Morin, Esson collect football MVP honours

Jourdan Morin and Michael Esson captured top honours as the high school football league announced their award winners and all-star teams for the regular season.

Morin, a two-way star for the Korah Colts, won the Alex Denman Trophy as the senior division's most valuable player. Esson, a standout running back with the St. Mary's Knights, captured the junior division MVP honours.

In five regular season games, Morin (in picture wearing #17) was a standout as a running back and receiver on offense while being a team leader on defense and special teams.

Offensively, Morin gained 680 rushing yards on 75 carries for an average of 9.1 yards per carry and threw an option pass for 23 yards. Defensively, Morin finished 16th in the league with 17.5 tackles. Morin also led the league in scoring with 60 points on 10 touchdowns, including nine rushing.

Morin edged out nominees Kyle Gauthier (Bawating), Alanzo Clarke (White Pines), Anthony Amadio (St. Mary's), Mark Porco (St. Basil) and Kofi Osei (Sir James Dunn).

Esson stole the junior show this season by scoring an amazing 14 touchdowns.

The Knights' star beat out nominees Joey Storozuk (BAW), Tim Childs (WP), Andrew Naphan (SB), Ryan McLean (SJD) and Luke Critchley (KOR).

*** The following is a look at the other award winners:

* ROCKY DIPIETRO (Top Receiver): Bawating's Kyle Gauthier captured the senior division honour after catching 21 passes this season for 362 yards and two touchdowns to lead the league.

Gauthier was also a two-way star with 19 tackles on defense and had a steller season on special teams as both a kicker and a returner.

Gauthier edged out Ryan Ford (WP), Phil Ruicci (SMC), Tom Reville (SB), Dave McFadden (SJD) and Jourdan Morin (KOR).

* HARGREAVES (Top Lineman): Korah's Tysen Vanderloo was selected as the top lineman for his talents as a rush end on the defensive line and as a tight end on offense. Vanderloo recorded 3.5 sacks on defense and led the Colts in receiving with 77 yards.

Vanderloo was selected over nominees Zach Clement (BAW), Shane Maahs (WP), Andrew Belsito (SMC), Mark Porco (SB) and Adam Elliot (SJD).

* STEELER DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: The winner of the Steelers defensive player of the year went to St. Basil's Mark Porco. Porco, another two-way star, finished tied for the league lead in tackles with 36.

Porco edged out Kyle Oldham (BAW), Matt Ritchie (WP), Dan Esson (SMC), D.J. Idehen (SJD) and Pat Koski (KOR).

* JUNIOR STEELER LINEMAN OF THE YEAR: Korah's Dennon Armstrong captured the junior division honour over Ben Mallette (BAW), Dan Souliere (WP), Jordan Verdone (SMC), Dan Buonomo (SB) and Spencer Ward (SJD).

*** SENIOR DIVISION ALL-STAR TEAMS:

Defense:

DE -- Matt Ritchie (WP) DE -- Pat Koski (KOR) DT -- Zach Clement (BAW) DT/E -- Tysen Vanderloo (KOR) LB -- Clint Cudmore (KOR) LB -- Dan Esson (SMC) LB -- Mike Beharriell (SJD) LB -- Mark Porco (SB) DB -- Matt Irving (SJD) DB -- Justin Wensley (WP) DB -- Graham Weija (SJD) DB -- Justin Longo (SMC) DB -- D.J. Idehen (SJD)

Offense:

QB -- Anthony Amadio (SMC) QB -- Mike Storozuk (BAW) RB -- Alanzo Clarke (WP) RB -- Jourdan Morin (KOR) RB -- Kofi Osei (SJD) OL -- Phil Luchetti (KOR) OL -- Andrew Belsito (SMC) OL -- Josh Leslie (SJD) OL -- Adam Elliot (SJD) OL -- Cavell McCrae (SJD) SB -- Tom Reville (SB) TE -- Tim Young (BAW) WR -- Kyle Gauthier (BAW) WR -- Phil Ruicci (SMC)

*** LEAGUE LEADERS:

The following are the senior division league leaders through the end of the regular season.

Rushing:

1. J. Morin (KOR) - 680 yards 2. A. Clarke (WP) - 575 3. K. Osei (SJD) - 570 4. P. Koski (KOR) - 486 5. C. Tulloch (WP) - 403 6. C. Lebel (SMC) - 362 7. B. Radbourne (BAW) - 320 8. P. McGonegal (SJD) - 309 9. J. Day (KOR) - 225 10. A. Spina (SBSS) - 224 11. A. Baziuk (SMC) - 220 12. G. Leith (WP) - 218

Receiving:

1. K. Gauthier (BAW) - 362 yards 2. T. Reville (SBSS) - 160 3. P. Ruicci (SMC) - 158 4. J. Zuke (SBSS) - 128 5. A. Posteraro (SMC) - 122 6. T. Young (BAW) - 108 7. R. Ford (WP) - 86 8. A. Baziuk (SMC) - 81 9. T. Vanderloo (KOR) - 77 10. N. Milne (SJD) - 71

Passing Yards:

1. M. Storozuk (BAW) - 520 yards 2. A. Amadio (SMC) - 498 3. F. Weise (SJD) - 206 4. C. Johnson (KOR) - 158 5. A. Allen (SBSS) - 153 6. P. MacNamara (SBSS) - 149 7. J. Wensley (WP) - 146 8. J. Mullin (SMC) - 52 9. J. Morin (KOR) - 23

Scoring:

1. J. Morin (KOR) - 60 points 2. A. Posteraro (SMC) - 39 3. B. Radbourne (BAW) - 32 4. K. Gauthier (BAW) - 28 5. J. Day (KOR) - 24 6. C. Lebel (SMC) - 24 7. D. Esson (SMC) - 24 8. N. Milne (SJD) - 24 9. A. Baziuk (SMC) - 24 10. C. Tulloch (WP) - 24 11. P. McGonegal (SJD) - 24

DEFENSE:

Tackles:

1. G. Perra (SMC) - 36 2. M. Porco (SBSS) - 36 3. K. Oldham (BAW) - 30 4. K. Lanteigne (BAW) - 26 5. M. Ritchie (WP) - 25 6. C. Sawko (SMC) - 24.5 7. M. Marotta (SBSS) - 23.5 8. Z. Clement (BAW) - 23.5 9. G. Olar (BAW) - 22.5 10. C. Cudmore (KOR) - 21.5 11. D. Vaz (BAW) - 21.5 12. J. Doan (WP) - 21 13. D. Esson (SMC) - 20 14. K. Gauthier (BAW) - 19 15. D.J. Idehen (SJD) - 19 16. J. Morin (KOR) - 17.5 17. J. Amadio (SMC) - 17 18. A. Stevenson (WP) - 15.5 19. L. Walker (SJD) - 15.5 20. A. Lemay (SJD) - 15.5

Interceptions:

1. D.J. Idehen (SJD) - 3 2. C. Sawko (SMC) - 3 3. J. Murtonen (KOR) - 2 4. M. Irving (SJD) - 2

Fumble Recoveries:

1. J. Amadio (SMC) - 2 2. G. Weija (SJD) - 2 3. R. Amadio (SBSS) - 2 4. A. Silvano (WP) - 2 5. T. Young (BAW) - 2

Sacks:

1. M. Beharriell (SJD) - 4 2. A. Pothier (SJD) - 4 3. P. Koski (KOR) - 4 4. T. Vanderloo (KOR) - 3.5 5. R. Mallette (KOR) - 2.5 6. G. Perra (SMC) - 2 7. D. Esson (SMC) - 2 8. A. Downing (WP) - 1.5 9. Z. Clement (BAW) - 1.5