California's opening weekend, by the numbers

California high school football opened its 2026 season the weekend of August 28. Recruit Intel scored every recorded box score from that weekend and ranked the top performers by RPM, our Recruit Performance Metric. The California field was deep: 1,820 performances from the class of 2027 and later, across 236 schools that reported box scores. What follows are the five highest scores among the class of 2027 and later. Every stat line below comes from our canonical database, drawn from recorded box scores for games of August 28 and 29, and each player is verified by record against a current 2026 roster.

The top five performers

RPM is a percentile score within the weekend's recorded box scores, so 100 sits at the top of the field. California's top five were tightly bunched, all within three tenths of a point, so the order below reflects small differences. Each performance carries a sample of one game.

  • Michael Dennie, QB, Nordhoff (Ojai), class of 2027. Against Taft he completed 20 of 24 passes for 425 yards and 7 touchdowns, and added 20 yards on 2 carries. RPM 100.00, the top score in the state.
  • Charlie Martinez, WR, Grace Brethren (Simi Valley), class of 2027. Against Santa Paula he caught 8 passes for 229 yards and 2 touchdowns, ran twice for 10 yards, and posted 3 tackles on defense. RPM 99.96.
  • Landen Parry, TE, Del Oro (Loomis), class of 2027. A two way game against Downey: 1 catch for 17 yards and a touchdown on offense, and 10 tackles with 7 solo, 2 sacks and 4 tackles for loss on defense. RPM 99.91.
  • Salvador Evilla, RB, Simi Valley (Simi Valley), class of 2028. Against Shadow Ridge he carried 18 times for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns, and caught 4 passes for 41 yards and another score. RPM 99.85.
  • Holden Najar, WR, Terra Nova (Pacifica), class of 2027. Against Hillsdale he caught 11 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown, and ran once for 7 yards and a second score. RPM 99.73.

How we counted

RPM is a percentile score computed within the weekend's recorded box scores, so a 99 means the performance sat near the very top of every game we scored. Each line above rests on a sample of one game, the season opener, and that sample is stated on purpose, because a single strong night is a single strong night and not a season.

Every number here comes from the Recruit Intel canonical database. Each player was verified by record against a current 2026 roster, including class year and school. Common names were resolved to a single record by school and class before anything was published, so the player credited with each line is the player who actually produced it.

This is one of the Recruit Intel opening weekend performance boards, published in kickoff order as each state's season begins.