Josh Ouellette
By Josh Ouellette
Last Tuesday night I got the honor of sitting through the proceedings of the All Mid-Valley and All Southeast decisions. It consisted of Duane, Tim, Andy and most importantly Joe deciding on who would receive the honors of making the cut.
I was blown away. I thought there would be uniformity in a majority of the picks. Boy was I wrong.
There were arguments for a multitude of players, disagreements on only a few being deserving, but many on who should actually get the spot.
Overall the Mid-Valley big four made the best possible decisions, for the most part. One I will point out is I would have switched the places of Chris Cornell and Sam Torres. Not a knock on Torres, but Cornell was the heart of Maranatha and it showed when he was hurt.
I know the Mid’s policy is to not have players lose their team spots if they win a bigger spot. Like MVP and Quarterback Nick Bueno. There were other quarterbacks out there who I believe deserved a nod.
Connor Bednarski, yeah I know it’s a little bit of a longshot but the dude was a starter for three years and had a career 52% completion rate, three 1,000 plus yards passing seasons, and 28 TD passes. All for South Pasadena, enough said.
Andrew Elfers was nothing short of amazing at the helm for Maranatha, as a Sophomore. He had better targets than Bednarski ever had, but he hit them and brought Maranatha to the playoffs. And don’t get me started on the numbers 3,000 plus yards, 37 passing touchdowns to only 10 interceptions, oh and a nice 250 plus yard rushing season with 5 TD’s on the ground. Those are Bueno-like scoring numbers my friends.
Speaking of Maranatha, Joel Murphy has resigned. He gave football back to the Minutemen and brought them up into the forefront of being a playoff contending team next year. I bet any coach would salivate at the chance to take over the reigns. I know I would.
I also think you have to show some love to Azusa’s Joe Scherf for Coach of the Year. He has brought three undefeated seasons. I know the Aztecs struggle in the playoffs, but he’s moving that school in the right direction. Hard to top Maddox and what he’s doing at M-Town though.
In the Southeast I feel like it was actually distributed really well. I liked to have seen Bonita’s K.C. Huth and Brandt Davis getting some spots, but it just wasn’t in the cards.
I also thought Diamond Bar’s Henry Omana, Covina’s Billy Livingston, and La Serna’s Andrew Buenrostro had great seasons. It’s hard to go against the Garrett Pendleton selection; he did bring the Bearcat’s to a championship game after all.
I know I had no input, but I was one of the contingents fighting for Burbank’s Ulises Ochoa. He pounded the ball down defensive fronts and would take on any player on the field head to head. I love running backs like that.
I like the boldness of picking Maurice Dupleasis of West Covina for MVP. It’s nice when the not so glamorous position players get the love they deserve. Dupleasis was a beast hands down. Reminded me of Temple City’s Brian Soumakian getting the All Mid-Valley MVP in the 2006 season.
Another year is now in the books in prep football, after the Mid Valley Draft of course.
The NFL Playoffs have been exciting. I like the Bears beating the Packers and the Jets believing in themselves just enough over the Steelers. A Chicago verse New York Super Bowl would be good for The League. There would be a lot of talking before the game. Intense hitting in the game, and two teams with heavy followings in major cities getting some love.
Everyone has a sign off now a days. Joe has “stay thirsty my friends.” Saile with “stay classy San Diego.” Digging the Anchorman reference of course. I am going to find one but I want the readers help. Here are a few of my own suggestions. Comment and tell me which one you like and any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
“Clear eyes. Full Heart. Can’t lose!”
“We can fight our way back into the light”
“Life’s this game of inches.”
It isn’t knowing that your friends have your back. It’s knowing that you have your friends’ back.”
Josh can be reached at josh@midvalleysports.com
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