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2007 All-County football teams announced
There was little debate over this year's All-County MVP. El Campo's Anthony Terrell simply ran over the competition, much like he did all season long. The Ricebird fullback was the key to El Campo's running attack this year. Terrell finished the season with 232 carries for 1,768 yards and 23 touchdowns. He said last season's experience helped him improve to be one of the best backs in the area his senior year. "It helps a lot because you know what you didn't do last year, you can do this year," Terrell said. "That really helps your game get better. When I got in the open field last year, I never pushed myself. I felt like I just couldn't run hard. This year, every time I saw open field, I tried to cut the grass."
"If they're coming at me fast, the main thing I see is the stutter step," Terrell said. "That's going to slow him down. Once he breaks down, then I'm trying to make him miss the tackle." Terrell refused to take credit for his MVP honor. Instead of citing his impressive stats, he bragged on the offensive line. "Most of our line was here last year," Terrell said. "They have more experience and opened up better holes." Joining Terrell on the all-county individual awards was sophomore Landon Appling as newcomer of the year.
He said making the allcounty roster in his first year on varsity was something he was shooting for this year. "I was trying to make it one of my goals," Appling said. "I had to do what I did for the team and by helping them out, I knew I'd probably get something good." As linebacker, he finished with 45 tackles, two for a loss and one interception. Appling also ran the ball for the offense 14 times for 167 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 11.93 yards on every carry.
Defensive MVP went to the county's leading tackler, Louise's Mathew Blumrick. He finished the season with 143 tackles and five forced fumbles. "I just went out and played my best every game," Blumrick said. "I guess I was all over the field was the way it looked." Blumrick said there is some extra pride in representing the smallest school in the county with his award. "I know (the bigger schools) played tougher schedules, but for 1-A, we've got the toughest one pretty much in the state," he said. "It's a real good pleasure to make that many tackles in our division and also more tackles than anybody in Wharton County." Finishing out the individual awards are two members of East Bernard, Mike Hayes and Coach Jerry Long, who made the longest playoff run of any county team. Hayes, a senior, missed most of last year's season with an injury. He went down with an ankle injury early this season and missed four games. Hayes returned to help the Brahmas win two playoff games.
"It feels great that I got this award because I started kind of slow," Hayes, who hopes to be playing college ball next season, said. "I got better as the season ended. All the coaches on the staff, my dad and teammates really helped me and told me to keep my head up." East Bernard second year coach Long garnered coach-ofthe year honors. "This a tribute to these guys that were here and the coaches who worked back at the office," said Long. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them." The Brahmas weren't expected to advance as far as they did. "We started playing at that extra level at the right time and when you do that, good things can happen and it did for us. We talked about proving people wrong all season and raising the expectation level of the community. "(Hayes was) a huge part of what we did this year," said Long. "He got healthy at the right time and stepped up his play. He was unbelievable once the playoffs started and we'll miss him. You hope to get those things and I'm not going to take the credit. I'm going to give it to the kids and the good staff."
Tompkins, a senior, and Lawson, a junior, helped push El Campo's ground game to great lengths. The Ricebirds gamed 3,062 total rushing yards and 610 passing yards behind the massive offensive line. Williams was one of El Campo's main targets down the field. As a senior, he caught 14 passes for 240 yards and one touchdown. Louise's Cory Hajovsky and Antwon Parson both made first team offense. Hajovsky filled in at quarterback for the Hornets when their starter went out for the season with an injury. "It was a scary situation coming into second string and moving up to first string, but it was a good feeling leading the way I did," Hajovsky said. "The way we made it to the playoffs like we did, it was a good feeling." Parson was a constant speed threat out of Louise's backfield. Any time he touched the ball, he had potential to break free for a long touchdown run and many times this year, he did.
Though the two seniors' official stats are in dispute, they helped the Hornets amass more than 2,503 yards of offense this year. First team defensive honors went to El Campo's Thad Deiss, Bryce Skow, Chris Raun, Bryan Skow, Bobby Jack Polasek and Tyler Woods. Bryan Skow led the Ricebirds with 101 tackles, including 16 for a loss and had four sacks from his linebacker position. Also at linebacker, Polasek ended the year with 45 tackles, including 10 for a loss and one sack. He also scored El Campo's lone defensive touchdown on an interception return. Bryce Skow and Raun both earned selections on the defensive line. The line's main job was to set up the linebackers for great plays. The position requires intensity and selflessness - something the two seniors said they were happy to play with.
Raun finished the season with 23 tackles, including one for a loss and one sack. He also forced and recovered one fumble. Bryce Skow made 60 tackles on the year with 13 of them for a loss and he had two sacks. Deiss made the team as a defensive back. He made 91 tackles for the 'Birds, knocked down six passes and picked off one for an interception. He was arguably El Campo's hardest hitter this season. Several times this season, Deiss made the fans shout over some tough hits. He said he never really heard it while he was on the field, but he loved hearing his teammates cheer for his big hits when watching film. "I guess (big hits) are just kind of a goal that you have," Deiss said. "It's not to hurt somebody, but to hit somebody making the play, make a fumble or something like that. You something like that. You
Woods made first team defense as punter. His average per punt was 40.4 yards this season. He was also El Campo's leading kicker with six field goals and 22 extra points. Louise's defensive honors went to Chris Hicks and Desmond Pulliam. As a junior, Hicks finished the year with a team-high seven interceptions. He also made 56 tackles and recovered three fumbles on the year. Pulliam spent his freshman year as a linebacker for the Hornets. He made 67 tackles, two sacks and recovered three fumbles for the Hornets. Wharton, Boling and East Bernard produced the other allcounty selections this year. Boling's B.W. McLeod earned a spot as running back. He scored 14 touchdowns and rushed for 1,202 yards. East Bernard's Lance Crump also earned a running back spot with 10 touchdowns and just under 800 yards rushing. Thomas Felder of Boling joined Williams at receiver. He caught 23 passes for 339 yards.
Offensive linemen included Wharton's Chris Owens, Boling's Matt Steiner, East Bernard's Tyler Kramr and Clinton Graves. Earning first team kicking honors was East Bernard junior Chris Plunkett who booted five field goals and 37 extra point kicks in 10 games. First team defensive selections included Wharton sophomore lineman Marcus Melton who led the Tigers in tackles. He was joined by East Bernard's David Sims and Brady Kubena. Sims had 38 solo tackles with 21 assists. Kubena had 17 tackles. East Bernard's Jacob Hudman made linebacker with 42 solo tackles and 27 assists. Boling's Sean Hollis was named to the secondary with 48 tackles. Members of the All-Wharton County team were selected based on statistics and overall team success. Those selecting the teams included Kris Bagley, sports editor of the Leader-News, Mike Konvicka, sports editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator, Roland Orsak, sports reporter for the East Bernard Express, and Bob Nason, Sports and News Director at KULP Radio.
MVP ANTHONY TERRELL EL CAMPO, SENIOR OFFENSIVE MVP MIKE HAYES EAST BERNARD, SENIOR DEFENSIVE MVP MATHEW BLUMRICK LOUISE, JUNIOR NEWCOMER LANDON APPLING EL CAMPO, SOPHOMORE COACH JERRY LONG EAST BERNARD FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
SECOND TEAM OFFENSE
SECOND TEAM DEFENSE
HONORABLE MENTION BOLING: JUSTIN HOBBS , JR.; SIMON MENDOZA, SR; TYLER KULAK, SOPH. EAST BERNARD: CAMERON MAZOCH, JR.; JOSH CHMELIK, SR.; ADAM KUBENA, SOPH. EL CAMPO: DEREK MARTINEZ, SR.; JAC AXEL, SOPH.; GERROD FARROW, SR.; DAKOTA PIETSCH, SR. LOUISE: WESLEY BRANSCUM, SR.; ANDREW CARDENAS, JR.; ZACK LAWSON, SOPH.; GARRETT BROWN, SR.; WHARTON: JESMON GRANT, JR.; J.D. RIVERA, SR.; LOUIS BYARS, SR.
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