Photo by Victor Tapia
Brave Collin Strahan was selected as the District 13-3A
Offensive Most Valuable Player for 2009.

Strahan, Davis lead Braves in superlatives

By David Jenkins
Staff Writer

NEVADA – Community didn’t make the playoffs, but it did earn numerous selections to the All-District team.

“We are very pleased with our selections and really appreciate the other coaches for recognizing the efforts of our players,” head coach Bryan O’Neal said.  “They worked extremely hard all year, and it is a great reward for them.”

Leading the charge in superlatives for the Braves were junior Collin Strahan (13-3A’s Most Valuable Player on offense) and senior Tay Davis (Newcomer of the Year).

Named to the first team on offense were senior Tim Underwood (running back) and junior Ben Montgomery (guard).

Second-team honors went to seniors Keondre Jermany (running back), Thomas Harwell (center) and William Kaake (guard).

Selected to first team on the defensive side were senior Ty Griffin (inside-outside linebacker), junior Paul Blasingame (cornerback), Underwood (unanimous at inside linebacker) and Strahan (safety).

Honored with second-team picks were junior Jake Wilson (defensive end) along with seniors Cameron Caldwell (inside-outside linebacker) and Clint Woolf (safety).

Selected as honorable mentions by the Braves’ coaching staff were seniors Dalton Butler (defensive end) and Tim Smith (defensive tackle), as well as Montgomery (defensive tackle),  Griffin (wide receiver) and Blasingame (wide receiver).

Honored for their work in the classroom with All-District academic selections were juniors Lance Marks, Adam Strickland, Davis, Griffin, Harwell, Jermany, Kaake and Strahan.

Community finished the 2009 season 4-6 record overall and was fourth in 13-3A at 2-3.

“I can’t describe how truly proud we are of this group of kids,” O’Neal said. “ All season, they faced injuries to key players while competing against some very good opponents; every team that beat us made it to at least the second round of the playoffs.  They never backed down from a challenge, and they worked harder than any group I’ve ever been around.” 

Taking the top three postseason spots were Farmersville (first at 5-0, 8-4 overall), Lovejoy (second at 4-1, 12-2) and Quinlan Ford (third at 3-2, 4-7).

Rounding out the standings were Princeton (fifth at 1-4, 3-7) and Emory Rains (sixth at 0-5, 0-10).

The Braves will lose 14 players to graduation, the most notable being Underwood, Jeremy and many other starters.

“We have some key players returning (like Paul Blasingame, Ben Montgomery, Jake Wilson, Lance Marks and Adam Strickland) that need to step up and provide leadership to what will be a very young team,” O’Neal said.

In addition,  the Braves will have added support from the junior varsity team, the incoming freshman class and any players who might move into the district.

The UIL will announce realignment Feb. 1 for 2010-’10 and 2011-’12 school years. That could possibly lead to the Braves dropping down one classification with a new district and opponents.

“I think we’ll be very close to the bottom of (Class) 3A, with a chance that we may end up in (Class) 2A,” O’Neal said. “None of that really matters to us. We’ll be ready to go compete against whoever we get put into a district with.”