By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
When the District C-3 coaches sat down to pick the All-District team and the Player of the Year awards, one award was an easy choice.
And, despite that player not competing a down in C-3 play, it was still an overwhelming unanimous decision.
The C-3 coaches posthumously awarded the Player of the Year award to Peter Webb. Webb passed away after suffering a tragic injury on the field during the second game of the season. The sophomore suffered a head injury after falling backward making a tackle in a game against Strother at Patriot Field. He passed away two days later.
“It was a really special feeling that the coaches honored Peter by awarding him the Player of the Year honor,” SWCS head coach Trey Cloud said. “It had a profound affect on our team and the lives of our players and the entire school. It did help what was a very hard year for our team to find a little more comfort.”
Webb was a part-time starter last year as a freshman and had started in both game he played this year and was expected to have played a key role for the Patriots in the pass game as well as on defense.
Southwest Covenant also garnered two other player of the year awards and placed five other players on the first team.
SWCS had three players named to the OEMFCA All-Star team and will represent the west in the eight-man all-star classic this summer.
Senior Ben Webb was selected as a quarterback, Will Haas at wide receiver and Andrew Hickman as a linebacker.
Ben Webb has been a two-year starter as quarterback, but saw his season cut short in the final district game to a knee injury. Webb, who is the older brother of Peter, passed for over 1,600 yards and 24 touchdowns this past season. He threw for over 4,000 yards and 60 touchdowns in his career. He also ran for over 400 yards.
Haas averaged five receptions and 80 yards a game during the season. He stepped in at quarterback also at times after Ben Webb went down with the injury. He was also one of the team leaders on defense with eight pass interceptions. He had three interceptions in one game.
Hickman was a two-way starter for the Patriots, playing guard on offense and linebacker on defense. He was one of the leading tacklers on defense.
Ben Webb was also named as the District C-3 Offensive Player of the Year and Hickman was named as the Offensive Lineman of the Year.
The District C-3 Most Valuable Player is Coyle’s Daimone Caine. James Kroll of Covington-Douglas was named the Defensive Player of the Year. Trey Henning of Coyle is the Defensive Lineman of the Year, Dalton Matthews of Medford was named the Newcomer of the Year and Parker Smith of Covington-Douglas the Utility Player of the Year.
Southwest Covenant had five other players named to the C-3 first team. Tyler Kelley was selected as a runningback, Haas as a wide receiver and Grayson Reuter as an offensive guard. On the defensive side, Anthony Cox was named as a defensive end and Blake Riddell at linebacker.
Kelly led the team in rushing and was the second leading receiver on the team. Kelly rushed for nearly 1,000 yards and had over 500 yards in receptions.
Cox and Riddell played key roles on the defense for the Patriots. Riddell led the team in fumble recoveries and Cox was one of the leaders in quarterback sacks.
The OEMFCA All-Stars from C-3 also included Caine, Henning, Ethan Jennings of Coyle, Dalton Fleeson of Covington-Douglas and Sharkey Booher of Coyle.
Southwest Covenant’s Draake Rought was named as an alternate runningback and Bryce Koeslch was named as an alternate defensive lineman.
Also named to the first team were: quarterback-Weston Carl, Covington-Douglas; runningback-Drake McMillan, Medford; tight end-Daniel Windle, Welch; Johnny Estes, Bluejacket; and Colby Smith, Deer Creek-Lamont; wide receiver-Haas and Tate Schwiemann, Medford; guards-Jennings, Coyle and Reuter; center-Booher and special teams-Dawson Silks, Deer Creek-Lamont.
The first team defense is: ends-Cox and Whiteside; guards-Braden Davism Covington-Douglas and Charles Spiegal, Bluejacket; linebackers-Riddell, A.J. Kegin, Covington-Douglas; defensive backs-Phillip Cumminhs, Coyle; Fleeson, Kegin Francis, Bluejacket; Ethan Gee, Medford and Christian Tarango, Covington-Douglas.
Named to the second team offense were: Kenan Whiteside, Coyle; Isaac Koehn Medford; runnigacks-Tucker Holloway and Rought, Southwest Covenant and Gavin Wallace, Deer Creek-Lamont; tight end-Kris Boynton, Coyle and Nate Beaty, Welch; wide receiver-Gabe Arrevillagas, Bluejacket and Gatlin; guards-Koeslch, Hayden Jones, Bluejacket and Payton Mitchell, Covington-Douglas, center-Justin Herlan, Blueacket and Dalton McClue, Medford; special teams-Luke Wicker, Covington-Douglas.
Second team defense is: ends-Gentry Kegin, Covington-Douglas and Austin Smith, Medford; guards-Andrew Arnold, Southwest Covenant; Matthew Huddleston, Bluejacket and Hunter Kegin, Covington-Douglas; linebackers-Lakelan Bro, Bluejacket and Kaden Tipton, Bluejacket; defensive backs-Palladin Campala, Deer Creek-Lamont and Seth Hayward, Welch; special teams-Hagen Beisly, Bluejacket.
