Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
RICHARDSON, Texas — Eastern New Mexico had a pair of first-team selections — one on offense and one on defense — and 16 overall selections between 15 players on the All-Lone Star Conference football teams, announced Friday by the league office.
Running back Paul Terry was named to the league’s first-team offense, while deep snapper Roope Henry was named to the first-team defense.
Conference champion Tarleton State had nine first-team selections overall — five on offense and four on defense — while Texas A&M-Commerce and Midwestern State each had seven first- or second-team selections.
The team included 127 student-athletes selected by the conference’s nine head coaches — 32 first team, 33 second team and 62 honorable mention.
Terry was fourth in the LSC with 989 yards on 204 carries, including 10 touchdowns.
Four Greyhounds were named to five positions on the second teams, with Tyler Vargas being named as placekicker on offense and punter on defense. Joining Vargas on the offensive team was senior guard Mister Birdo, while fellow second-team defenders were sophomores Noah Sweitzer at inside linebacker and Dante Urrea at safety.
Honorable mentions for ENMU included junior offensive tackle and Clovis native Isaiah Callahan, sophomore tackle Caleb Ortiz, junior tight end Tyler Lynch, junior running back Johnny Smith, junior defensive tackle Jamar Claibourne, senior linebacker Brad Hardin, senior linebacker Todd Countee, junior cornerback Charles Countee and junior safety Ricky Barfield.
Senior wide receiver Russell Montoya and junior quarterback Wyatt Strand were named to the all-academic team. The 11-man team is selected by the LSC’s sports information directors, from a pool of players who hold at least a 3.3 cumulative grade point average whle attaining at least sophomore athletic and academic standing and staying one full year with their current school. It was the second time Montoya has been selected to the team.
No team dominated the special awards, but Tarleton State had three individual awards — Xavier Turner as top offensive back, Deon Sheppard as offensive lineman of the year and Devin Hafford as defensive back on the year. Midwestern State had the offensive player of the year in quarterback Layton Rabb and the receiver of the year in Juwan Johnson, while Angelo State’s Markus Jones was the defensive lineman of the year and the defensive player of the year.
Texas-Permian Basin’s Chris Hoad was the top linebacker, while cornerback and kick returner Tobias Harris of West Texas A&M was freshman of the year. Texas A&M-Commerce also took a pair of awards, with Colby Carthel taking coach of the year honors and kicker Kristov Martinez winning academic player of the year.
