Lots of talent to boot on 2012 All-Area football team

Wow what a season it was.

Five area football teams battled for 10 weeks on the gridiron this fall with three of them advancing to the postseason. We had a state champion in St. Paul (TAPPS Division III), a state semifinalist in Shiner (Class A-DI) and an area finalist in Luling (2A-DI).

Gonzales (6-4) was three points away from a district championship as losses to La Grange (35-34) and Smithville (16-14) ultimately kept the Apaches at home during the playoffs. Nixon-Smiley (1-9) struggled with youth and inexperience throughout the season with just seven seniors on the roster and a slew of junior and sophomore starters.

Several area athletes earned all-district accolades with half a dozen taking home superlative honors. Ten athletes also earned all-state awards.

With so many athletes earning all-district – or all-state – recognition, it wasn’t difficult to find enough athletes to fill an all-area team with first-team, second-team and honorable mention. The tough part was deciding who to put on which team.

My scoring system was similar to fantasy football where players get a point for every 10 yards rushing or receiving and every 25 yards passing. I also gave a point for each touchdown accounted for, every 10 tackles, every quarterback sack, interception, fumble recovery, blocked kick, etc.

I also gave nods based on strength of schedule. Gonzales competed in Class 3A and also faced a trio of 4A teams in nondistrict.

Shiner is a Class A-DI team yet the Comanches went toe-to-toe with a quartet of 2A teams in nondistrict play. St. Paul competed in the TAPPS DIII – the smallest of the TAPPS football divisions – but the Cardinals faced a TAPPS DII and a pair of Class A teams in nondistrict.

The toughest decision for distinguishing first- and second-team was quarterback because you had Trevion Flowers of Shiner (1,072 yards rushing, 16 TDs; 472 passing, 7 TDs) and Trayden Staton of Luling (1,816 yards passing, 17 TDs; 186 yards rushing, 4 TDs). It was especially tough because both quarterbacks operated out of completely different offenses.

Comparing the split veer – Shiner’s offense – to the spread – Luling’s – is almost as futile as comparing the painting of the late Bob Ross to the comedy of Dennis Miller, or even comparing Bob Knight’s style of coaching to Mel Brooks’ style of writing and directing. The veer and a spread are as night and day to each other as Ross and Miller – or Knight and Brooks – are to each other.

The veer is a run-oriented offense, which explains Flowers’ 2-to-1 run-to-pass ratio. Flowers proved to be more of a runner than passer, more of a game manager than comeback engineer, and he also played the final three games of the season with a torn ACL.

Flowers also happened to be one of five area athletes who ran for more than 1,000 yards. Teammate Evel Jones (1,400), Cecil Johnson of Gonzales (2,016) and the St. Paul duo of Adam Hollenbach (2,318) and Martin Kennedy (1,093) were the others.

Staton, on the other hand, could throw the ball on a rope. He led the area in passing, and was the only area quarterback to exceed the 1,000-yard passing mark this season.

The spread allowed Staton to distribute the ball to many players as he had three receivers who caught more than 20 passes on the season. The Eagles were the only team who threw the ball a significant amount of time as the other four area teams ran the ball 80 percent or more.

So I went to my formula to determine the first-team quarterback. Flowers had 1,072 yards rushing (107 points) with 16 touchdowns (16 points) and 472 yards passing (472/25=18.88, which rounds off to 19 points) with seven scores (7 points).

Flowers also was the co-Offensive Player of the Year from District 15-A-DI (4 points), played against four schools from 2A (4x2=8 points), and guided his team to the state semifinal round (5 points). Therefore, 107+16+19+7+4+8+5=166 points for Flowers.

Staton passed for 1,816 yards (1,816/25=72.64, which rounds off to 73 points) with 17 touchdowns (17 points) and 186 yards rushing (18.6 rounds off to 19 points) and four scores (4 points). Staton also was the Offensive Player of the Year in 15-2A-DI (4 points), played against a Class 3A school (3 points), and led his team to the area round (2 points).

Therefore, 73+17+19+4+4+3+2=122 points for Staton. This gave Flowers the first-team nod.

The easiest part of selecting the team was running back. As stated earlier, five 1,000-yard rushers definitely made 2012 the “Year of the Back.”

Hollenbach, Johnson and Jones were the first-team running backs, and Kennedy was my first-team all-purpose player. In addition to Kennedy’s 1,093 yards rushing, he also had 321 yards receiving on offense, returned three kicks for scores on special teams, and recorded more than 100 tackles on defense.

I also had three running backs on the first team and just two receivers because four of the five teams operated out of run-heavy offenses. Josh Alvarez of Luling led all area receivers with 28 catches for 574 yards and six scores.

Now, here is the 2012 Gonzales Inquirer All-Area football team:

First Team

Offense

QB – Trevion Flowers, Shiner

RB – Adam Hollenbach, St. Paul

RB – Cecil Johnson, Gonzales

RB – Evel Jones, Shiner

WR – Josh Alvarez, Luling

WR – Darrance James, Gonzales

OL – Zac Perez-Clack, Gonzales

OL – Laddie Patek, St. Paul

OL – Omar Ordonez, Luling

OL – Damian Airhart, Gonzales

OL – Logan McMain, Nixon-Smiley

A-P – Martin Kennedy, St. Paul

Defense

DL – Tyler Gibson, Luling

DL – Jordan Johnson, Gonzales

DL – Tyler Morgan, St. Paul

DL – Jaace Chumchal, Shiner

LB – J.T. Miller, Gonzales

LB – Jacob Stafford, Shiner

LB – Dylan Barton, St. Paul

LB – Max Huth, Shiner

DB – Zack Lopez, Gonzales

DB – Mitchell McElroy, St. Paul

DB – Keeton Coe, Luling

P – Hunter Mraz, Shiner

Second Team

Offense

QB – Trayden Staton, Luling

RB – Caleb Curtis, Shiner

RB – Tristan Newman, Nixon-Smiley

WR – Cameron Smith, Gonzales

WR – Garrett Earlywine, Nixon-Smiley

WR – Jared Markham, St. Paul

OL – Clint Cantu, Luling

OL – Tyler Filla, Gonzales

OL – Justin Siegel, St. Paul

OL – Cole Strauss, Shiner

OL – Zach Olguin, Luling

A-P – Dakota Kresta, St. Paul

Defense

DL – Austin Horne, St. Paul

DL – Ches Elley, Luling

DL – Aaron Bermudez, Luling

DL – Caleb Kalich, Shiner

LB – D.J. Gonzales, Gonzales

LB – Zach Lawton, Luling

LB – Jared Van Auken, Nixon-Smiley

LB – Brendan Cubit, Luling

DB – Ty Anderson, Luling

DB – Abraham Palomo, Luling

DB – Brady Cejka, Shiner

P – Matt Hillman, Gonzales