Chris Slone
The Wheelersburg Pirates finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record and as a result, seven Pirate players were named to the first-team Associated Press All-Southeast District Football list.
Pirate senior quarterback Kyle Davis took home the highest achievement after being named Division V offensive player of the year.
“It’s outstanding by Kyle,” Pirates coach Rod Woodward said. “He started as a sophomore and a junior on the defensive side of the ball. He also stepped in and paid attention on offense. He paid attention incase he was needed at any given time last year. The last two years he’s just been waiting his turn. When his time arose, he rose to the challenge. He stepped up and recognized what he needed to do in the offseason to get himself prepared.”
“He has a very charismatic rapport with the players in terms of having a good time with them but knows how to step in and get them to rise to the challenge as well. He’s just been a great leader for us. He’s been a great performer, not only on the offensive side but on the defensive side too. He’s very deserving of his accolades on offense but defensively he’s been outstanding for us. There’s a lot of say for somebody to be able to handle both of those positions. He’s just an all-around athlete who does an outstanding job.”
The other Wheelersburg players named to the AP first team were Chasen Burk, Sam Hall, Daylor Lewis, Xander Carmichael, Jordan Howard and Jake Darnell. Brady Newsome was an honorable mention.
“It’s something that we’re very proud of,” Woodward said. “There’s no one guy that jumps in terms of statistics at you, like there maybe on other teams. But what that says is we have a great overall team. We have a great team of players and obviously it shows in the recognition they were able to receive at the All-District level and also our 10-0 season. We’ve been able to come out on the successful side of each and every game, and that’s because of the job they all do of playing together.
“That says a lot about the leadership. You look at the guys that were named in the paper, there were a lot of guys that were right there with those same players that were recognized that have attributed, whether it’s in practice situations, special teams situations; they’ve just been major impact players and that’s what it takes in order to have a successful football team.”
Reach Chris Slone at 740-353-3101, ext 1930, or on Twitter @crslone.
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