Heading into summer practice, most area experts thought the 2008 prep
football season might be something special. And boy, was it ever! n from
those mind-blowing early season upsets to the record-setting regular season for the East St. Louis Flyers to the scintillating playoff run that saw eight area teams reach the state semifinals. And of course, that final fantastic
weekend that produced an unforgettable Show-Me Bowl and three area state champions, the 2008 prep football season was truly a wild, wonderful ride.
That’s why it is with great pleasure and pride, that we would like to
wrap a big, beautiful final bow around the season by naming our 2008
St. Louis American newspaper “All-American” Team.
This is the 12th year we’ve put together our own all-star football
team. And never before has it been tougher for us to decide just which
of the area’s best players belong on the team. A difficult task indeed, but not quite as difficult as it might sound, since we actually pick two teams.
This week, we’ll present the Large School team, which consists of players who competed in Illinois Classes 6A-8A and Missouri Classes 5-6. Next week, we’ll name the Small School team, chosen from players that competed in Illinois Classes 1A-5A & Missouri Classes 1-4.
This year’s Large School team has quite the championship feel to it,
with 22 of the 29 spots going to players from one of the three area
state champs. Wire-to-wire No. 1 team East St. Louis garnered the most
selections on our team with 10, while Hazelwood Central and Hazelwood
East landed six spots each.
There was also more special recognition for East Side, as their “Mr
Everything” WR/DB/P/PR Terry Hawthorne was the only player on either
team we chose on offense, defense, & special teams. Hawthorne’s
defensive play in the postseason especially stood out. He picked off
seven passes in the playoffs and returned four of them for TDs. That’s
why he was our choice as the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year.
East Side head man, Darren Sunkett was our choice as Coach of the
Year, for the eighth time in 12 seasons. His team’s state title this
year, along with the one he won with Riverview Gardens in 1998, make
Sunkett the only area coach to win large school state titles in both
Missouri & Illinois, and firmly establishes him as the top coach in the area.
Timberland running back Montee Ball, the area’s all-time leading rusher and a University of Wisconsin recruit, was an easy choice for the 2008
Offensive Player of the Year, after rushing for 2,187 yards and
scoring an area-best 41 TDs this season. One of the few tragedies of
the season, was Timberland’s loss in the first round of the playoffs,
which prevented us all from the chance to see what this exceptional ballcarrier could’ve done against the area’s best competition.
Chaminade running back Rob Standard, one of the 2008’s true breakout players with 2,350 rushing yards and 29 TDs, was our pick for Sophomore
of the Year. While East St. Louis’ Jeremy Nichols was the pick for
Freshman of the Year, after he scored three TDs, while averaging 7.6
yards a carry as a reserve running back, and connected on 23 of 28 PATs as a placekicker for the top-ranked Flyers.
Now that all the special recognition hardware has been handed out, it is our true pleasure to present the 2008 St. Louis American Newspaper’s Large School “All-American” Team:
Offense
QB- Detchauz Wray: East St. Louis (Jr.)
RB- Montee Ball: Timberland (Sr.)
RB- Maurice Scott: Hazelwood Central (Sr.)
RB- Levi Terrell: Fox (Sr.)
WR- Kraig Appleton: East St. Louis (Sr.)
WR- Terry Hawthorne: East St. Louis (Sr.)
WR- Tarrell Downing: Hazelwood East (Sr.)
TE- Courtney Ward: Hazelwood East (Sr.)
OL- Wesley Bell: McCluer (Sr.)
OL- John Clay: East St. Louis (Soph.)
OL- Kelvin Nelson: East St. Louis (Jr.)
OL- Tevin Taylor: East St. Louis (Jr.)
OL: Stanley Travis: Hazelwood Central (Sr.)
K- Tarrell Downing: Hazelwood East (Sr.)
KR- Ronnie Wingo: SLUH (Sr.)
Defense
DL- Maurice Alexander: Eureka (Sr.)
DL- Dominic Nixon: Hazelwood East (Sr.)
DL- Ty Phillips: East St. Louis (Sr.)
DL- Jaime Curry-Slaughter: Hazelwood East (Sr.)
LB- Yomi Alli: Hazelwood Central (Jr.)
LB- Dominique Fowlkes: Hazelwood East (Sr.)
LB- James Hawkins: Parkway North (Soph.)
DB- Marcus Cotton: Hazelwood Central (Sr.)
DB- Terry Hawthorne: East St. Louis (Sr.)
DB- Tommie Hopkins: East St. Louis (Sr.)
P- Kerry Gibson: Hazelwood Central (Jr.)
PR- Terry Hawthorne: East St. Louis (Sr.)
Offensive Player of the Year-Montee Ball-Timberland
Defensive Player of the Year-Terry Hawthorne-E. St. Louis
Coach of the Year-Darren Sunkett-E. St. Louis
Sophomore of the Year-Rob Standard-Chaminade
Freshman of the Year-Jeremy Nichols-E. St. Louis