Berks players picked for awards
The Maxwell Football Club announced its 2018 Mini Max High School Award winners for the state of Pennsylvania on Nov. 28.
The 63 players selected are from schools located in Districts 1,3,11 and 12 in the eastern half of the state. Players were nominated by their coaches throughout the 2018 season and were evaluated based on a criteria that includes football performance, academics, and community service.
Twin Valley’s Zach Gardner, Berks Catholic’s Brandon George and Conrad Weiser’s Alex MacKenzie were the Berks County selections.
Multi-year starting quarterback Gardner finished the season 99-for-178 for 1,423 yards with 13 TDs and 8 interceptions. He ran for 300 yards as well. He was 33 yards short of the program’s single-season record for passing yards; he holds the program marks for career passing yards and career passing TDs.
For the District 3-4A semifinalists, senior running back/linebacker George ran for 924 yards with 14 touchdowns while splitting carries with Abdul MacFoy.
The Mini Max Award recipients will be honored at a dinner to be held on Thursday January 10, 2019 at the Drexelbrook Catering Ballroom in Drexel Hill. The awards dinner is open to the public and tickets are available on the club’s website www.maxwellfootballclub.org.
The Maxwell Football Club will select one player from the group of Mini Max winners as the winner of the Pennsylvania High School Player of the Year, announced at the Jan. 10 awards dinner.
For the 7th year the Maxwell Football Club will also host a New Jersey Mini Max Awards Dinner which will be held on Sunday January 20th at the St. David the King Hall in Princeton Junction, N.J. The Maxwell Football Club will also honor players from the state of Delaware with Mini Max Awards as part of the Delaware Interscholastic Football Coaches Association dinner in late January.
The winner of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Player of the Year awards will be the candidates for the club’s 33rd Jim Henry Award as the Outstanding Player in the region. The winner of the Jim Henry Award will be announced as part of the Maxwell Football Club’s National Awards Gala which will be held on March 8, 2019 at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. The Maxwell Football Club will also present its collegiate and professional awards at this event.
Recent winners of the Jim Henry Award include Brandon McIlwain (Council Rock North H.S – South Carolina/Cal), Kyle Shurmur (LaSalle College H.S. – Vanderbilt), Mark Pyles (Lebanon H.S - Bucknell Univ.) Fran Walsh (Archbishop Wood H.S - Villanova Univ.), Brendan Nosovitch (Allentown Central Catholic - University of South Carolina), Bill Kim (Upper Dublin H.S - Johns Hopkins), Brad Herzlich (Conestoga H.S - Brown University), Daniel Persa (Bethlehem Liberty H.S - Northwestern.), Brent Caprio (Mainland Regional H.S. – William & Mary), Steven Rizzo (Audubon H.S. - Colgate), Pat Devlin (Downingtown East H.S. - Delaware), Ryan Greiser (Pennridge H.S. – Liberty Univ.), Dan Connor (Strath Haven H.S. – Penn State) and Austin Scott (Parkland H.S – Penn State).