Tulare County Football: Top Week 11 storylines, standout performers, power rankings
The 2023 Central Section high school football regular season concludes this Friday.
Playoff brackets and seedings will be released on Saturday.
Here are some top storylines for Tulare County teams heading into Week 11.
A Cowhide for all the marbles
An East Yosemite League championship is in this year’s annual Cowhide game.
Mt. Whitney (6-3, 4-0) and Redwood (6-3, 4-0) enter Friday night’s rivalry showdown with identical undefeated league records.
The winner of this 68th annual affair will capture an outright league championship.
According to the Central Section historian Bob Barnett, Mt. Whitney last won a league championship, a West Yosemite League crown, in 2000 when the Pioneers shared the conference title with Golden West that season.
That Mt. Whitney team finished with a 4-1 league record and was coached by the late Scott Nelson.
Redwood is the reigning EYL champion and has a chance to claim back-to-back league titles for the first time since the 1998-99 seasons.
The Rangers lead the all-time Cowhide series 38-28-1.
The Cowhide champion will also claim the Sid Hosking Trophy (city champion among Visalia's public school teams).
CVC captures outright back-to-back Tri-County Conference titles
Central Valley Christian captured outright back-to-back Tri-County Conference Kings Canyon championships on Oct. 20 after defeating Washington Union 42-24.
It’s been a dominant run for CVC during its past two league seasons. The Cavaliers have gone 8-0 during that stretch and have combined to outscore their conference foes a combined 356-131.
Senior running back Bryson Donelson has rushed for 4,502 yards in high school. The Fresno State commit may have a shot at breaking the all-time Visalia City record if CVC makes a deep playoff run. Former Golden West great Gonzalo Rodriguez holds the city record with 5,304 yards rushing from 2014-17.
Donelson is averaging 184.4 yards rushing per game this season.
CVC can wrap up a 9-1 campaign with a win on Friday at Immanuel (5-4, 3-1).
Exeter is on the brink of a perfect regular season
The Exeter Monarchs (9-0, 3-0) are a win away from a perfect regular season.
Exeter clinched at least a share of the Tri-County Conference Sequoia championship with a 12-7 win over Sierra Pacific.
The Monarchs hit the road Friday to play at Reedley (2-7, 2-1) and can become just the second team in school history to finish the regular season undefeated.
The 1970 Exeter team finished with an 11-0 overall record en route to a Central Section Sierra Division crown.
Orosi is a win away from claiming East Sequoia League crown
The Orosi Cardinals (8-1, 5-2) suffered their first season loss on Oct. 20, falling 22-21 to Woodlake.
Orosi closes out the regular season at home against Orange Cove (5-4, 3-3) in the Battle for the “O” rivalry game.
The Cardinals can capture at least a piece of the ESL title if they beat the Titans on Friday.
Orange Cove has won back-to-back games with wins over Lindsay and Farmersville.
Orosi won last year’s meeting 16-14.
Cardinals senior running back Andrew Camarillo is 84 yards away from reaching 2,000 yards rushing on the season. He can post back-to-back 2,000-yard spraying campaigns if he gets that total in the team's regular-season finale.
Camarillo has racked up 5,892 career yards rushing and scored 86 total touchdowns.
Performances of the week
Every week, the Times-Delta/Advance-Register will recognize the top football performances of the week (Coaches, email your top impact players to vyang2@gannett.com).
Here are this week's top performers:
Aeris Acoba, Porterville: Acoba scored a rushing touchdown to help the Panthers beat El Diamante.
Landon Aguirre, Mission Oak: Aguirre caught a touchdown in a loss to Hanford.
Samuel Alcantar, Porterville: Alcantar had three catches for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Rocky Arguijo, Porterville: Arguijo passed for 177 yards and three touchdowns.
Cameron Azevedo, Mission Oak: Azevedo hauled in two touchdowns.
Ty Baxter, Monache: Baxter rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Mt. Whitney.
Bryson Bias, Strathmore: Bias threw for 124 yards and a touchdown.
Israel Briggs, Mt. Whitney: Briggs tallied three receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown.
Donald Brooks, Mt. Whitney: Brooks ran for 45 yards and a touchdown.
Moses Burk, Redwood: Burk caught a 15-yard touchdown in a win over Golden West.
Niqo Calderon, Exeter: Calderon scored a rushing touchdown as the Monarchs stayed undefeated.
Andrew Camarillo, Orosi: Camarillo broke free for 213 yards rushing and a touchdown in a loss to Woodlake.
Joseph Ceballos, Lindsay: Ceballos reached the end zone on a 72-yard run.
Ethan Cortes, Lindsay: Cortes rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Jose Cortes, Lindsay: Cortes added 55 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Jordan Crisp, Tulare Union: Crisp completed 22-of-33 attempts for 306 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to Dinuba. He also scored a rushing touchdown.
Jason De La Cruz, Orosi: De La Cruz found the end zone twice through the ground and added 59 yards rushing.
Chase Dempsey, Redwood: Dempsey racked up five tackles and 2.5 sacks in a win over Golden West.
Brenden Doyle, Woodlake: Doyle caught a seven-yard touchdown.
Vincent Duran, Woodlake: Duran threw two touchdowns and ran for another as the Tigers ended Orosi's bid for a perfect regular season.
Jose Fernandez, Lindsay: Fernandez had a scoop-and-score.
Isaiah Galaviz, Redwood: Galaviz had an interception and five tackles.
Clayton Germaine, Exeter: Germaine totaled two sacks and six tackles
Dehven Gomes, Mission Oak: Gomes had four tackles and a sack.
Danny Gonzalez, Mission Oak: Gonzalez passed for 238 yards and four touchdowns.
Leo Gonzalez, Golden West: Gonzalez tallied nine tackles.
Kenny Jackson, Mission Oak: Jackson had a rushing touchdown and caught five passes for 71 yards.
Eli Lang, Woodlake: Lang had three catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Franklin Lockard, Tulare Union: Lockard finished with seven catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Nick Masiel, Lindsay: Masiel scored a touchdown on an interception return.
Ray'N May, Tulare Western: May made five tackles and two sacks and caused two fumbles.
Carter Myers, Mt. Whitney: Myers had four catches for 74 yards and a touchdown.
Jacob Molina, Exeter: Molina passed for 137 yards and ran for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Jayden Najera, Golden West: Najera scored a rushing touchdown and also caught seven passes for 60 yards.
Francisco Lopez, Golden West: Lopez made an interception and tied for the team lead with nine tackles.
Alex Perch, Redwood: Perch rushed for 46 yards and scored on a one-yard run.
Dominic Perez, Porterville: Perez finished with three receptions for 45 yards and a touchdown.
Brody Preisendorf, Redwood: Preisendorf had a sack and tackle.
Kai Preisendorf, Redwood: Preisendorf recovered a fumble for a touchdown and made eight tackles with 2.5 sacks.
Jacob Poole, Strathmore: Poole had two catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. He also scored on a kickoff return.
Caden Ritchie, Central Valley Christian: Ritchie found the end zone on a 58-yard catch and also had an interception in the Cavaliers' win over Washington Union.
Aidan Robertson, Exeter: Robertson caught seven passes for 100 yards.
Micah Rodriguez, Mt. Whitney: Rodriguez hit 11-of-17 passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
Demaje Riley, Tulare Union: Riley had seven catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.
Angel Saldana, Porterville: Saldana rushed for 36 yards and a touchdown.
Achilles Sierra, Mission Oak: Sierra had a receiving touchdown.
Kysen Sing, Mt. Whitney: Sing led the Pioneers with 92 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Daymion Soto, Mt. Whitney: Soto made a team-best five tackles.
Joseph Ruiz, Exeter: Ruiz registered a team-high eight tackles and intercepted his eighth pass of the season.
Ronald Walsh, Redwood: Walsh had a 15-yard touchdown catch.
Izaya Welsh, Porterville: Welsh hauled in a 21-yard touchdown.
Dominic Wilson, Tulare Union: Wilson led the Tribe with 22 tackles.
Tulare County Cream of the Crop Power Rankings
1. Central Valley Christian (8-1): The Cavaliers are averaging 45.1 points per game.
Up next: at Immanuel (5-4)
2. Redwood (6-3): The Rangers are giving up an average of 5.25 points per game in EYL play.
Up next: Mt. Whitney (6-3)
3. Dinuba (5-4): The Emperors defeated Tulare Union for the first time since the 2014 season, snapping a six-game losing streak to the Tribe.
Up next: Mission Oak (4-5)
4. Tulare Union (5-4): Quarterback Jordan Crisp has passed for 2,982 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Up next: at Tulare Western (2-7)
5. Mission Oak (4-5): The Hawks have lost three straight but are averaging 31.3 points per game.
Up next: at Dinuba (5-4)
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare County Football: Top Week 11 storylines, performers, rankings
