Copeland Gets Prep Award Posthumously

The late Kevin Copeland of Dorsey High School was honored in memory Sunday with the Glenn Davis Award as Southern California’s best prep player at The Times’ annual football banquet in the Anaheim Hilton.

Copeland, considered one of the top players in the state, collapsed and later died of heart failure during a game against San Pedro this season. He was 17.

In a season dedicated to Copeland, Dorsey won its first City 3-A Division championship Friday night, beating Carson, 26-15.

Dorsey co-coaches Paul Knox and Eugene McAdoo, along with players Lamont Warren, Kenya Smith, Tamecus Peoples, Hosea Velasquez and Demetrick Watts accepted Copeland’s award.

Winners of the back, lineman and coach of the year for each of The Times’ 12 circulation areas also were announced at the banquet, at which Stanford Coach Dennis Green was the guest speaker. They were:

Central City--Kevin Hicks of Crenshaw (back), Justin Yarro of Loyola (lineman) and McAdoo and Knox (coach).

Inland Empire--Chad Davis of Palm Springs (back), Eric Zomalt of Canyon Springs (lineman) and Dick Bruich of Fontana (coach).

Ventura Country--Tim Gutierrez of Santa Clara (back), Lance Martin of Thousand Oaks (lineman) and Bob Richards of Thousand Oaks (coach).

Westside--Louis Jones of Venice (back), Eric Banducci of Santa Monica (lineman) and Al Dillinger and Tony Chretin of Venice (coach).

San Diego County--Dan White of Point Loma (back), Lawrence Turner of San Diego Lincoln (lineman) and Dennis Pugh of Mission Bay (coach).

Glendale--Santiago Alvarez of Franklin (back), Pat Kennelly of Crescenta Valley (lineman) and Glen Beattie of Flintridge Prep (coach).

South Coast--Jack Manu of Paramount (back), Don Sasa (Long Beach Poly) and Steve Silverman of Gahr (coach).

Southeast--Ivan Wilson of South Gate (back), Puna Peko of Whittier (lineman) and Gary Cordray of South Gate (coach).

Orange County--Tim Manning of Trabuco Hills (back), Oscar Wilson of Santa Ana (lineman) and Tom Meiss of Orange (coach).

San Fernando Valley--Derek Sparks of Van Nuys Montclair Prep (back), Brett Washington of Granada Hills (lineman) and Frank Greminger of Agoura (coach).

South Bay--Dennis Gerard of Serra (back), Nkosi Littleton of Carson (lineman) and Leo Hand of Serra (coach).

San Gabriel Valley--Marshawn Thompson of Bassett (back), Norberto Garrido of Workman (lineman) and Dean Karnoski of Glendora (coach).