Daily Pilot Football Dream Team: Julius Gillick’s workhorse mentality helped Edison make history
Julius Gillick is rarely speechless, even if his play this season really spoke for itself.
The Edison High senior running back was never afraid to offer his opinion on things, operating with a confidence that may have sometimes leaned more toward bravado.
This made him a favorite among reporters, who are used to the clichés that high school football can often provide.
“I try not to give any of those,” Gillick said. “Everybody’s too media-trained nowadays.”
What he gave opposing defenses for much of the season was 48 minutes of punishment.
A transfer from Seattle, Wash., Gillick blazed his way to remarkable things in his second year with the Chargers. His teammates also proved up to the task, as together they led Edison (12-4) to the CIF Southern Section Division 3 title and CIF State Division 1-A championship, the first state title in program history.
For the indelible mark he left on the program, Gillick is the 2024 Daily Pilot Football Dream Team Player of the Year.
Gillick, who had 302 carries for 2,488 yards and 37 touchdowns this year, also grabbed 26 passes for 200 yards and another score.
He broke multiple school records in his two years as a Charger. Besides the single-season rushing yards and touchdowns marks, he also has career rushing yards and touchdown records. His 312 yards in a game against Huntington Beach as a junior set another school record, as did his six rushing touchdowns in games against Helix and Vista Murrieta this season.
Besides the numbers that cement him as the best running back in program history, it was the style that set the 6-foot, 215-pound back apart.
“He’s downhill, he’s physical,” Edison coach Jeff Grady said. “He’s not dodging tacklers. Often times, he seeks them out. He played 15 games and with his style of play, that’s impressive. His durability has been pretty awesome. I mean, the amount of carries he’s had, he had a game this year where he had 38 carries [in a CIF State regional win over El Cajon Granite Hills]. He stays on the field.”
Gillick has committed to Grady’s alma mater, Fresno State, where the coach played quarterback in the early 2000s before coaching there for seven years.
Gillick described his running style as angry, angrier this year after the loss of his good friend from Seattle, Amarr Murphy-Paine, a junior football player and aspiring rapper who was shot to death in front of Garfield High last June.
“I run with a lot of anger and a lot of confidence, and I think that’s why it works so well,” Gillick said. “Not a lot of people have that combination … What I do, I think I’m the best at it, and that’s to run like myself. It’s just all fueled by a competitive spirit. I just go out there and tell myself that nobody’s going to stop me, and if I keep telling myself that then eventually it comes true.”
Gillick battled an Achilles injury late in the season, but his only game missed was the CIF Southern Section Division 3 title game after being called for two unsportsmanlike penalties in the semifinals. Even in that role, Gillick said he enjoyed coaching up the team’s younger running back group, led by Sam Edmisten.
“Every single time, pre-snap, just tell yourself that they can’t do it like you,” he said of the advice given. “If you create doubt for yourself, then you won’t ever really be very successful.”
Gillick has no doubt he made the right choice coming to Edison.
“Especially as someone who’s not from the community, seeing how much it means to the community, it’s very connecting,” he said. “This will never be home, you know, but it’s gotten a lot closer ever since we took it that far.”
COACH OF THE YEAR
Jeff Grady
Edison
In his ninth year in charge at his alma mater, Grady guided the program to its first state championship. The Chargers had two times during the season when they bounced back, winning six in a row after back-to-back one-point road losses to Clovis West and Yorba Linda to open the season. Then, after Alpha League losses to Mission Viejo and San Clemente closed the regular season, Edison again won six straight for the title. Grady, a former quarterback at Edison and Fresno State, was offensive coordinator for a team that wanted to run the ball down your throat, yet sophomore quarterback Sam Thomson also proved more than capable.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brady Edmunds
QB | Huntington Beach | So.
Huntington Beach coach Brett Brown said that Edmunds grew up a ton this season, and he wasn’t just talking about his 6-foot-5 height. The Ohio State commit completed 217 of 348 passes for 3,222 yards, 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions, also rushing for 312 yards and a team-best nine more scores on the ground. After two years, he already holds program career marks for touchdowns and passing yards. Edmunds, the Epsilon League Offensive MVP, helped Huntington Beach (7-5) advance to the second round of the Division 5 playoffs while averaging nearly 34 points per game.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Matt Lopez
LB | Edison | Sr.
Lopez, a senior captain, was a leader of a defense that showed it meant business when it opened the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs with back-to-back shutouts. Seemingly always around the ball, the two-year varsity player had 173 tackles to break the Chargers’ single-season record of 172 set by the late Bill Malavasi in 1979. He also contributed 4.5 quarterback sacks. A first-team All-Alpha League selection, he broke up a fourth-down pass in the final minute to help secure the Chargers’ state championship against Fresno Central.
ALL-PURPOSE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Steel Kurtz
WR / FS | Huntington Beach | Jr.
Kurtz never came off the field for the Oilers, when offense, defense and special teams are all considered. He caught 64 passes for 931 yards and eight scores as a go-to receiver along with Troy Foster. Kurtz had a team-best three interceptions on defense, returning two of those for a touchdown, while recording a 77-tackle total that was second on the team. He also returned punts and kicks on his way to first-team All-Epsilon League honors.
FIRST-TEAM OFFENSE
Jackson Kollock
QB | Laguna Beach | Sr.
Arguably the most decorated quarterback in Laguna Beach history, Kollock amassed 7,087 yards and 94 touchdowns as a passer in 31 games across parts of three seasons for the Breakers. The Minnesota commit threw for 1,711 yards and 21 touchdowns and matched a career-high total with eight rushing scores as a senior. He was a Foxtrot League first-team selection for Laguna Beach (9-2, 4-1), which was the league champion.
Isaac Galindo
RB | Los Amigos | Sr.
Galindo more than doubled his production as a junior, amassing 1,215 rushing yards and racking up 19 touchdowns on the ground. The Sigma League Offensive Player of the Year, Galindo added two receiving touchdowns for Los Amigos (11-1), which won its first 11 games in completing an undefeated regular season.
Gavin Garza
RB | Costa Mesa | So.
Talk about hitting the ground running. Garza carried the ball 210 times for 1,450 yards and 20 touchdowns, posting an average of 6.9 yards per attempt in his first varsity season. Garza received first-team all-league honors in the Tango League for Costa Mesa (8-4, 3-2), which earned its first playoff win since 1997 at home against Winchester Temecula Prep.
Troy Foster
WR | Huntington Beach | Jr.
The favorite target of Huntington Beach star quarterback Brady Edmunds, Foster made 65 receptions for 1,290 yards and 15 touchdowns. The elusive receiver averaged 19.8 yards per catch. An Epsilon League first-team selection, Foster also had a pair of kick returns for touchdowns for Huntington Beach.
Shane Cassidy
WR / CB / P | Marina | Sr.
Cassidy proved vital to the success of the Vikings, bringing in 14 of the 16 receiving touchdowns that his team produced. The big-play receiver averaged 22.3 yards on 39 catches for 871 yards. He accounted for 45.1% of the offensive touchdowns for Marina (9-2, 4-1), which split the Lambda League title three ways with Beckman and Kennedy. Cassidy, who added two pick-six interceptions on defense, shared the league’s Most Valuable Player award with Beckman’s Noah Czaykowski.
Dorsett Stecker
WR | Corona del Mar | Jr.
Don’t let him get started. Stecker scored in every victory for the Sea Kings, and he usually did so in bunches. The Bravo League second-team selection had three-touchdown games against Cypress and Trabuco Hills, plus a two-touchdown performance against Moreno Valley Rancho Verde. Stecker compiled 54 catches for 726 yards and nine touchdowns.
Caden Oliver
TE / OLB | Costa Mesa | Jr.
Oliver led the Mustangs’ receiving corps across the board with 43 catches for 531 yards and seven touchdowns. He served as the security blanket for quarterback Andrew Waiss, who was as much a threat to run as he was to air it out with 11 rushing scores among his 28 plays that wound up in the end zone. The Tango League first-team selection added two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery from the outside linebacker position.
Cooper Cirillo
RT / DE | Edison | Sr.
A 6-foot-2, 223-pound right tackle, Cirillo served as a team captain for the Chargers, who imposed their will on opponents by running the ball on 67.1% of offensive snaps this season. The Alpha League first-team offense member also helped set the edge of the Edison defensive line, providing 56 tackles and a fumble recovery.
Jayden Pershall
C | Edison | Sr.
A 6-foot-4, 277-pound center, Pershall played one big part in allowing Gillick to wreak havoc at the second level of defenses. An Alpha League first-team offense selection, he also personified toughness, exiting with a lower-body injury in the semifinal at Vista Murrieta and returning for the CIF final win over Simi Valley.
Anthony Hastings
LT | Corona del Mar | Sr.
A 6-foot-3, 280-pound left tackle, Hastings had an ability to flatten pass rushers on the blindside of Max Nashed and Brady Annett, who split the snaps at the quarterback position. The Bravo League first-team selection also led a CdM offensive line that spearheaded Wyatt Lucas to a school record 352 rushing yards against Trabuco Hills.
Fletcher Liao
OL / DL | Laguna Beach | Sr.
At 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, Liao wouldn’t profile as one to play along the line of scrimmage, but he moved over from guard to center after Charlie Kelly was injured. Laguna Beach coach John Shanahan praised Liao’s flexibility, as the Foxtrot League first-team honoree also played defensive end and nose guard on the other side of the ball, where he produced two sacks, six tackles for a loss, and eight quarterback hurries.
Emitt Been
C | Marina | Sr.
Been there, done that. After handling the center duties when the Vikings featured standout running back Anthony Fabian in the backfield last season, the 6-foot, 250-pounder again starred on a league-champion Marina team, albeit one with a far more balanced attack. Been was a first-team selection in the Lambda League.
Jake Minter
AP / WR / FS | Edison | Sr.
As a wide receiver, a safety and a punt returner, Minter made his mark in a historic season for the Chargers. He made the biggest play of the season, the “Minter Miracle” coming when he caught a pass from Sam Thomson and dashed through the Fresno Central defense for the game-winning 54-yard touchdown with 20 seconds remaining in the Division 1-A state final. Minter turned 22 catches into 369 yards and a team-best seven receiving touchdowns. He added a rushing touchdown against Simi Valley in the Division 3 final, which Edison played without star running back Julius Gillick. An Alpha League first-team selection on defense, he made 89 tackles to go with two forced fumbles and an interception.
Nico Bammer
PK / P | Edison | Sr.
Bammer’s aim was true on all five of his field-goal attempts this season, and he converted 45 of 47 extra-point kicks to contribute 60 points as a place kicker. The senior also handled the punting duties for the Chargers, who strung together two separate six-game winning streaks.
FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE
Roy Brown
TE / DE | Estancia | Jr.
Estancia has come to be known as a program that wants to win the battle of the trenches, so is there a better way to do so than having the Lineman of the Year? That is the title bestowed upon Brown in the Sigma League. Brown had 117 tackles (17 for a loss), nine sacks, and 17 quarterback hurries. He added one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He had scored once as a receiver and as a rusher.
Devyn Blake
LT / DT | Edison | Jr.
Blake commanded double teams to keep him from disrupting plays in the backfield, and sometimes that wasn’t enough. Case in point, Blake created the deflection that resulted in the interception by Matt Lopez to seal the win in the CIF State Southern California Regional Division 1-A final. A two-way starter that earned Alpha League first-team offense honors, Blake had 56 tackles and 3½ sacks.
Darby Warren
DE | Huntington Beach | Jr.
Huntington Beach found itself in a lot of high-scoring affairs, but Warren made some big plays that helped create some much needed stops. An Epsilon League first-team selection, Warren had 48 tackles, a dozen tackles for a loss, seven quarterback hurries, five sacks, two forced fumbles and a pair of fumble recoveries.
Jake Russell
TE / ILB | Marina | Sr.
Russell had 62 tackles to pace the Vikings in that category, including four tackles for a loss. He added six quarterback hurries, three passes defensed, and a forced fumble. Russell shared the Lambda League Defensive Player of the Year award with Kennedy defensive back Deon Bynum. He added one receiving touchdown as a tight end.
Jeremiah Ross
LB | Edison | Sr.
The hard-hitting senior totaled 155 tackles and a team-leading 7½ sacks for the Chargers. An Alpha League first-team selection on defense, Ross recorded a season-high 16 tackles in a quarterfinal win at La Verne Bonita. He blocked a field goal against Clovis West.
Breck Clemmer
TE / OLB | Corona del Mar | Sr.
The Sea Kings’ leader with 70 tackles, five tackles for a loss and 8½ sacks, Clemmer earned first-team accolades in the Bravo League. He added an interception and a forced fumble. A contributor on both sides of the ball, Clemmer made 10 catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
Adrian Ramirez
QB / CB | Los Amigos | Sr.
Ramirez played on both sides of the ball for the Lobos, and he might have spent all of those snaps manning the perimeter as a wide receiver and a corner back if not forced into action by an injury at the quarterback position. The senior was the next man up, keeping the offense afloat, especially as a rusher. Ramirez, who shared the Sigma League Most Valuable Player award with Calvary Chapel’s Matt Peters, had four rushing touchdowns against Estancia in a game that wound up deciding the league title.
Chris Flores
WR / TE / SS | Los Amigos | Sr.
Another vital two-way player for the Lobos, Flores was named the Sigma League Defensive Player of the Year. His contributions included a pick-six against Nogales and another interception in a comeback win over Calvary Chapel that capped an undefeated regular season for Los Amigos.
Charlie Hunt
WR / SS | Laguna Beach | Sr.
Hunt was a do-it-all sort of player for the Breakers, amassing a team-leading 725 total yards in unconventional fashion. He produced 332 yards in kick returns and another 88 yards following his two interceptions on defense. Hunt, who shared the Foxtrot League Most Valuable Player award with Northwood’s Joe Harper, added 33 catches for 294 yards and four touchdowns.
Carson Schmidt
CB | Edison | Sr.
A physical component of a defense that recorded two postseason shutouts, Schmidt made 88 tackles as a member of the secondary. That included 10 tackles on three occasions — against Yorba Linda, Palos Verdes and Granite Hills. The Alpha League first-team defense member reeled in two interceptions, the latter a forever memory coming in the second half of Edison’s first state title as a football program.
SECOND-TEAM OFFENSE
Position, Name, School, Year
QB Andrew Waiss, Costa Mesa, Jr.
RB Jeff Brown, Estancia, Jr.
RB Wyatt Lucas, Corona del Mar, Sr.
WR / SS Luke Taylor, Fountain Valley, Sr.
WR / CB Cade Fegel, Newport Harbor, Sr.
WR / CB Luke Jolley, Laguna Beach, Sr.
TE Zach Giuliano, Corona del Mar, Sr.
OL / DT Taeao Falelaulii, Edison, Sr.
OL Emiliano Torres, Newport Harbor, Jr.
OL Leo Adjemian, Laguna Beach, Sr.
OL Steven Cortes, Los Amigos, Sr.
OL Bryant Merida, Los Amigos, Jr.
AP / WR / FS Shayden Sorochman, Marina, Sr.
PK / P Mattheo Zavala, Huntington Beach, Sr.
SECOND-TEAM DEFENSE
DT Gavin Seguin, Huntington Beach, Jr.
DE Duk Caldwell, Marina, Sr.
RT / NG Israel Lopez, Costa Mesa, Jr.
LB Troy Atkins, Marina, Sr.
OLB Davis Post, Newport Harbor, Sr.
FB / LB Gaige Prichard, Ocean View, Sr.
FB / ILB Julian Muro, Estancia, Sr.
WR / CB Aidan Brown, Edison, Sr.
WR / FS Sammy Stremick, Newport Harbor, Sr.
WR / SS Jack Hooper, Laguna Beach, Jr.
WR / FS Brandon Bettinghausen, Estancia, Jr.
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