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We are at the halfway point of the regular season. Let’s take a look at the leaders for player of the year and coach of the year at this point in the season.

Several quarterbacks are candidates for first-half offensive player of the year, including Sam Darnold of San Clemente, Devon Modster of Tesoro and Trey Tinsley of Tesoro.

The leader here, though, is senior receiver Kyle Sweet of Santa Margarita. Sweet has 46 catches for a county-leading 722 yards. He also is averaging 16 yards on punt returns.

Defensive player of the first half is the best player on the county’s best defense, Mater Dei senior defensive lineman Rasheed Williams. He has team highs in tackles for losses (six) and sacks (five).

Tesoro coach Matt Poston guided the Titans to wins in two of the county’s bigger nonleague games, against Corona del Mar and San Clemente, so he is in the consideration for first-half coach of the year.

Jim Hartigan steadily has brought along JSerra to where it’s a playoff contender in the Trinity League.

It’s all about league championships and playoff success now, though.

BEST LEAGUES

The best league in county football is the Trinity League, which is evident from looking at the county top 10. League teams went a combined 25-5 playing very challenging schedules.

In quality and depth, county’s other top leagues are, in order: South Coast, Sunset, Sea View and Pacific Coast.

Freeway League teams went 24-6 in nonleague games. That’s better than the cumulative nonleague records of the teams in the South Coast (18-12), Sea View (16-13) and Pacific Coast (21-9) leagues, but Freeway teams have been playing less-challenging nonleague schedules than teams of those three leagues.

FRYER’S O.C. TOP 25

Here is how I rank county football teams 1-25: 1. Mater Dei (5-0); 2. Servite (3-2); 3. Santa Magarita (4-1); 4. JSerra (5-0); 5. Orange Lutheran (4-1); 6. Tesoro (5-1); 7. Mission Viejo (4-2); 8. Corona del Mar (4-1); 9. Edison (3-2); 10. Los Alamitos (4-1); 11. San Clemente (5-1); 12. El Toro (5-1); 13. La Habra (2-3); 14. Trabuco Hills (3-3); 15. Villa Park (3-2); 16. Newport Harbor (2-3); 17. Fountain Valley (4-1); 18. Cypress (4-1); 19. Troy (4-1); 20. Valencia (4-1); 21. Buena Park (5-0); 22. Yorba Linda (3-2); 23. Capistrano Valley (5-1); 24. Fullerton (3-2); 25. Irvine (4-1).

FRYER’S EXPLANATION

Tesoro earned the ranking of “top public school team” because of back-to-back wins over top-10 teams, Corona del Mar and San Clemente.

Edison did not get enough votes from the 10-member media panel to get into the Register media poll top 10. The feeling here, though, is that Edison is just slightly superior to Los Alamitos.

Many people second-guess the rankings of the sportswriter, including the sportswriter himself. Newport Harbor might be too high; El Toro, Fountain Valley and Villa Park too low.

THIS WEEK

It’s the start of league play for many leagues. That means this week contains many outstanding matchups:

Rancho Alamitos at Garden Grove, Thursday: The two best teams in the Garden Grove League meet in their league opener. Rancho Alamitos has a dynamic passing game. Garden Grove look superior defensively.

Tesoro at El Toro, Friday: The South Coast League opener for both. Tesoro is coming off of two big wins – over Corona del Mar and San Clemente. El Toro’ offense can be sensational.

Mater Dei at St. John Bosco, Friday: It’s widely accepted these are the two best teams in the mighty Trinity League. It’s somewhat accepted that Bosco is the better team. We will find out.

JSerra vs. Santa Margarita at Saddleback College, Friday: Only the top three finishers in the ocean-deep, six-team Trinity League get guaranteed playoff berths. So every game, like this league opener, is gargantuan.

Servite vs. Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College, Friday: See “JSerra vs. Santa Margarita.”

La Habra at Buena Park, Friday: Buena Park has quickness on offense and defense, and having that quickness on defense is especially important. La Habra has not lost a league game since 2006. Buena Park is confident it can change that.

Sunny Hills vs. Sonora at La Habra High, Friday: Three Freeway League teams went 5-0 in nonleague games. These are two of them.

Valencia vs. Kennedy at Western High, Thursday: Valencia and Cypress are tre the Empire League favorites. Kennedy has looked like a playoff contender, especially when running back T.J. Williams plays. Williams did not play in the final nonleague game two weeks because of a toe injury but is expected to be good to go this week.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com