Riverside County Football Stars Crush Competition

In the end, Riverside County prevailed in this, the 27^th annual Inland Empire All-Star Classic, winning by a score of 31-0.

The Riverside County team consisted of players from 27 schools.  It first scored with 6:14 remaining in the first quarter; Quarterback Justin Gheorghe (J.W. North) crossed the goal line from two yards out.

Playing for the Riverside County squad, Nolan Peralta, Tevita Hala, Darion Williams, & Tyler Rausa spent their evenings last week preparing for the game under the watchful eye of Eric Zomalt and his able coaching staff.

Zomalt is the head coach at Citrus Hill High School in Perris.

Each of these players had significant playing time and contributed greatly to the winning effort.

Kicker Tyler Rausa (Vista Murrieta High) converted the first point-after and the Riverside County team’s momentum rarely slowed.

With the ball on the 25-yard line and only seconds left in the first quarter, quarterback Hayden Gavett (Centennial) tossed a touchdown pass to Brandon Zuidema (Roosevelt).  Rausa once again converted the extra point to make it 14-0.

Rausa would add three points to the scoreboard late in the first half to make it 17-0.

There was one trick play that worked to perfection, the “hook-and-ladder.”  Gheorghe pitched the football to Steven Hamm (Riverside Poly) on a reverse.  Hamm quickly completed a 34-yard pass to a wide-open Zuidema who took it the final thirty yards for the score.  With 3:19 left in the third quarter, Rausa converted to make it 24-0.

The final touchdown was by way of a 34-yard interception by Noel Quinones (La Sierra) who took the ball in with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.  Rausa’s robotic leg tallied the final point in the game.

San Bernardino never got much momentum.  Between errors and penalties, they sputtered and fizzled nearly every series.  Only once did they come close to scoring when they reached the 2-yard line but the defensive efforts of Blair Brown (Rancho Verde) and company halted that drive.

Nolan Peralta

Nolan played his high school ball at Elsinore High, where he was a linebacker and tight end for the Tigers.

In his junior year, Nolan was the CIF-Southern Section (Eastern Division) defensive player of the year.  CIF awards for the season just ended have yet to be announced.

For the season just ended, Nolan lead the Sunbelt League in with 12.1 tackles per game.  In a game against Temecula Valley High School on September 23, he sacked the quarterback twice.

On the offensive side of the ball, Nolan hauled in 11 receptions for the year -- three for touchdowns-- including a 63-yard jaunt against Perris High School Oct. 28.

For his overall efforts this season, Nolan was awarded player-of-the-year honors by the Sunbelt League.

Nolan said he attributed his success to a higher power.

 “I would first like to give all the glory to God for all that I have accomplished and for blessing me with the ability to play the sport I love at a high level.”

On the win Saturday, Nolan said, “It says a lot.  I mean to hold them to no points at all and then put up 31 ourselves I think is a real statement for us.”

Nolan also gave credit to “the entire coaching staff at Elsinore high school . . . and my parents for pushing me to be the best athlete and man that I can be.”  Tony Peralta, Nolan’s father, is the head football coach at Elsinore High School.

Commenting after the all-star game, coach Peralta said, “I’m glad that he was able to play to play both sides of the ball and get a lot of playing time.”

Nolan has not yet decided where he will pursue his college degree and play football, but his list includes San Jose State, Fresno State, Colorado State, University of California, Davis, University of San Diego, Holy Cross, and Harvard.

In October 2011, Nolan was selected as a Student of the Month for the Lake Elsinore Unified School District.  He would like to get his college degree and then teach and coach high school football, following in the footsteps of his father.

Tevita Hala

Tevita played a key role for his Temescal Canyon Titans offense and defense.  He is credited with 6.6 tackles per game as a defensive lineman and had some outstanding rushing plays on offense, averaging 4.5 yards per carry on 97 attempts and had two touchdowns for the season.

On Sept. 23, Tevita had 15 tackles against a tough Murrieta Valley team.  On Nov. 4 against Perris, he had one rushing burst for 54 yards.

Tevita was recently awarded a spot on the First Team Defense for the Sunbelt League, the only Titan to achieve that honor this school year.

In the locker room following the game, Tevita said, “It was amazing.  It was a good game.  Those guys came out hard and played but unfortunately [for them] we came out harder and whooped on them.”

Tevita said he has not yet decided where he’ll to go to college.

Darion Williams

Darion was an all-purpose player for the Vista Murrieta Broncos.  He played a key role in the Broncos CIF Championship season culminating in the final game against Centennial where he recorded a blocked punt, an interception, and scored a touchdown as a receiver.

Following his junior season, Darion was selected to the First Team Defense for the Southwestern League and the All-CIF Southern Section (Inland Division) Defensive Team.

For the season just concluded, Darion averaged 9.2 tackles per game as a defensive back.  Twice he recorded 15 tackles in a game -- Oct. 14 versus Chaparral and on Dec. 2 in a CIF semi-final playoff game against Upland. 

He recovered two fumbles during the season and, in four games, Darion came up with four interceptions, running three of them back for a total of 80 yards.

Never one to sit on the sidelines for long, Darion was also utilized on special teams by coach Coley Candaele and returned seven kickoffs for an average of 28 yards per return.  His longest return was a 63-yard beauty in the Broncos 39-18 triumph over Upland.

On offense, Darion averaged nearly 11.5 yards per carry and just over 15.0 yards per catch.  For the season he is credited with six touchdowns with two against Crespi High School on September 30.

Darion and Nolan have been acquainted since the sixth grade when they began playing Pop Warner football together.  They are still very close today.

Nolan said it was a pleasure to play with Darion this week.

"It was great to be able to come back together and kind of rejoin and just play again together. It was fun!”

Darion was recently selected to the First Team Defense in the Southwestern League for the 2011 season.

He has not yet announced where he’ll to go to college.

Tyler Rausa

Tyler has been playing organized football for only five years now, once in Junior All American in 7th grade and then through four years at Vista Murrieta High School.

A Bronco teammate to fellow all-star Darion Williams, Tyler considers his favorite sports memory “to be game one of our season this year where I kicked the game winning field goal against Etiwanda when time expired to win the game and give our team our first win of the season.”

The Broncos would go on to win every contest on the field in 2011.

Tyler averaged 42.5 yards per punt this season, regularly pinning the opponent deep in their own half of the field.  He had four punts over 50 yards with his longest, a 62-yard boomer in that first game versus Etiwanda.  Tyler rarely had an opponent return a kickoff as he succeeded on booting 76 of 92 tries into the end zone.

Tyler’s 19 field goals and 59 points-after-touchdowns contributed to his second place in scoring in the 2011 Southwestern League with 116 points.  First place was junior standout and fellow Bronco, Su’a Cravens, with 122 points.

Two of Tyler’s field goal attempts of 55 and 54 yards had the distance against Chaparral but were just off to the left.  His longest successful attempt for the season was 50 yards against Pacific Palisades on Oct. 7.

“I attribute a lot of my success to Hugo Castellanos, along with my family,” said Tyler.

“Hugo is my kicking coach at Snap Hold Kick where I have pretty much learned everything from him and he has taking me to the next level and without him none of this is possible.

"It's been a blessing being out here with the teammates that I've had, with Garrett [Swanson, Martin Luther King High School], my other kicker.  We've known each other for four years now because we've been going to camp and it's just . . . everything's been a blessing that God's put me in a good place and I gotta give everything to Him.

"And my teammates as well, they've done everything they could; 31-0 is a pretty good all-star
team score.”

Tyler was the leading field-goal kicker in the Southern Section in 2011 with 19 field goals in 14 games—a single-season record for the Inland Empire.

Also a man of faith, Tyler wanted to be sure to add that he “couldn't do any of this without my Savior Jesus Christ, and that I love my family and friends for always out there to support me through everything.”

Tyler was recently selected to the First Team Offense in the Southwestern League for the 2011 campaign.

Tyler is as yet undecided on his college choice but wants to be sure his pick fits him the best and has offers him the best future.  It is his goal to “start  as a true freshmen in college, and have a great 4 years in college,” he said.

27^th Annual Inland Empire All-Star Classic

The most-valuable-player award for the Inland Empire All-Star Classic game went to Brandon Zuidema, who had four receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns on the night.

The Inland Empire All-Star Classic is presented by The SPORT Foundation of Riverside.  For more information on the event, visit their website at http://www.eventsofsocal.com/index.html