Glendale Community College’s David Smith earns top conference accolade

Backed by the top defensive unit in the state, the Glendale Community College football team spent the entire season contending for a Pacific Conference American Division championship and eyeing a bowl game.

In 11 games, Glendale allowed just 15.4 points per contest en route to finishing 9-2, 6-1 in the division for second place. As a bonus, Glendale competed in the Patriotic Bowl, the first postseason appearance for the Vaqueros since 2006. A second winning season in a row netted Glendale plenty of postseason recognition, as 16 Vaqueros secured all-division accolades.

Helping lead the way for Glendale was sophomore lineman David Smith, who was named the division’s defensive player of the year. Smith, one of 28 sophomores on Glendale, finished the campaign with 57 tackles and a team-best nine sacks. In addition, Smith earned a spot on the all-division first-team defense.

“It means a lot to be recognized for all the hard work you put in and being surrounded by great teammates,” Smith said. “My goal coming into the season was just to make all-conference and it’s a tough conference.

“It’s crazy to think about how we were able to dominate like we did on defense. Everybody contributed and we had some great playmakers at every position.”

Glendale seventh-year Coach John Rome said Smith proved to be a force each game for the Vaqueros.

“He’s a tremendous player because he practiced with so much intensity and the other players followed him,” Rome said. “He was very explosive in getting to the ball and he played at a high rate.

“You wish you always had those kind of players. He’s deserving of the recognition and he will definitely be hard to replace.”

Smith had plenty of company beside him each week to make the Vaqueros one of the top squads in the division and in Southern California. Also picking up first-team honors were sophomore defensive back Dante Shipman, sophomore safety Keven Steele, sophomore linebacker Dominick Bell and freshman lineman Pauli Finau.

Shipman collected 37 tackles and a team-high eight interceptions and is the program’s all time leader in interceptions with 14. He’s mulling over offers to next play at Utah or Georgia. Steele collected 57 tackles. Bell had a team-leading 81 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks. Finau finished with 25 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks.

“With somebody like Dante, you realize just how fortunate you are to have him go out there and be ready to make the big plays,” Rome said. “He did that and he set a standard here.

“You look at Keen, about 90% of his tackles came while playing strong safety. Dominick and Pauli always played with a lot of intensity and made a lot of big plays.”

Glendale fared quite well on offense, too. The Vaqueros averaged 37.4 points per game.

Those earning spots on the first-team offense were sophomore running back Marquise McGuire, sophomore wide receiver William Fennessy, sophomore tight end Austyn Walker and sophomore linemen David Orellana and Jose Sanchez.

McGuire flourished on the ground, picking up 832 yards rushing in 145 carries and eight touchdowns. He finished with 978 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns overall.

Fennessy caught 35 passes for 632 yards and three touchdowns.

Walker caught three touchdowns passes and was an excellent blocker.

Orellana and Sanchez proved to be pillars on the line who opened holes and provided quarterbacks Sean Murphy and Andre Nunez with suitable pass protection.

“You start with the offensive line if you want to have any kind of success,” Rome said. “Guys like David, Jose and Austyn did a great job with their blocking techniques and giving the quarterbacks time to do their thing.

“William was so productive in that he could make the big catch that would get you a key first down or touchdown. Marquise was once again real hard to stop. In two years at Glendale, he finished with close to 2,000 yards rushing.”

Earning recognition on the second-team defense from Glendale were sophomore linebacker Chris Riley and sophomore defensive back Jaelen Rising-Barnwell. Riley collected 63 tackles and had two interceptions. Rising-Barnwell finished with 36 tackles and five interceptions. In addition, freshman return specialist Kev’n Farmer received honors after he had 15 kick returns for 351 yards.

Sophomore lineman Mitchell Stoudt, freshman running back Robert Jones and freshman place kicker Oscar Reynoso were named to the second-team offense. Stoudt (Crescenta Valley High) proved to be a force for the Vaqueros with his blocking. Jones finished with 655 yards rushing in 104 carries and seven touchdowns. Reynoso converted on 11 of 14 field-goal tries and made 47 of 53 extra-point attempts.

West L.A. sophomore quarterback Dallas Lopez was tabbed the conference’s offensive player of the year.