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All-Wharton County Football Team loaded with talent
Crump, a senior running back, garnered Offensive Most Valuable Player and Lee, a junior, garnered the Newcomer of-the-Year. Crump scored 20-plus touchdowns and rushed for more than 1,300 yards in 12 games. He missed the Houston Christian contest very early in the season with an illness. "It feels good," said Crump of the honor. "I've been waiting since my freshman year to have the season I did." Lee caught six touchdown passes from his tight end position. He also played defensive end.
Last year's newcomer, El Campo junior Landon Appling, earned Most Valuable Player honors. Senior teammate Bryan Skow earned the Defensive MVP. "I was surprised and didn't know what to think at first," Appling said. "I didn't even know I got overall. I thought I got Offensive MVP at first. I was surprised when they told me. It feels awesome." Appling was El Campo's leading rusher and also played defensive back for the Ricebirds.
Skow led the Ricebirds with 102 tackles, 12 for a loss, two interceptions, two knock downs, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one sack. "It feels good to make all-county," Skow said. "It's an honor. We played pretty good this year." El Campo coach Bob Gillis garnered Coach-of-the-Year for the second time in three seasons. In leading his team to an 8-3 record and an appearance in the regional round of the playoffs, Gillis recognized his entire coaching staff and said he felt odd about winning the award as an individual. "I think it ought to be called coaching staff of the year," said Gillis. "All the coaches, they do all the work, and they deserve all the credit and praise they can get. It's a team effort. There's offense, defense and we call it a football team. I'm very proud of our coaches and very proud of how they work, how they work together and get our kids to play. Hopefully we'll do it again." Wharton had two first-team selections on offense - wide receiver Jesmond Grant and lineman Justin Sherrill . Junior Marcus Melton repeated as first team defensive lineman, and Juan Guzman earned a spot as a linebacker. "This feels great," said Melton. "I just tried to get better last year and up my stats. Now I want to do better next year." Boling had two players make the first team. Senior quarterback Justin Hobbs and junior receiver Kalin Ray. Hobbs completed 117 of 216 passes for 1,525 yards and 17 touchdowns. "I was surprised for receiving this honor because I didn't know how the other quarterbacks did in this county," Hobbs said. "It's good because all the hard work that I put in since I was only one of a few seniors." Ray caught 67 passes for 1,073 yards and 12 touchdowns. "I was surprised," said Ray who led the Bulldogs to a huge come-from-behind 49-45 win over Caney Creek rival Van Vleck. Other first team selections included running backs Chris Plunkett from East Bernard, Maverick Smith from El Campo and Kyle Lawson from Louise. Plunkett missed four games with an injury but still rushed for more than 300 yards. Smith was also injured for much of the season but finished with 585 rushing yards and nine touchdowns including a run of 93 yards. Lawson was healthy all season and ran wild for the Hornets. He earned 1,525 rushing yards on 199 carries, averaged 7.66 yards each carry and scored 21 touchdowns. Offensive linemen included Austin Matura and Adam Kubena of East Bernard and Chase Bullard and Troy Lawson of El Campo. El Campo senior Gabriel Luna was picked as the county's top placekicker. He had 31 extra points and four field goals in the regular season. Second team offensive selections included Wharton junior quarterback Elijah Richardson who led the Tigers back Elijah Richardson, who led the Tigers to the playoffs. Running backs included Zach Castillo from East Bernard, Desmond Pulliam from Louise and Dennis Hemphill from Boling. Jonte Goff of East Bernard and Jax Acel of El Campo earned wide receiver honors. Linemen included Anslemo Muniz of Boling, Alex Wasek of East Bernard, Clint Workmon of Louie, Steven Drapela of El Campo and Ketrail Waddy of Wharton. Boling's DuPree Taylor was selected as a tight end, and Plunkett earned the kicker spot. Joining Melton and Guzman on first team defense were East Bernard lineman Randy Perkins and Garrett Graves, El Campo's Daniel Tice and Louise's Zach Lawson. Perkins had 96 tackles, and Graves recorded 50. Other linebackers included East Bernard's Barnaby Coronado, Matthew Blumrick of Louise, and Josh Garcia of El Campo. Coronado had 123 tackles. Defensive backs included Matt Stelzel of East Bernard, Chris Hicks of Louise and Darius Parks of El Campo. Stelzel led the district with six interceptions Brahma Jared Minks earned punting honors averaging 35.7 yards. Second team defensive selections included linemen Nick Longoria and Tyler Dawson of East Bernard and Otis Williams and Parker Hermon of El Campo. Linebackers included Gabe Segrest of East Bernard, Ricky Salinas of Wharton, Anthony Cruz of El Campo and Cameron Mazoch of East Bernard. Segrest had 82 tackles, and Mazoch had 43. Defensive backs included Luis Roldan and Justin Breedlove of East Bernard, Chris Taylor of Wharton and Dominique Murray of El Campo. Breedlove had 67 tackles and five interceptions. Editor's note: The teams were selected by Wharton Journal- Spectator Sports Editor Mike Konvicka, El Campo Leader- News Sports Editor Kris Bagley, Radio Station KULP Sports Director Bob Nason and East Bernard Express Sports Writer Roland Orsak. INDIVIDUAL AWARDS MOST VALUABLE PLAYER LANDON APPLING, EL CAMPO JR. OFFENSIVE MVP LANCE CRUMP, EAST BERNARD, SR DEFENSIVE MVP BRYAN SKOW, EL CAMPO, SR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR MILES LEE, EAST BERNARD, SOPH COACH OF THE YEAR BOB GILLIS, EL CAMPO 2008 All-Wharton County Football Teams
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