Clovis West’s Adrian Martinez makes college call – Cal Bears

In a whirlwind weekend, Adrian Martinez helped lead the Clovis West High football team to a big win Friday, watched The Big Game in Berkeley with his family Saturday and made a big decision Sunday.

And it all points Golden for the dual-threat quarterback, who will go from Eagles to Bears at the college level.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior gave an oral commitment to Cal a day after watching the Golden Bears fall 45-31 to Stanford in The Big Game and two days after accounting for nearly 500 yards with four touchdown in the Golden Eagles’ 42-28 victory over rival Clovis in the Central Section Division I quarterfinals.

Martinez said a strong connection with the coaching staff, particularly offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, and the university’s business program led him to become Cal’s first commitment from the Class of 2018. Martinez announced his decision on Twitter on Sunday morning.

“I would say the relationship I’ve built with the coaches and the academic prestige of the school and the overall vibe,” Martinez said of his reasons for choosing Cal. “I fell in love with the school and the opportunity it gives me even outside of football.”

Martinez also had offers from Fresno State, Colorado, Colorado State, Miami, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon State, Utah, Vanderbilt and Washington State.

But Martinez was drawn to Berkeley by the allure of helping the Bears return to the relevance they enjoyed under former coach and new Fresno State head man Jeff Tedford, who went 82-57 and led the Bears to eight bowl games in 11 seasons between 2002-2012.

“They made it a point to me that I could be a part of something special, really a driving force in creating something special,” Martinez said. “They definitely think I can be a big part of starting a new era for Cal. I hope to be a part of a Pac-12 power and a nation power at Cal.”

Martinez, who sports a 3.5 grade-point average, this season has completed 202 of 334 passes (61 percent) for 2,323 yards and 23 touchdowns against four interceptions while rushing for 1,288 yards and 14 touchdowns on 163 carries, an average of 7.9 yards per rush.

He passed for 274 yards and rushed for 221 more while throwing two touchdowns and rushing for two touchdowns Nov. 18 against No. 5 Clovis to send the fourth-seeded Golden Eagles (8-3) to a semifinal date at No. 1 Central at 7 p.m. Friday.

Martinez as a sophomore passed for 1,672 yards and 14 touchdowns while rushing for 902 yards.

“Cal football is getting an extremely intelligent human being who is a very gifted athlete and a tremendous leader,” Clovis West coach George Petrissans. “He’s got all the characteristics you want your quarterback to have. And he’s a complete team guy and extremely humble. What a wonderful combination to have as a young player. His teammates all love him. I’m so proud of him.”

Water polo – Chloe Mahan scored a game-high three goals and Hala Quinlan made 15 saves to lead top-seeded Mt. Whitney to an 8-4 victory over No. 2 Reedley for the Central Section Division III girls water polo title Saturday.

It’s the Pioneers’ second section girls water polo crown, adding to the one they captured in 2011.

Mt. Whitney (14-14) raced to a 5-1 lead in the first quarter, only to watch Reedley (25-4) close to 5-4 early in the third quarter on an Emily Melton goal.

Kaitlyn Coffman scored in the third period to make it 6-4 and Lilian Dinis and Alexandra Felsted added goals in the fourth quarter to help the Pioneers pull away.

Dinis finished with two goals, while Shelby Woodfill, Coffman and Felsted all had one.

Reedley received goals from Emily Peters, Lorinda Ledington, Naomi Haworth and Melton.

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Clovis West’s Adrian Martinez makes college call – Cal Bears."