CV, Glendale, Hoover net awards

GLENDALE — None of the three local Pacific League football teams qualified for the playoffs this season, but it wasn’t for lack of effort or talent.

The league’s coaches recognized the top players from Crescenta Valley High, Glendale and Hoover recently by voting the top players from each squad onto the all-league team.

The Falcons led the way with three selections to the first team in seniors Bryan Luna and Garrett Stoudt and junior Pavle Atanackovic.

Luna, who also started at linebacker for the Falcons, made the squad as an offensive lineman.

“He could have made it probably as a linebacker or a lineman,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling, whose team went 4-6 and 2-5 in league for fifth place. “We always vote for offensive line first and, with our record, I wanted to make sure he got on because he was a definite first-teamer. But in my mind, he could have been both sides of the ball first team.”

Stoudt was voted on as a defensive lineman after finishing with 18 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks and a fumble recovery in the Falcons’ first nine games. Crescenta Valley’s complete team statistics for the Nov. 12 finale at Arcadia were unavailable as of press time.

“The rest of the coaches really respected Garrett,” Schilling said. “To get Garrett on first team, I was really excited that the other coaches voted for him. He definitely deserves to be on the team.”

Atanackovic, a standout soccer player at Crescenta Valley, brought his talents to the football team as a placekicker and punter. He converted five field goals and 25 extra-point attempts on the entire season.

Glendale, which finished 1-9 and 1-6 in league for sixth place, had the only other local first-team players in senior quarterback Alex Yoon and senior punter Nick Villapando.

Yoon, who was voted to one of seven skill positions spots distributed between quarterbacks, running backs and receivers, rushed for 749 yards and nine touchdowns, while passing for 404 yards and two more scores.

“We didn’t anticipate it, but you only win one league game and your quarterback makes first team, I think that’s great,” Glendale Coach Alan Eberhart said. “It shows that the other coaches in the league realized that he was hard to defend.”

The Nitros also got four members of their defensive unit onto the second team in senior linebacker Chan Kim, senior nose guard Arthur Vahanyan and senior safeties Alex Maravilla and Linden Anderson.

“He just got better and better and, with his willingness to learn, he’s just a tenacious kid,” Eberhart said of Kim, who also rushed for 678 yards and two touchdowns. “He really helped us establish the ability to run the ball and control the clock a little bit and stay in games as long as he did.”

Anderson had three interceptions, while Maravilla had two of his own.

Hoover, which went 1-9 and 0-7 in league, landed senior quarterback AJ Pule and senior receiver Devaughn Williams on second-team skill positions and senior Sergio Arenas was a second-team offensive lineman.

“AJ did good job, he threw the ball and he ran the ball and was our leader, especially on offense,” Tornadoes Coach Chris Long said of Pule, who passed for 2,051 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also rushing for 433 yards and eight touchdowns.

Williams caught 40 passes for 674 yards, while Arenas anchored the offensive line.

“[Williams] is small, but he’s probably our toughest kid, he definitely has a big heart and he plays like that on the field,” Long said. “[Arenas] is just a natural leader. He’s one of our true kids who loves football. He’s the only one who never missed a day in the offseason.”

Senior Enrique Diaz made the second team as a defensive lineman with 73 tackles, a sack and three forced fumbles.

“He came such a long way,” Long said. “He worked his butt off the last two years and he did a great job for us all year.”

Honorable mentions went to Crescenta Valley senior running back Kevin Fernandez (245 yards rushing and three touchdowns on the season) and junior defensive lineman Nathan Sarreal (16 tackles and one fumble recovery in first nine games), Glendale senior offensive lineman Mark Attarian and senior linebacker Duncan Maxwell (52 tackles) and Hoover senior wide receiver Dymond McRae (581 yards receiving and seven touchdowns) and junior cornerback Luke Taboyoyong (42 tackles).

Taylor Lagace of Arcadia, which shared the league title with Burroughs, was named player of the year, while offensive player of the year was Burroughs’ Lucas Yanez and defensive player of the year honors went to Burbank’s Ryan Seidler.