Wildcats and Spartans pace All-IVL squads
Upon the conclusion of the regular season Imperial Valley League head coaches met a Central Union High School to select which players would be honored as allleague.
Following decades of rigid slotting and arbitrary selections based on regular season standings, the league opted this year to pivot to a more democratic approach, with coaches advancing submissions for all-league honors on a position by position basis and then voting to sort out the winners.
Per Valley CIF-SDS liaison Joe Evangelist, this is the first time that teams have been voted on in this manner since the mid-1980s.
As democracy naturally trends towards meritocracy, it is unsurprising to find that this method of team selection has led to All-League teams heavily populated by IVL champ Central Union and runner-up Brawley, the two schools going so far as to share Offensive Player of the Year honors, with Spartan quarterback Deniro Osuna and Wildcat runner Michael Moreno each grabbing a share (though Central gets Defensive Player of the Year honors all to itself courtesy of Thadeo Campbell).
The Spartans’ magical year — a year not yet over, as they are set to face Morse in the CIF-SDS Division III final on Saturday — also yielded accolades for their bench as head coach David Peña was named Coach of the Year by his peers.
Final selections are included below: All-Imperial Valley League First Team Offense OPOY — Deniro Osuna (Central, Jr.) & Michael Moreno (Brawley, Sr.)
OL — Henry Thomas (Brawley, Sr.)
OL — Hayden Ray (Brawley, Sr.)
OL — Daniel Caloca (Brawley, Jr.)
OL — Yorick Castro (Imperial, Sr.)
OL — Zachary Morquecho (Central, Sr.) RB — Michael Moreno (Brawley, Sr.) RB — Jonathan Medina (Central, Jr.) RB — Chris Gonzalez (Calexico, Jr.)
RB — Nathan Hart (Imperial, Sr.)
WR — Thadeo Campbell (Central, Sr.) WR — Joey Ramos (Imperial, Jr.)
WR — Joseph Tarango (Central, Sr.) QB — Deniro Osuna (Central, Jr.)
QB — Santiago De La Torre (Imperial, Sr.) PK — Santiago De La Torre (Imperial, Sr.) All-Imperial Valley League First Team Defense DPOY — Thadeo Campbell (Central, Sr.) DL — Alex Escobar (Brawley, Sr.)
DL — CJ Ramos (Imperial, Jr.)
DL — Henry Thomas (Brawley, Sr.)
DL — Michael Moreno (Central, Sr.) DL — Deonte Bell (Brawley, Sr.)
LB — Blake Kriegbaum (Brawley, Jr.) LB — Casey Kline (Brawley, Sr.)
LB — Angel Nava-Esparza (Central, Jr.) LB — Nathan Hart (Imperial, Sr.)
DB — Santiago De La Torre (Imperial, Sr.) DB — Jon Gonzalez (Brawley, Sr.)
DB — Thadeo Campbell (Central, Sr.) DB — Nathan Torrez (Brawley, Jr.) DB — Adrian Chavez (Brawley, Jr.)
P — Santiago De La Torre (Imperial, Sr.) All-Imperial Valley League Second Team Offense OL — Ricky Avila (Brawley, Sr.)
OL — Matthew Printy (Southwest, Sr.) OL — Matthew Rios (Palo Verde, So.) OL — Luis Estrada (Calexico, Sr.)
OL — Marco Holguin (Southwest, Sr.) RB — Zachary Reynolds (Palo Verde, Sr.) RB — Blake Kreigbaum (Brawley, Jr.) RB — Damien Reyes (Brawley, Jr.) RB — Benji Alvarez (Southwest, Jr.) WR — Tyrese Marsh (Central, Sr.) WR — Alejandro Lee (Palo Verde, Jr.) WR — Tristan Smith (Southwest, Sr.) QB — Logan Chell (Southwest, Sr.) QB — Jacob Ramirez (Brawley, Jr.) PK — Jose Berlin-Torres (Central, Jr.) All-Imperial Valley League Second Team Defense DL— Sunshine Soltero (Calexico, Jr.) DL— Omar Chavez (Brawley, Jr.) DL— Luis Estrada (Calexico, Sr.)
DL— Adam Castro (Central, Sr.)
DL— Hector Martinez (Palo Verde, Sr.) LB — Matthew Printy (Southwest, Sr.) LB — Michael Moreno (Brawley, Sr.)
LB — Chris Gonzalez (Calexico, Jr.)
LB — Benito Cervantes (Calexico, Sr.) DB— Joseph Tarango (Central, Sr.) DB— Reyes Lizagarra (Brawley, Sr.) DB— Josiah Edwards-Love (Palo Verde, Jr.) DB— Logan Chell (Southwest, Sr.) DB— Nick Jimenez (Calexico, Sr.)
P — Antonio Villegas (Calexico, So.)