Doyle, Porras lead way among area football players with Pacific League honors
A pair of area quarterbacks paved the way for their respective teams by standing out as dual threats.
With accurate passing and astute running skills, Cole Doyle of Crescenta Valley High and Burbank’s Matthew Porras got plenty accomplished on the field in helping their teams qualify for the CIF playoffs.
Doyle and Porras, both seniors, were among 33 area players who were bestowed with All-Pacific League recognition, as voted on by the league’s seven coaches.
Doyle picked up one of the biggest accolades after being tabbed the league’s offensive player of the year. Porras picked up first-team recognition after both signal-callers produced jaw-dropping numbers.
Doyle finished with 3,469 yards of offense and 39 touchdowns in just nine games to help Crescenta Valley finish 8-3, 5-2 in league and advance to the CIF Southern Section Division VII playoffs.
Doyle completed 149 of 239 passes for 2,067 yards after passing for 2,696 in 2017. The right-hander had 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and completed 62.3% of his passes . On the ground, Doyle rushed for 1,402 yards in 142 carries and 24 touchdowns.
“When you look back, it’s ridiculous what Cole did,” said Crescenta Valley coach Paul Schilling, who was named the league’s co-coach of the year with Burbank’s Adam Colman. “Everything came together for him and we knew coming into the season that he was going to get so much accomplished.
“To get 1,400 yards rushing is amazing and he set a career mark in passing yards. Overall, he was just a special player for our team and it’s awesome to see him get honored like that.”
Porras also enjoyed a spectacular season, as he was one of six area athletes to receive all-league first-team offense nods.
Porras, also a right-hander, completed 167 of 282 passes for 2,689 yards. He had 38 touchdown passes, including seven against cross-town rival Burroughs, and 12 interceptions. Porras rushed for 492 yards in 121 carries and three touchdowns to finish with a school record 38 touchdowns and help Burbank go 7-4, 6-1 for second place in league behind Arcadia and qualify for the Division V playoffs.
“Matt obviously has a great year and put up some fantastic numbers,” Colman said. “It started with him working extra hard during the summer.
“Matt saw the field well and he could break off yardage because of that, plus he understood how to attack the defense by passing and running.”
Also receiving first-team offense nods were Burbank’s Duncan Smith and Chaz Vang, Armen Erdoglyan and Colby Rees of Crescenta Valley and Burroughs’ Johnny Factora.
Smith, a senior tight end, caught 38 passes for 751 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Vang, a junior running back, rushed for 315 yards in 34 carries and two touchdowns and caught 29 passes for 404 yards and seven touchdowns.
Erdoglyan, a senior, stood out by anchoring the offensive line.
Rees, a junior wide receiver, had 30 catches for 539 yards and four touchdowns.
Factora, a senior wide receiver, finished with seven receptions for 64 yards for Burroughs (2-8, 2-5 for sixth place in league).
Burbank’s Erik Harutyunyan, Vincent Vang and Karo Koshkaryan, along with Daniel Cho and Tommy Lee of Crescenta Valley, picked up first-team defense nods.
Harutyunyan, a senior cornerback, finished with 36 tackles and four interceptions.
Vang, a junior safety, had 84 tackles and six interceptions, while Koshkaryan, a senior defensive end, collected 45 tackles.
Cho had 83 tackles as a senior linebacker, while Lee, a senior lineman, contributed 70 tackles and eight sacks.
Among those selected to the second team offense were Esper Alsayegh and Isaac Glover of Burbank, Crescenta Valley’s Chuck Meyer and Angel Ochoa, Burroughs’ Andrew English and Trent Lousararian of Glendale (2-8, 1-6 in league for seventh place).
Alsayegh served as a dominant senior tackle for the Bulldogs.
Glover, a junior running back, contributed 497 rushing yards in 89 carries and seven touchdowns. He finished with eight total touchdowns.
Meyer, a junior, stood out as a talented blocker on the offensive line.
Ochoa caught 27 passes for 307 yards and three touchdowns as a junior wide receiver.
English finished with 33 catches for 299 yards as a senior wide receiver..
Lousararian, a senior, handled the role as quarterback for the first time. (Glendale had no season statistics).
Max Mendieta and Ian Miller of Burbank, Crescenta Valley’s Sebastian DeLeon, Chase Center and Lou Rocco, Burroughs’ Henry Diaz and Chris Ibarra of Glendale were bestowed with second-team defense recognition.
Mendieta, a sophomore linebacker, had 116 tackles and nine pass deflections.
Miller contributed 55 tackles as a junior corner back.
DeLeon stood out as a junior linebacker.with 76 tackles and had five sacks.
Center, a junior linebacker, registered 61 tackles and three sacks, while Rocco finished with 38 tackles and 10 sacks as a junior lineman.
As a junior linebacker, Diaz notched 63 tackles and two interceptions and Ibarra, a senior, stood out as a linebacker.
Receiving honorable mention offense were Ben Burnham of Burbank, Donny Stuart of Crescenta Valley, Luke Rogers of Burroughs and Glendale’s Seth Harley.
Burnham, a junior wide receiver, caught 23 passes for 362 yards and three touchdowns.
Stuart, a junior, helped propel the offensive line.
Rogers, a sophomore running back, finished with 801 yards rushing in 204 carries and scored four touchdowns.
Harley contributed as a senior tight end.
Those who picked up honorable-mention defense were Devin Householder of Burbank, Cescenta Valley’s Vincent Parrott, Daniel Foxx of Burroughs and Glendale’s Azuka Ukon.
Householder finished with 45 tackles as a junior defensive end.
Parrott, a junior defensive back, contributed 29 tackles and two interceptions.
As a senior linebacker, Foxx notched 42 tackles.
Ukon excelled as a senior linebacker.
“We had a lot of guys who made all-league and they deserved it,” Colman said. “They put in a lot of work in order to get something like that done.”
Said Schilling: “We’re excited to see our players get recognized. Those guys did everything they could to improve and contribute and everything came together.”
Hoover did not have any players pick up all-league recognition.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
