Two very different players lead this week's look at Division III. Joseph Sung is a freshman who already has Fremont Christian's attack running through him. Mateo Briseño is a junior captain who spends much of every game stopping attacks for Saint Maximilian Catholic School, and still keeps turning up at the other end.
Briseño has worn the armband since his freshman year, given it for the leadership, passion and attitude he brings every day. This season his coach, Alex Cendejas, asked even more of him, moving him into defensive midfield. There he breaks up attacks, wins his challenges and drops into center back whenever the side needs him.
None of that has stopped him scoring. Briseño has eight goals and seven assists, numbers that would stand out for a forward, let alone a player whose first job is to protect his back line.
"He does the difficult work defensively while still being one of our biggest contributors going forward, which shows just how important he is to this team," Cendejas said.
Sung's rise has come even faster. He has six goals and three assists in the last three games, and he has been involved in 69 percent of his team's recorded goals.
He scored three goals and set up three more against California Crosspoint on Sept. 17, a 7-0 win. He followed it with another three against Contra Costa Christian on Sept. 25, a 4-1 win, two hat tricks in three games.
He is not doing it alone. Judah Lawson, a sophomore, has five goals and an assist, and he has been involved in 46 percent of the team's recorded goals. As a freshman last fall, Lawson scored three goals in three games, and he has already gone past that total. Over the three games in which Sung scored both of his hat tricks, Lawson added three goals and an assist of his own.
Behind them, freshman Benaiah Ishida has two assists, one of several young players already making their mark on the Fremont Christian attack.
Briseño is not the only Saint Maximilian player putting up big numbers this fall. Two of his teammates have been in fine form right alongside him.
Alexander Silva transferred in this year and stepped straight into the No. 10 role. He gives the side a physical presence in midfield, controls the game, finds the final pass and scores himself, and he has seven goals and six assists. Cendejas said the boys welcomed him immediately, and the bond Silva has built with his new teammates has been a turning point for the team.
Jorge Cruz has given them a different presence up front. Club commitments limited him to two games last season. This year he has six goals in three games, including a hat trick against Cristo Rey De La Salle.
Elsewhere in the division, San Francisco Waldorf senior Sam Appel has three goals in two games, and Laytonville sophomore Kenji Lewis has two in the one game on record.
With Sung and Lawson still in their first two years at Fremont Christian, and Briseño, Silva and Cruz all juniors at Saint Maximilian, both sides have players to build around this season and next.
Editor's note: We do not have player stats for many Division III teams yet. We are building a database of player stats and information across the section, and we want it to be accurate. If you are a coach, parent or anyone else who can help fill in the players we missed, email us at insidetheninety@gmail.com.