Area coaches, players earn top honors among Southwest All-District teams

Six area high school football coaches and eight players received top honors on the Southwest All-District football teams that were announced on Thursday.

Area coaches of the year were Maurice Douglass of Springfield (Division I), Larry Cox of Talawanda (D-II), Kenyon Commins of Ross (D-III), Josh Wooten of Greenon (D-V), Jason Schondelmyer of Arcanum (D-VI) and New Miami’s Jesse Hubbard (D-VII).

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Area players of the year were Hunter Warner of Fairborn (D-II), Braden Woods of Franklin and Trotwood-Madison’s Sammy Anderson (D-III), Robie Glass of Springfield Shawnee and West Liberty-Salem’s Kyle Wolfe (D-V), Anna teammates Riley Huelskamp and Wil Luthman (D-VI) and Max Hoying of Fort Loramie (D-VII).

Douglass is in his sixth season at Springfield and has groomed the Wildcats’ best team in program history, which includes North and South. Springfield (11-1) will play Dublin Coffman (10-2) in a D-I, Region 2 final at London on Friday.

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Cox left Lakota West after a successful run there and made an immediate impact at Talawanda. The Braves (7-3) missed the D-II playoffs, but had a significant turnaround from last year’s 2-8 season.

In his third season as head coach, Commins led Ross (8-3) into the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

Also in his third season as head coach, Wooten inherited a Greenon program that was 0-30. The Knights (8-2) failed to make the D-V playoffs, but posted their best season in years.

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Schondelmyer had another impressive turnaround in his second season at Arcanum. The Trojans were 2-8 last season and went 7-3 this year, remaining in D-VI playoff contention until the final wee of the regular season.

New Miami (10-1) posted its first unbeaten season under Hubbard, in his second year as head coach, and also a No. 1 seed in the D-VII, Region 28 playoffs.

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Warner, a junior linebacker at Fairborn, was the D-II defensive player of the year. Woods, a senior quarterback, and Anderson, a senior cornerback, were the D-III offensive and defensive players of the year. Anderson verbally committed to the University of Cincinnati last week.

Shawnee senior QB Glass was the D-V offensive player of the year and WL-Salem’s Wolfe, a senior lineman, the defensive player of the year.

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A senior running back, Huelskamp, and Luthman, a senior lineman, swept the offensive and defensive players of the year for Anna in D-VI.

Hoying, a senior linebacker at Loramie, was the D-VII defensive player of the year.

Cincinnati Wyoming senior quarterback Evan Prater and St. Bernard Roger Bacon junior running back Corey Kiner shared the D-IV offensive player of the year.

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Prater, verbally committed to the University of Cincinnati, is the Southwest District nominee for Mr. Football. The D-IV defending state champ, Wyoming is 39-1 with Prater as its starter. He also is nearing 6,000 career passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards and has accounted for more than 130 touchdowns.

The teams were chosen by the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association and based on nominations by coaches for regular-season play. First-team players will be considered for All-Ohio honors, which will be released by the Ohio High School Athletic Association during championship weekend.

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