With the 2012 high school football season in the books, it's time to look forward to next season. For many seniors, it brings an end to their competitive football career. For graduating college level athletes, they look forward to national signing day and the next step in their football journey.

Despite the loss of such a quality senior class , the 2013 California high school football season is in good hands with the return of so many first-rate ballers throughout the state. The teams featured in this year's bowl games will be loaded again.

It's been a great season for senior offensive lineman Emerald Faletuipapai from Gardena Serra High School in California. After anchoring an o-line that paved the way to a 2012 CIF State Championship victory, Faletuipapai decided to take advantage of his scholarship offer from University of Houston that he received last week.

"I called Coach Levine and he didn't answer, so I called the tight ends coach Jamie Christian and told him. He told me to call the Head Coach again because he missed my call and I made my commitment to him (Coach Levine)," Emerald told CLA Sports today.

The 2012 California high school football season concluded on a wet 'n wild weekend at Home Depot Center in Carson. The best football teams from Northern California made the journey down south and came away with three victories in five games.

The first contest featured the Central Catholic Raiders from Modesto against the Santa Fe Christian Eagles from Solana Beach. The Raiders rushing attack overpowered the Eagles 66-7 to capture the CIF Division IV crown.

The Concord De La Salle Spartans captured the CIF Open Division Championship with an impressive 48-28 victory over the Corona Centennial Huskies at Home Depot Center in Carson Saturday night.

The Spartans got off to a strong start after the Huskies punter mishandled a snap, giving De La Salle great field position. Star running back Tiapepe Vitale punched in a short touchdown run to give the Spartans a 7-0 advantage.

The night was just beginning for Vitale, who scored two more first half touchdowns, including a 46-yard burst, to extend the Spartan lead to 21-0.

The Gardena Serra Cavaliers came out of the gates rolling against the Oakdale Mustangs in the CIF Division II State Championship.

Serra jumped out an 7-0 on a sweet touchdown run from senior Marques Rodgers. The Cavaliers speed and athleticism has overwhelmed the Mustangs.

Rodgers scored two more touchdowns to give Serra a commanding 21-0 advantage.

From there, dual threat junior quarterback Jalen Greene took over, connecting with junior playmaker Adoree' Jackson on a 50-yard touchdown pitch and catch.

Gardena Serra Wins 2012 CIF State Title: Full Game Highlights

On a cold, rainy night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Ca the Granite Bay Grizzlies defeated the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits 21-20 in a heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat battle. The final minutes of the game were championship caliber.

There was no score for most of the first quarter as both defenses took some time to feel each other out. Poly jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 28-yard touchdown catch by senior Gerard Wicks on a trick play.

The Gardena Serra Cavaliers will take on the Oakdale Mustangs Saturday 4pm at Home Depot Center in Carson for the CIF Division II California State Championship.

The Cavaliers navigated an extremely tough schedule to earn their spot. CLA was on the sidelines in their opener when senior running back Marques Rodgers late touchdown gave Serra a hard fought 26-23 road victory over Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks).

The Corona Centennial Huskies defeated the Narbonne Gauchos 41-34 in a heart-stopping CIF Open Division regional championship game Saturday night at Cerritos College in Norwalk. The Huskies pulled out a thrilling victory in the final minute on a 14-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Robert Webber to junior running back Tre Watson.

Corona Centennial took control of the game early behind their powerful offensive line. Senior running back Austin Renken scored on a fourth down 4-yard touchdown run to give the Huskies a 7-0 advantage.

The Gardena Serra Cavaliers defeated the Edison Chargers 27-10 Saturday night at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa to advance to the CIF Division II Championship against Oakdale.

The Chargers, champions of the Southwest Division, jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first half before a 7-yard touchdown pass from Serra junior quarterback Jalen Greene to Gregory Webb cut the deficit to 10-7 at halftime.

The second half belonged to the Cavaliers. Serra stormed down the field on their opening drive, capped off by a short touchdown run by Greene to give the Cavaliers a 14-10 advantage.

Now that the 2012 NCAA football regular season is complete, it’s time to honor the most outstanding players on the field this year. USC quarterback Matt Barkley entered 2012 the Heisman favorite but faltered early.

West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith grabbed the reigns as early season favorite with a great September. After Smith and West Virginia lost a few games, Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein became the presumed frontrunner before a disappointing loss to Baylor.