By Zack Cunningham/sportsreporter@trcle.com
Two Joshua Owls received recognition on the District 8-4A second team.
Junior Jesse Williamson and senior Jake Martin were both picked as second-team selections and Joshua head coach Johnny White said their selections in a talented district speaks volumes.
“Considering the year we had which was tough in terms of wins and losses, for them to receive the recognition says a lot about those two young men,” White said. “I thought both the individuals did all they could to help our team on both the defensive and offensive ends of the floor.”
White said Martin showed continued improvement throughout the year and said Williamson will play a pivotal role in the offense next season.
“I thought Jake came a long way,” White said. “He improved tremendously on the defensive end. He was really involved in the defensive rebounding and I thought he took a lot of pressure off Jesse.
“Defensively, I thought they both did a great job. Jesse averaged 3.5 blocks a game. Next year, we’re going to try to change some things and take some pressure off of him. I think that we’ll have more of an outside presence to help free him up more than we did this year. We’re going to go back to the uptempo pace which well help Jesse because he’s very good in transition.”
The district’s most valuable player was Everman senior DeAntre Harlan, while Monty Grays from Everman and Josh Doctson from Legacy took home the co-sophomores of the year.
Newcomer of the year went to Timberview freshman Brandon Pye and Cedric Ivory of Timberview and Victor Martinez of Stephenville shared the co-offensive most valuable player award.
The defensive MVP went to Justin Walker of Legacy and Marchie Murdock of Legacy was named the coach of the year.
The first team selections consisted of Garret Autry of Stephenville, Ciante Evans and Rodrick Olgtree of Arlington Seguin, Chi Chi Onyekanne of Crowley, J.J. Williams and Dexter Elliot of Timberview, Sterling Hunt and Karl Wilcox of Everman, Eddie Leal and Isiah Austin of Legacy and Kanyon Payne and Karl Wilcox of Granbury.
Rounding out the second selections were Justin Lanham of Stephenville, Jevin Colbert of Seguin, Scout Gibson of Crowley, Josh Dada of Timberview, Derrick West and Kevin Smith of Everman, Daniel Bubel and Ross Whitter of Granbury and David Miller and Terry Franklin of Legacy.
