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01-16-2007, 01:53 PM
FYI: Congrats to all named & best of luck.
County’s best gridiron athletes honored
By Joel Luna
The Facts
Published January 14, 2007
After four seasons of helping the Pearland Oilers make postseason appearances, Foswhitt Whittaker graduated in December and left a stellar high school career behind him.
Not to worry, his future looks bright. Whittaker will switch from the maroon of the Oilers to the burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns very soon.
Before closing the high school chapter of Whittaker’s football career, however, the head coaches of Brazoria County and The Facts sports staff offer an additional accolade to the speedster who led the Oilers’ charge to this season’s Class 5A, Division I state semifinal — The Facts’ All-Brazoria County most valuable player honor.
“I am pretty excited about that,” said Whittaker, who checks in at 5-foot-9 and 187 pounds. “I’ve had a lot of fun here at Pearland with the players and coaches. But probably one of the things I enjoyed the most was bonding with everyone off the field.”
Whittaker totaled 2,774 yards and 24 touchdowns, including 1,065 yards in the postseason, in his senior year for the 12-3 Oilers. In his high school career, Whittaker ran for 5,717 yards — more than 3.24 miles — and scored 48 times. He finished as the second all-time leading rusher in Pearland history. Anthony Evans, who graduated in 2000, finished his career with 6,192 yards.
“It was the most fun I’ve had going through the playoffs this year,” Whittaker added. “For us it just seemed like we couldn’t be stopped, and we almost weren’t.”
One of Whittaker’s biggest performances of the 2006 season was a 415-yard, five-touchdown game against Clear Creek in a District 24-5A game.
Whittaker finished with a 3.952 GPA and will begin classes at the University of Texas this semester.
“I can’t wait to get there,” Whittaker said. “I’ve always wanted to attend Texas and play football.”
On Jan. 6 Whittaker played in the inaugural East meets West Challenge at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. On 20 carries for the West squad, Whittaker showcased his talent with 133 yards and one touchdown as his team beat the East, 28-12.
Also selected for special accolades on the all-county team were Brazoswood quarterback Chase Player, selected as the offensive player of the year; Sweeny’s Tank Carder, selected as the defensive player of the year; and Brazoswood sophomore Kendel Brown, selected as newcomer of the year.
Player helped lead the Bucs to their first district championship since 1982.
In 10 games, Player finished the regular season with 646 yards, completing 41-of-87 attempts. He threw four touchdown passes.
“I just tried to do my part and play my position,” Player said. “I was extremely happy, but I wasn’t surprised by our performance because we worked for it and laid it on the line.”
Player said preseason predictions that left the Bucs out of the playoffs served as motivation.
“We had it posted all over the field house and it played a big motivation part for us because we knew what type of team we had,” he said. “So it helped us.”
A senior, Player said he knew what coaches were expecting from him this season.
“They just told me to go out there and have a cool head, stay motivated and help guide the team and just do my part,” Player said. “I feel great about this award and that just says that hard work pays off.”
Carder literally was all over the field for the Bulldogs, and not just from his linebacker position.
Playing both ways, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior bullied opponents with more than 100 tackles for the year. He also produced an interception on the season.
“I couldn’t have done it without the whole defense,” Carder said. “We all worked together and we shut people down. This award was definitely a team effort.”
Carder also was the punter and kicker for Sweeny and played at fullback, which came as a surprise.
“I didn’t know I was going to play all these positions. I knew I was going to play linebacker, but I didn’t know about fullback,” Carder said. “In the third or fourth game of the year, Josh (Fields) hurt his ankle and that is what gave me my shot. I just stepped up and played the position pretty good.”
Carder rushed for 829 yards on 121 carries, averaging 6.9 yards per carry. He scored 11 times and had the winning touchdown in overtime of a Class 3A, Division II area playoff matchup with Kirbyville as he walked in from 25 yards out.
“I just went out and did what I had to do, but my blockers blocked great for us,” Carder said.
Carder also lined up under center for a few snaps during the season and finished with 131 yards on eight completions, including a touchdown pass. As a receiver, Carder had 16 catches for 243 yards and two TDs.
Carder averaged 38.48 yards on 27 punts and connected on seven field goals and 29 extra points.
“All year we just stuck together. It was a great year and we came through in our senior year and it felt good to get going again because it brought the winning tradition back,” Carder said of the team’s run three rounds deep into the postseason. “This team has always been a winning team, but the last couple of years we fell off a bit so it felt good to bring it back.”
With several offers from Division I programs, Carder is leaning toward Texas Christian University in Forth Worth.
Newcomer Brown excelled in offseason training with the Bucs and by the time the season began he was in the same backfield with junior Yobes Walker.
Though Walker eventually took a majority of the snaps, in the first few game of the season Brown got a large number of carries.
As a sophomore, Brown said he realized he had something to prove.
“I was just trying to get noticed when we were going through training camp and it seems like I did,” Brown said. “It was tough, but it paid off for me. I was running as hard as I could, but Yobes helped me out quite a bit with a lot of stuff.”
Brazoswood head coach Dean De Atley was named the county’s coach of the year.
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TOP HONORS
MVP: Foswhitt Whittaker, Pearland
Offensive player of year: Chase Player, Brazoswood
Defensive player of year: Tank Carder, Sweeny
Newcomer of year: Kendel Brown, Brazoswood
Coach of year: Dean De Atley, Brazoswood
FIRST TEAM
Centers: Travis Walthall, Angleton; Rene Escalante, Brazoswood.
Offensive linemen: Colby Lowrie, Sweeny; Clint Matocha, Columbia; Esteban Bustos, Brazosport; Brian Thomas, Pearland; Brett Speed, Angleton; Jon Arthur, Brazoswood.
Quarterbacks: Jason Scott, Columbia; Scott Zimmerle, Danbury.
Running backs: D.J. Monroe, Angleton; Yobes Walker, Brazoswood.
Tight end: Jason Higgins, Sweeny.
Wide receivers: Melvin White, Brazosport; Justin Scott, Columbia.
Kicker: Tank Carder, Sweeny.
Defensive linemen: Jordan Barrett, Columbia; Jerrick Shockley, Brazosport; Ivora Thompson, Angleton; Josh Higgins, Sweeny; Adam Calvin, Brazoswood.
Outside linebackers: Paul Brunner, Sweeny; Jareth Edwards, Columbia; Paris Hobbs, Angleton.
Inside linebackers: Nick Pisarski, Brazoswood; Jerry Woodard, Columbia.
Defensive backs: Tra’Micah Young, Sweeny; Nicolas Saenz, Pearland; D.J. Monroe, Angleton; Chris King, Brazoswood.
Punter: Nathan Earls, Alvin.
Return specialists: Paris Hobbs, Angleton; Jared Flannel, Columbia.
SECOND TEAM
Angleton: Jesus Ontiveros, Bubba Grant, William Wright, Brett Speed;
Alvin: Robert Sambrano, Taylor White, Michael Whiteman; Brazoswood: Emilio Bravo, Freddie Brown, Phillip Robinson, David Comneck, Stevie Offing; Brazosport: Josh Edwards, Josh Ramirez, Darren Woodard; Columbia: Jared Flannel, Carlos Paniagua, Justin Scott, Jason Scott; Danbury: Robert Lopez, Jake DeBerry, Scott Zimmerle; Sweeny: J.B. Gutierrez, Brandon Smith, Jeremy Fields, Chris Jammer, Tank Carder; Pearland: Steven Kenney, Cory Baumann, Andrew Hernandez, DeForester Jones, Gary Robertson.
HONORABLE
MENTION
Alvin: Vincent Wydemyer, Ashton Jefferson, Nick Rhodes, Tom Hughes, Chris Williams, Stephen Barnes, Brian Bates; Angleton: Jacob Shultz, Warren Woods, Paris Hobbs, Darrell Adell, Kendrick Carter, Jeremy Toston; Brazosport: Randy Cantu, J.B. Brown, Bobby Miller, Jammel Woodard, Casey White, Mario Garza, Bracy McCoy, Kenneth Garcia; Brazoswood: Freddie Brown, Daniel Muniz, David Hoffmann, Josh Lewis, Andre Van Leeuwen, Andrew Lamb, Travis Gipson;
Columbia: Kevin McBrayer, Michael Davis, Jeremy Staggers; Danbury: Matt Dees, Orlando Lopez;
Pearland: Sam Proctor, Kevin Davis; Sweeny: Rob Woodard, Marlon Smith, Marsh Zajicek, Tra’Micah Young, Chris Jammer, Tank Carder, Josh Fields, Michael Knight, Jesse Alvarez.
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County’s best gridiron athletes honored
By Joel Luna
The Facts
Published January 14, 2007
After four seasons of helping the Pearland Oilers make postseason appearances, Foswhitt Whittaker graduated in December and left a stellar high school career behind him.
Not to worry, his future looks bright. Whittaker will switch from the maroon of the Oilers to the burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns very soon.
Before closing the high school chapter of Whittaker’s football career, however, the head coaches of Brazoria County and The Facts sports staff offer an additional accolade to the speedster who led the Oilers’ charge to this season’s Class 5A, Division I state semifinal — The Facts’ All-Brazoria County most valuable player honor.
“I am pretty excited about that,” said Whittaker, who checks in at 5-foot-9 and 187 pounds. “I’ve had a lot of fun here at Pearland with the players and coaches. But probably one of the things I enjoyed the most was bonding with everyone off the field.”
Whittaker totaled 2,774 yards and 24 touchdowns, including 1,065 yards in the postseason, in his senior year for the 12-3 Oilers. In his high school career, Whittaker ran for 5,717 yards — more than 3.24 miles — and scored 48 times. He finished as the second all-time leading rusher in Pearland history. Anthony Evans, who graduated in 2000, finished his career with 6,192 yards.
“It was the most fun I’ve had going through the playoffs this year,” Whittaker added. “For us it just seemed like we couldn’t be stopped, and we almost weren’t.”
One of Whittaker’s biggest performances of the 2006 season was a 415-yard, five-touchdown game against Clear Creek in a District 24-5A game.
Whittaker finished with a 3.952 GPA and will begin classes at the University of Texas this semester.
“I can’t wait to get there,” Whittaker said. “I’ve always wanted to attend Texas and play football.”
On Jan. 6 Whittaker played in the inaugural East meets West Challenge at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. On 20 carries for the West squad, Whittaker showcased his talent with 133 yards and one touchdown as his team beat the East, 28-12.
Also selected for special accolades on the all-county team were Brazoswood quarterback Chase Player, selected as the offensive player of the year; Sweeny’s Tank Carder, selected as the defensive player of the year; and Brazoswood sophomore Kendel Brown, selected as newcomer of the year.
Player helped lead the Bucs to their first district championship since 1982.
In 10 games, Player finished the regular season with 646 yards, completing 41-of-87 attempts. He threw four touchdown passes.
“I just tried to do my part and play my position,” Player said. “I was extremely happy, but I wasn’t surprised by our performance because we worked for it and laid it on the line.”
Player said preseason predictions that left the Bucs out of the playoffs served as motivation.
“We had it posted all over the field house and it played a big motivation part for us because we knew what type of team we had,” he said. “So it helped us.”
A senior, Player said he knew what coaches were expecting from him this season.
“They just told me to go out there and have a cool head, stay motivated and help guide the team and just do my part,” Player said. “I feel great about this award and that just says that hard work pays off.”
Carder literally was all over the field for the Bulldogs, and not just from his linebacker position.
Playing both ways, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior bullied opponents with more than 100 tackles for the year. He also produced an interception on the season.
“I couldn’t have done it without the whole defense,” Carder said. “We all worked together and we shut people down. This award was definitely a team effort.”
Carder also was the punter and kicker for Sweeny and played at fullback, which came as a surprise.
“I didn’t know I was going to play all these positions. I knew I was going to play linebacker, but I didn’t know about fullback,” Carder said. “In the third or fourth game of the year, Josh (Fields) hurt his ankle and that is what gave me my shot. I just stepped up and played the position pretty good.”
Carder rushed for 829 yards on 121 carries, averaging 6.9 yards per carry. He scored 11 times and had the winning touchdown in overtime of a Class 3A, Division II area playoff matchup with Kirbyville as he walked in from 25 yards out.
“I just went out and did what I had to do, but my blockers blocked great for us,” Carder said.
Carder also lined up under center for a few snaps during the season and finished with 131 yards on eight completions, including a touchdown pass. As a receiver, Carder had 16 catches for 243 yards and two TDs.
Carder averaged 38.48 yards on 27 punts and connected on seven field goals and 29 extra points.
“All year we just stuck together. It was a great year and we came through in our senior year and it felt good to get going again because it brought the winning tradition back,” Carder said of the team’s run three rounds deep into the postseason. “This team has always been a winning team, but the last couple of years we fell off a bit so it felt good to bring it back.”
With several offers from Division I programs, Carder is leaning toward Texas Christian University in Forth Worth.
Newcomer Brown excelled in offseason training with the Bucs and by the time the season began he was in the same backfield with junior Yobes Walker.
Though Walker eventually took a majority of the snaps, in the first few game of the season Brown got a large number of carries.
As a sophomore, Brown said he realized he had something to prove.
“I was just trying to get noticed when we were going through training camp and it seems like I did,” Brown said. “It was tough, but it paid off for me. I was running as hard as I could, but Yobes helped me out quite a bit with a lot of stuff.”
Brazoswood head coach Dean De Atley was named the county’s coach of the year.
-----
TOP HONORS
MVP: Foswhitt Whittaker, Pearland
Offensive player of year: Chase Player, Brazoswood
Defensive player of year: Tank Carder, Sweeny
Newcomer of year: Kendel Brown, Brazoswood
Coach of year: Dean De Atley, Brazoswood
FIRST TEAM
Centers: Travis Walthall, Angleton; Rene Escalante, Brazoswood.
Offensive linemen: Colby Lowrie, Sweeny; Clint Matocha, Columbia; Esteban Bustos, Brazosport; Brian Thomas, Pearland; Brett Speed, Angleton; Jon Arthur, Brazoswood.
Quarterbacks: Jason Scott, Columbia; Scott Zimmerle, Danbury.
Running backs: D.J. Monroe, Angleton; Yobes Walker, Brazoswood.
Tight end: Jason Higgins, Sweeny.
Wide receivers: Melvin White, Brazosport; Justin Scott, Columbia.
Kicker: Tank Carder, Sweeny.
Defensive linemen: Jordan Barrett, Columbia; Jerrick Shockley, Brazosport; Ivora Thompson, Angleton; Josh Higgins, Sweeny; Adam Calvin, Brazoswood.
Outside linebackers: Paul Brunner, Sweeny; Jareth Edwards, Columbia; Paris Hobbs, Angleton.
Inside linebackers: Nick Pisarski, Brazoswood; Jerry Woodard, Columbia.
Defensive backs: Tra’Micah Young, Sweeny; Nicolas Saenz, Pearland; D.J. Monroe, Angleton; Chris King, Brazoswood.
Punter: Nathan Earls, Alvin.
Return specialists: Paris Hobbs, Angleton; Jared Flannel, Columbia.
SECOND TEAM
Angleton: Jesus Ontiveros, Bubba Grant, William Wright, Brett Speed;
Alvin: Robert Sambrano, Taylor White, Michael Whiteman; Brazoswood: Emilio Bravo, Freddie Brown, Phillip Robinson, David Comneck, Stevie Offing; Brazosport: Josh Edwards, Josh Ramirez, Darren Woodard; Columbia: Jared Flannel, Carlos Paniagua, Justin Scott, Jason Scott; Danbury: Robert Lopez, Jake DeBerry, Scott Zimmerle; Sweeny: J.B. Gutierrez, Brandon Smith, Jeremy Fields, Chris Jammer, Tank Carder; Pearland: Steven Kenney, Cory Baumann, Andrew Hernandez, DeForester Jones, Gary Robertson.
HONORABLE
MENTION
Alvin: Vincent Wydemyer, Ashton Jefferson, Nick Rhodes, Tom Hughes, Chris Williams, Stephen Barnes, Brian Bates; Angleton: Jacob Shultz, Warren Woods, Paris Hobbs, Darrell Adell, Kendrick Carter, Jeremy Toston; Brazosport: Randy Cantu, J.B. Brown, Bobby Miller, Jammel Woodard, Casey White, Mario Garza, Bracy McCoy, Kenneth Garcia; Brazoswood: Freddie Brown, Daniel Muniz, David Hoffmann, Josh Lewis, Andre Van Leeuwen, Andrew Lamb, Travis Gipson;
Columbia: Kevin McBrayer, Michael Davis, Jeremy Staggers; Danbury: Matt Dees, Orlando Lopez;
Pearland: Sam Proctor, Kevin Davis; Sweeny: Rob Woodard, Marlon Smith, Marsh Zajicek, Tra’Micah Young, Chris Jammer, Tank Carder, Josh Fields, Michael Knight, Jesse Alvarez.
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