Waubonsie Valley: December 2008 Archives

Waubonsie Valley senior kicker Mitch Ewald has been selected to play in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl.

The Indiana recruit is one of 88 players from across the country chosen for the Jan. 2 event, which will be broadcast live on the Fox College Sports network from the Coastal Carolina campus just outside Myrtle Beach, S.C.

In 2008 Ewald converted four of six field goals and 31 of 34 PATs for the Warriors. He also yielded touchbacks on 80 percent of his kickoffs.

Other players set to participate have made verbal commitments to programs such as Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia and Florida State.

Illinois natives on the bowl's roster include: East St. Louis defensive back Tommie Hopkins; East St. Louis defensive end Ty Phillips; Simeon linebacker Tyrell Webster; and Hubbard linebacker Darius Moffett.

Naperville North running back Nick Mlady is our player of the year. Maybe you could make the case that Waubonsie Valley's Tyler Castro was slightly more valuable, in that you could ask: Where would the Warriors be without their senior quarterback? But think of all the big-time running backs who have gone through North's double-wing system - Mlady has rushed for more yards than any of them, doing it for a top-ranked team and DuPage Valley Conference champion. That was our rationale - what are your thoughts on the offense and defense? (Props to Dustin Harris for the Web content.)

Check in Friday for our 2008 player of the year and all-city selections. We're aiming for three pages in the print edition and Web guru Dustin Michael Harris is working on some cool online aspects. At that point, feel free to tell us how clueless we are for ignoring Player X instead of Player Y. But now that the IHSA has crowned eight state champions and the 2008 season is in the books, what are your standout moments from this year? And who do you think will be the 2009 player of the year?