If you didn't already realize the job first year head coach Frankie Berlanga did at Soledad this fall, check this out.
Just three players were named to the all-league first team. By comparison, King City had seven. Yet, it was Soledad in the playoffs for the first time in school history.
John Devine has been writing about high school sports in Monterey County since, well, practically since he was an athlete at King City in the days just after leather helmets. In PrepNation, John has even more in-depth analysis of the latest results and news he's brought to you in The Herald and in his weekly videos.
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3 comments:
My question is: How does a team not get any of it's offensive lineman on the 1st Team ballot? According to mbaypreps.com stats, the Soledad offensive line produced the #1 leading rusher in both the MTAL and the Monterey County.
Moreover, if anyone was paying attention in Soledad's playoff game against Palma, Soledad rushed for 174 yards on Chieftians. Yet, according to the results in paper, not one Soledad offensive linemen was selected 1st Team.
League selections tend to be beauty contests with lots of behind the scenes politics going on.
Here is a suggestion for future meetings.
Start the meeting by voting on the Player of the Year for Offense, the Player of the Year for Defense and the Lineman of the Year (can be an offensive or defensive lineman). No running back of the year...seems to me that is an outdated category harkening back to the days when teams were running focused. (If you have running back of the year, then why not receiver of the year?)
Vote for those three players. And once they are elected they also automatically become All League selections.
Next take those three names out of the running.
Then, set up a quota system. Teams that finish fourth through eighth in the MTAL get one All League player each.
All the coaches in the room suggest who from each team they think was the best player from that team. For example all the coaches tell the Marina coach who they thought was his best player on the Marina team. The coach of each of those teams then takes those suggestions and may or may not listen to those suggestions as he nominates his player and that player is an All League selection. For example the Marina coach listens to all the suggestions the other coaches made and then decides which name he wants to nominate...either a name the other coaches suggest or the player he had in mind all along. No vote.
The team that finishes third gets two players to be All League. The team that finishes second gets 3 players on the All League team. And the team that wins the league gets 5 players.
Same thing as with the fourth through eighth place teams...the coaches all make suggestions and then the coach nominates his players (2 for the third place team, etc) and they are named All League...no voting.
So by the time you are done, you have 18 players on the All League team. Granted you may have several quarterbacks...or five running backs...but the All League team can just as easily be made up of the best players (regardless of their position) rather than defining an All League team as one quarterback, two running backs, one tight end, etc.
The kids get recognized. And in large part the voting has been taken out of it.
Carmelkyd: to the victors go the spoils. League champion should not be limited to 5. Some stud on the best team in the league gets left off for a last place feel good selection? Way too PC.
That being said KC gets 7 first teamers and Soledad 3? Sounds like some good old fashioned south county horse trading.
Great season though for Soledad. Nothing can take away from that.
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