Back of the year: Robert Woods

George Farmer is bigger, stronger and faster.

Paul Richardson might have surer hands.

But Robert Woods was unsurpassed in terms of making huge plays.

“You get him the ball,” Gardena Serra quarterback Conner Preston said of the senior receiver and defensive back, “and he’ll do something very special every time.”

Consider the Cavaliers’ CIF state championship Division III bowl game last month, in which Woods turned a short pass into a 67-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. The Times’ back of the year finished with eight catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns as Serra held off Kentfield Marin Catholic, 24-20, to cap an undefeated season.

Cavaliers Coach Scott Altenberg, whose standout corps of receivers also included Farmer and Richardson, called the USC-bound Woods “the best player I’ve ever coached.”

Woods’ talent was rivaled by a strong work ethic.

“When your best player is also your hardest worker,” Altenberg said, “it makes the rest of the team kind of fall in line.”

Woods caught 66 passes for 1,112 yards and 15 touchdowns and also was effective on defense, intercepting eight passes.

-- Ben Bolch