High school star Allen Kennett V bolsters Santa Margarita’s roster

Sophomore linebacker Allen “Cinco” Kennett V has transferred from Servite High School to Santa Margarita, the athlete confirmed Tuesday.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound standout earned first-team All-Trinity League honors last season in his first year playing on the defensive side of the ball. Kennett led the Friars with 69 tackles, two sacks, and one interception.

A rising prospect in the recruiting circuit, Kennett has already received a scholarship offer from the University of Notre Dame. He previously served as a backup quarterback during his freshman year at Servite.

Kennett joins a Santa Margarita program looking to rebuild its defensive core after winning both the CIF-SS Division 1 and CIF State Open Division titles last season.

The Eagles are seeking to fill vacancies left by graduating senior linebackers Dash Fifita, Leki Holani, Ivrick Carrigan, and Vai Manutai.

The transfer of Allen Kennett V to Santa Margarita Catholic High School is far more than a routine roster addition; it is a strategic realignment that could fundamentally shift the balance of power within the Trinity League, Southern California’s most elite high school football circuit.

For Santa Margarita, the acquisition represents a critical victory in a high-stakes offseason. Following a championship campaign, the program faced a significant defensive vacuum after losing its entire starting linebacker corps to graduation. Kennett, an established force at the league’s highest level, provides an immediate solution to this personnel crisis. Beyond filling a physical gap on the depth chart, Kennett is positioned to serve as the defensive anchor and leadership cornerstone for the program over the next two cycles.

Conversely, the departure is a double-edged blow for Servite. Losing a marquee defender to a direct divisional rival both erodes their defensive secondary and proactively strengthens a primary competitor. This movement underscores the increasingly aggressive nature of talent acquisition among top-tier programs, where the battle for regional dominance is fought as much through recruitment as it is on the field. Kennett’s profile is further elevated by interest from blue-chip collegiate programs like Notre Dame, a credential that validates his status as a high-impact asset with significant Division I potential.

High school football has become a defining fixture of Vietnamese-American life across California. In hubs like Little Saigon, the sport serves as a cultural bridge, where families who built their lives through the nail salon industry or neighborhood phở restaurants now spend their Friday nights under the stadium lights. Whether they arrived via F2B family sponsorships or H-1B professional tracks, these parents have embraced the gridiron as a cornerstone of their children’s upbringing and a vital thread in the community’s social fabric. Whether they are cheering from the bleachers or watching their kids compete on the field, the game has become an essential part of the modern diaspora experience.