack Willard has resigned as football coach at Camarillo. . . .

Chris Hyduke has resigned as football coach at Palisades. He will become an assistant at Long Beach Cabrillo. . . .

Aaron Berry has resigned as football coach at Covina. Athletic director Kevin Glaspy will take over. . . .

Simi Valley defensive back Sean Brown has committed to Michigan State after previously being committed to Arizona. . . .

Chaminade running back Jaelon Barbarin committed to Michigan State. . . .

Receiver Malachi Riley of Corona Centennial has committed to Arizona. . . .

Jong-Min Lee is the new tennis coach at St. Francis. He played tennis at UC Santa Barbara and UCLA. . . .

Laguna Beach picked up a big girls’ water polo victory 13-12 over Mater Dei in overtime on Friday. Charlotte Riches scored five goals. . . .

From the archives: Daiyan Henley

Washington State linebacker Daiyan Henley.

(Young Kwak / Associated Press)

Daiyan Henley was a standout quarterback at Crenshaw High. He was the starter since his sophomore year and a ballboy for the Cougars before that. He never doubted his skills. It just took longer than expected for others to notice, and this season, he was an All-Pacific-12 Conference linebacker at Washington State, finishing second in the conference in total tackles and third in tackles for loss.

Talk about perseverance and determination, it’s Henley. He was a receiver coming out of high school at Nevada. In 2019, he suffered a season-ending injury while starting to play defense. In 2020 and 2021, he started to show his abilities as a linebacker, finishing with 103 tackles for Nevada before transferring to Washington State. He opted out of Washington State’s bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft.

From 2015, here’s a video of a 15-year-old Henley at Crenshaw.

Scheduling note

Prep Rally will be off the next two weeks as we all enjoy this holiday season. Thanks for all of your support this year and we’ll see you on Jan. 9.

Recommendations

From Bravenews, a look at the versatile Burrel Lee and what he does for the St. John Bosco football and basketball programs.

From the Acorn, a profile on Newbury Park distance standout Aaron Sahlman.

From The Athletic, a story on a 16-year-old soccer phenom from Brazil.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the impressive Nike shoe collection of UCLA’s David Singleton.

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