Five finalists named for Football Player of the Year
The finalists for News-Times Football Player of the Year are: Junction City’s Shuvaciaye Frazier, El Dorado’s Darius Holly, El Dorado’s Mon-Trae Marshall, El Dorado’s Kentravious Moore and Junction City’s Hishmma Taylor.
The finalists will be honored and the winner announced at the News-Times Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet on Thursday, beginning at 7 p.m. at College Avenue Church of Christ.
Frazier, a senior quarterback, threw for 1,260 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushed for 1,431 yards and 19 touchdowns.
“Shuvaciaye refused to be tackled all year long. He never went down on first contact,” said Junction City coach Steven Jones. “He was always able to fight for extra yards. He made plays for us all year, kept drives alive with his feet and just really triggered our offense all year long.”
Holly, a senior quarterback, completed 123-of-190 passes for 2308 yards with 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He also rushed for 430 yards and eight touchdowns.
“Darius had his best year, by far, which had a lot to do with our success,” said El Dorado coach Scott Reed. “Mentally, he was really good this year. He really progressed. I’m really proud of his development as a quarterback. We put a
lot of stuff on him and he handled it just tremendous and he got our offense going.
“The other thing about Darius, he was much more confident running. I thought he became a much more complete player this year.”
Marshall, a senior linebacker, led the Wildcats with 122 tackles, including two sacks with two interceptions. He returned one of those interceptions for a touchdown.
“Leading tackler, period - just a tackling machine,” said Reed. “He got better and better in coverage. Early in the year, it seemed like he made all his tackles between the tackles. As the year went on, he got to where he made tackles sideline-to-sideline. He was a physical presence inside. He’s hard to block. To make as many tackles as he did, he doesn’t miss much.”
Moore, a senior left tackle, was a three-year starter who graded out at an amazing 82 percent on the season. Over the last two seasons, Moore had 170 knockdowns and was an All-State selection.
“K-Mart is the unquestioned leader of our group on either side of the ball,” said Reed. “For three years, he has been tremendous wherever you put him. He wins his battles. He is a complete football player. Mentally, he gets it. Up front, he can make all the calls. He can help the guy next to him. He can make sure we get in the right protection. He’s also physical. Every game, he won his one-on-one. You’d see him taking a guy six-to-eight yards down the field and penning him. That’s hard to do. It’s very hard to do. And, I mean good players. He will be missed as much or more as anyone we’ve had come through here in awhile.”
Taylor, a senior running back, rushed for 2,523 yards for the Dragons with 29 touchdowns. He averaged 7.5 yards per carry.
“Very durable back, took great care of the football for us,” said Jones. “He just did an outstanding job, powering our offense this season. Very explosive player. He’s going to be missed.”