Voting open for the Martin Dentistry Football Athlete of the Week

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Each week during the 2025 San Joaquin County high school football season, The Record will honor one standout player with the Martin Dentistry Football Athlete of the Week award.

The winner is decided by you, the readers.

The Martin Dentistry award highlights the top performances from 209-area schools. This week’s ballot features seven nominees from Stockton, Ripon, Oakdale, Linden and Manteca.

Everyone is encouraged to submit nominations for the upcoming week to dackermann@gannett.com.

The poll at the bottom of this page closes at noon on Thursday, Nov 27. There are no voting restrictions, so vote now and vote often.

Here are the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Semifinals nominees (Athletes listed in alphabetical order by last name).

Wes Burford, Running Back, Oakdale

Greatest. Of. All. Time.

The words echo louder each week, and Wes Burford keeps giving them new meaning. Sorry to repeat ourselves, but what he’s doing borders on unbelievable.

He already passed New York Giants running back Cameron Skattebo as the Sac-Joaquin Section’s all-time rushing leader. Then, just last week, he became the first player in section history to break 7,000 rushing yards. And somehow, he still had more to add.

In Oakdale’s 45-13 revenge rout of Vanden, the Air Force commit ran for 185 yards and three touchdowns.

Those three touchdowns didn’t just extend the lead. They pushed him to 101 for his career, placing him third all-time in Northern California.

The Air Force Commit now has 2,691 rushing yards this fall, the most in a single season in his career after totaling 2,678 as a junior.

Amos Cady, Wide Receiver/Cornerback, Ripon Christian

What stood out more — Ripon Christian handing Liberty its first loss of the season, or the video-game numbers that Amos Cady put up to make it happen?

It took 52 points for the Knights to pull off the upset, and while Cady had help, his impact stood above everything else. He rose to the moment with one of the most dominant two-way performances of the year.

His scoring plays came in bursts: 75 yards, 65, 53 and 25. Four touchdown receptions, all covering major ground and he still pulled in eight additional catches that kept drives alive.

Cady closed the game with 12 receptions for 317 yards and four touchdowns, accounting for the vast majority of Ripon Christian’s 382 passing yards in the 52-49 win.

Then came his defensive presence. Cady led the team with 12 tackles, reinforcing his role as a complete player whose influence extended to every corner of the field.

Jackson Fay, Wide Receiver, East Union

Jackson Fay, simply put, is different.

East Union lines him up anywhere — slot, shotgun, backfield — and his impact rarely changes. Stagg coach Eric Crocker summed it up plainly on X: “UC Davis commit which is great. But should have national stage recruiting going on.”

The praise fits. Fay’s speed, vision and elusiveness jump off the screen, but what makes him different is harder to define. He carries the presence coaches call the it factor — the instinctive ability to take over a game.

He did exactly that in one of the biggest upsets the San Joaquin County has seen. In a game that will forever sit atop East Union’s history, Fay totaled nine catches for 125 yards and three touchdowns and added 80 rushing yards and two more scores.

And when the game hung in the balance, tied 55-55 with only seconds left, the call was obvious. Fay lined up in the backfield, sold the fake and slipped out for a 3-yard walk-off touchdown to stun No. 1 Twelve Bridges and hand the top seed its first loss.

He now stands at 33 touchdowns on the season — and counting.

Jaden Galvan, Quarterback, St. Mary's

The aficionado of the two-minute drill.

That reputation only grew for St. Mary’s quarterback Jaden Galvan.

It wasn’t the same situation he faced last week, but what he did against Manteca may have been even more impressive. With both defenses playing at a high level, points were tough to come by. At halftime, St. Mary’s held just a 7-0 lead thanks to Galvan’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Ivan Huerta.

Then adversity hit. Manteca opened the third quarter with a scoring drive, and as the period ended, Galvan threw a pick-six that gave the Buffaloes their first lead of the game.

But a costly Manteca miscue flipped the momentum. On a crucial third-and-long, Galvan connected with Huerta on a contested catch up the middle, setting up a 1-yard rushing score.

Even then, the Rams trailed by one. The defense delivered a stop, and with 3:11 remaining, Galvan got the ball back.

One play later, he found Jeremy Krause for a 55-yard touchdown — delivering another game-winning moment. Galvan finished with 237 yards and two touchdowns on 16-of-30 passing.

Diego Hernandez, Running Back, St. Mary's

The jerseys were already streaked with dirt before the first snap. The air felt sharp. The atmosphere made clear what kind of game was coming.

With two of San Joaquin County’s best teams colliding, the matchup was destined to be physical, low-scoring and demanding. Diego Hernandez understood exactly what the moment required and delivered an A-plus performance.

Whenever a drive appeared stalled, Hernandez found a way to extend it. When St. Mary’s needed a yard, he gave two — sometimes three. When the passing game struggled, the Rams leaned on him until it opened back up.

Hernandez helped set up the explosive passes that followed, and while he didn’t score, he rushed for 114 yards on 20 carries, providing the consistency the offense needed.

It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t his biggest statistical game of the season. It wasn’t a night defined by highlights, but it was one defined by necessity — and Hernandez delivered every yard St. Mary’s needed to survive a physical challenge.

“He kept fighting for yards and running through tackles,” Galvan said of Hernandez. “This is a great Manteca defense, and they couldn’t tackle him.”

Kirk Simoni, Quarterback, East Union

Great receivers can create opportunities, but they still need a quarterback capable of turning them into points. East Union found that in Kirk Simoni.

In the biggest and most pressure-filled game of his career, Simoni showed complete command. He hit receivers perfectly in stride, allowing them to carry their momentum upfield. He disguised handoffs with precision, kept defenders guessing and calmly cycled through his reads before firing strikes at the exact moment they were needed.

The stat line reflected his control of the moment: 339 passing yards and four touchdowns. It was his third game this year surpassing 330 yards and his fourth with four scoring throws.

With Simoni steering the offense, East Union is averaging 52 points per game and heading to its first Section final in 36 years. His season totals include 30 passing touchdowns and 2,211 yards.

Add in the fact that he’s had a new offensive coordinator almost every season, and this run becomes even more remarkable. Offensive coordinator Teejay Gordon deserves praise, but Simoni is the one making the offense go every snap.

DeAndre Smith, Wide Receiver, Linden

DeAndre Smith has rewritten nearly every receiving record Linden High keeps — career catches, single-season catches, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns. His name sits at the top of all of them.

He already helped lift the Lions to their first Mother Lode League title since 2004, ending a nearly two-decade stretch without a championship and reshaping the program’s trajectory.

But one milestone had still eluded him: a section championship appearance. That changed this postseason. As the No. 7 seed in Division VII, the Lions stunned No. 2 Stone Ridge Christian, then avenged an earlier loss by beating No. 3 Summerville 27-21.

Smith played his part, catching six passes for 89 yards and a touchdown in the opening upset.

This week, he hauled in four receptions for 110 yards and two touchdowns, accounting for almost all of Linden’s 141 passing yards.

For a player who has carried the offense for years, this postseason run feels like the missing chapter he’s long been chasing.

VOTE HERE

This article originally appeared on The Record: Vote for SJS semifinals Martin Dentistry Football Athlete of the Week

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos