Football team(s) conundrums...
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
The e-mails have been coming in a-plenty since our All-State team was released. Figured they would. I appreciate the passion the readers have shown.
You don’t have to agree with all the selections, but I assure you we did the best we could and picked the best players possible. In a perfect world they could play in their right positions, but that’s not possible.
Some positions were loaded, some weren’t. It’s like that in just about every sport and players get left out. It’s a shame, but it’s the way it goes.
Spent about 20 hours spread out through three different days working on Little All-City, Big All-City and All-State. We watched countless number of highlight DVDs (by the way, the technology is ridiculous on some of those). We argued back and forth on selections.
Wrapping up my vacation back in Ohio with a couple of days left. But now that the teams are released, just some of my issues with the teams.
LAC: Hmm, this is an easy one. Were there too many reps from Millwood, Douglass and Star Spencer? The three schools had more than half the players on the first team.
But you look at numbers, look at the competition the teams played, look at how those players performed in the toughest situations, there were a lot of good-to-great players from OKCPS this year.
Toughest part: One where I was able to get ‘my way’ and one where I wasn’t. I pushed hard for Bridge Creek’s Ryan Spangler to be the quarterback, so I was thrilled he got it. He deserved it, and the Bobcats had a great season. To go with that, WR Caden Locke was someone I pushed for.
I went down in flames with Bishop McGuinness’ Jameel Whitney. Fought hard to get him on the first team, but it just wasn’t enough. Whitney was one of the most impressive players I saw on defense this year. My mythical team ran a 2-5-4, so Whitney could be that fifth LB.
BAC: Oh boy, how do you keep Shawnee’s Brayle Brown off the team? That was an absolute toughie. But when you look at what Carl Albert’s J.T. Realmuto did and Southmoore’s Kendal Thompson, man oh man, it’s not easy.
A big problem for me was Edmond Memorial. Tied with Jenks in the fourth quarter in the quarterfinals, but who do you reward? Picked LB Adrian Shoecraft because he was the best player on the field.
But how do you omit the team’s heart and soul, Nelson Medeiros? The talent of Connor Myers and Bryce Burget? The unselfishness of Kameron Doolittle? The accurate leg of Will Conant? Some teams are just that, great teams.
