Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 72

n- r'W- i '4" i lit Afl football teams 24C NewsSun-Sentinel, Sunday, December 18, 1983 (CdDiiitti White kept Dillard charged op 13 Sf. Thomas' Evans Player of the Year on defensive team By Ray Boetcl 'J rfr. i 4 i' at "II I -t rrzr 1 HP'' n.fftfiiffV, Jfr TjT iga school football coaches are mm always looking for a player who will vi I Step into the role as team "sparkplug," mklm the player who will make the team go I i r-t. a -Sufr pkoM by DKDORAII The 1983 NewsSun-Scntinel All-County Player of the Year Lorenzo White, Dillard; and Hawkins, South and Darwin Crooks, Front row (from left): Steve Bryant, Hollywood Calvin McCoy, Deerfield Beach. Middle row: Deerfield Beach.

Standing; Michael Irvin, St. Hills; Undra Johnson, Stranahan; Coach of the Brian Wachman, Boyd Anderson; Curt Thomas; Charlie Brown, Deerfield Beach and Year Lynn Stickfort, Northeast; Offensive Northeast; Todd Lamberton, St. Thomas; Bill Greg Cox, St. Thomas. i'.

4 First-team defense Firtl-team offense Wt Ht. Class' Senior Junior Senior? Senior1 Senior Senior'' Senior; Senior Pos. Nmt School Ht. Wt. Cl Nam School1 WR Michael Irvin St.

Thomas 6-3 190 Senior' line Rodrick Baker Deerfield Bch. TE Charlie Brown Deerfield 6-3 180 Senior Line Don Edwards Northeast Tackle Brian Wachman Boyd Anderson 6-5 240 Senior Line Jeff Mondron Thomas Guard Darwin Brooks Deerfield Bch. 5-11 170 Senior Line Roger Murphy Dillard Center -Todd Lamberton St. Thomas 6-1 220 Senior LB Rod Carter Fort Lauderdale Guard Curt Lane Northeast 5-11 190 Senior LB Rico Ford Ely Tackle Bill Hawkins South Broward 6-6 235 Senior LB Recardo Kendrick Plantation Back Calvin McCoy Deerfield Bch. 1 6-3 ,170 Senior LB James Linder Dillard back Steve Bryant Hollywood Hills 5-10 190 Junior DB Bennie Blades Piper Back Undra Johnson Stranahan 5-10 190 Senior DB Keith Evans St.

Thomas Back Lorenzo White Dillard 5-11 195 Senior DB Quintin Jones Ely Kicker Greg Cox St. Thomas 6-5 185 Senior Punter Scott Johnston Stranahan 5- 7 6- 3 6-4 6-1 6-2 6-1 5- 10 6- 1 5- 11 6- 0 6-0 165 185 220 210 190 190 190 185 190 180' 175' Senior Senior Junior, Coach of the Year Lynn Stickfort, Northeast Offensive Player of the Year Lorenzo White. Dillard Defensive Player of the Year Keith Evans, St. Thomas ,1 .1. Second-team defense Second-team offense Poa.

Name School HL Wt Clan Pot. Name School Ht. Wt Clan WR Grantis Bell Northeast 5-7 150 Senior Line Lamar Hazelton Deerfield Beach 6-V 185 Senior TE EarlHiott Northeast 6-5 Senior Line Tommy King Boyd Anderson 6-0 250 Junior Tackle Rodney Lowe Ely 6-5 200 Junior Line Ronnie White Coconut Creek 6-1 190 1 Senior Guard Glen Kelly Cooper City 6-0 235 Senior Line Barry Wimberly Ely 6-2 195 Senior Center Rick Hopkins Taravella 5-10 170 Senior LB Rick Bendekovic St. Thomas 6-2 200 Senior Guard Donell Peterman Hollywood Hills 5-10 200 Junior LB Mario Garcia Cooper City 6-1 200 Senior Tackle Rodney Whitehead Dillard 6-2 240 Junior LB Joe Jackson Fort Lauderdale 6-2 195 Junior Back Mike Dixson Northeast 5-7 165 Senior LB David Thomas Northeast 6-4 180 Junior Back Brad Hankerson Northeast 5-11 160 Senior DB Scott Centers Fort Lauderdale 5-10 175 'Senior Back Bobby McAllister Ely 6-3 175 Senior DB Andrew Jones Dillard 6-0 175 Senior Back SlipWatkins St. Thomas 5-11 170 Soph.

DB Tony West Coral Springs 5-11 '165 Senior Kicker John Mitchell Taravella 5-9 190 Junior Punter Wayne Stofsky Nova 6-0 175 Junior on jff the field. Dillard Coach Otis Gray is no different. He was just a little luckier than most. Instead of a sparkplug, Gray came up with a battery in funning back Lorenzo "Franco" White. When White was fired up in 1983, so were the Panthers.

When teams stopped him, the Panthers' offense sputtered. Except for one early-season game, White was virtually unstoppable. The muscular 195-pounder carried for 1.090 yards in leading Dillard to a 9-1 regular-season record and its first district title as a Class 4A school. In a regional playoff game, he added 16S yards to finish the 11-game season with 1,255 yards and 19 touchdowns. "He is the kind of kid that comes along once in a lifetime," Gray only a super athlete, but a super kid.

He has great determination and dedication. Even on nights when he wasn't as productive as he felt he -should be, he still gave it his alL He just kept plugging until things started to fall in place for him. When they fell wi place for him, they fell in place for the team. A he went, so went the team." White was held to 37 yards in a season-opening loss to Fort Lauderdale Two weeks later, he had a sub-par performance in ihe Panthers' victory over Boyd Anderson. "I had a good season as a junior, and I guess everyone expected me to rip up teams this year," White said.

"I did, but it went slow for a while for me and the rest of the team, but we put it together. No one gains a lot of yardage without those other guys out there helping you." White's seasons as a junior and senior have drawn considerable interest from college recruiters; How many Colleges are interested in him? "Just the whole country," Gray said. He has more than 100 offers, but has narrowed his choices to Michigan, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Indiana and Georgia. -y' White's play also drew raves from Broward's coaches and the writers who saw him perform. He received the most votes for Offensive Player of the Year honors and topped the 1983 NewsSun-Sentinel All-County team.

schools had representatives named Jo this year's 24-player first-team. St. Thomas, which reached the Class 3A semifinals, led the group with five selections. Dcerf ield Beach (9-1) had four. Dillard placed three and Northeast (9-3), a regional champion, placed two.

Ely and Stranahan also landed In addition to White, the first-team offensive backfield consists of Dcerfield Beach's Calvin McCoy, who threw a county-record 21 touchdown passes, and two other rushers: Hollywood Hills junior Steve Bryant and Stranahan senior Undra Johnson. Bryant led the county in rushing with 1,345 yards, including a one-game high of 296. He scored 17 touchdowns. Johnson churned out seven 100-yard games en route to 1,149 yards for the season and nine touchdowns. Deerfield Beach tight end Charlie Brown and St.

Thomas wideout Michael Irvin formed one of Broward's most-talented receiving tandems in the last decade. Brown catch 27 passes for 621 yards and 11 touchdowns. Irvin hauled in 43 passes in nine regular-season Raider wins, then raised his totals to 57 receptions for 907 yards and 12 touchdowns after three playoff games. The first-team offensive line is comprised of tackles Brian Wachman of Boyd Anderson and South Broward's Bill Hawkins, guards Curt Lane of Northeast and Darwin Brooks of Deerfield Beach. The center is three-year St.

Thomas regular Todd Lamberton, who has announced he will sign with the University of Florida. Dillard and St. Thomas each placed two of standouts on the defensive team: linebacker James Linder and tackle Roger Murphy represented Dillard and end Jeff Mondron and defensive back Keith Evans were chosen from St. Thomas. Evans is a four-year veteran.

Mondron, with 106 tackles, four fumble recoveries, seven caused fumbles and one pass interception, was one of the team's most consistant performers. Evans, however, sparked the Raiders. "He was the kid who was there in time of stress and need and the type of player the rest of the squad, and even the coaches, rallied around," St. Thomas Coach George Smith said. "Every position we have asked him to play, he has played it well, and we have asked him to play a lot of them." Evans played tight end, fullback, halfback, flanker, linebacker, strong safety, cornerback and free safety in 1983.

In addition, he ran back punts and kickoffs, many of which set up St. Thomas touchdowns. Defensively, Evans intercepted seven passes, batted away 22 passes and participated in 98 tackles. The 5-foot-ll, 190-pound senior played in all but one game for the Raiders in his career: He missed the last regular-season game of his freshman career when four of his teeth were knocked out in practice the week of the game. His play in 1983 earned him the praise of Broward coaches as well as the honor of Defensive Player of the Year.

Evans leads a standout trio of first-team defensive backs on the All-County team. The others are Piper'! Bennie Blades and Ely's Quintin Jones. This year's linebackers are also excellent. I In addition to Linder, Fort Lauderdale High's Rod Carter is a first-team pick, along with Plantation's Recardo Kendrick and Ely's Rico Ford. Up front, Murphy and Mondron are Joined by Northeast's Don Edwards, the lone Junior on the defensive unit, and Deerfield Beach's noseman Rodrick Baker.

Kendrick, who made the first-team in 1982 as a defensive end, is one of two repeaters on this year's All-County first team. The other is Stranahan punter Scott Johnston. The Dragons' junior was the place-kicker in 1982, but this year was picked as the punter after averaging 41.3 yards per kick. The place-kicking selection went to St. Thomas' Greg Cox.

whose eight field goals and 32 extra points accounted for 56 points. Cox is also a Parade All-mrrtf selection. a. BaHBBDsVBBVaaVBlBflEBBDHBYBVeVBYHBalBBVBVBaeaB -fO- mxsrzKui 4 i r-yrT z- iv -r" t. Lb --r I.

1 te; 4 1 1 If 'ST11- i -i 1. A 'A 4. i JL. All-County Defense: Front row (from left): Don St. Thomas.

Middle row: Scott Johnston, Blades, Piper; Defensive Player of the Year Edwards, Northeast; Roger Murphy, Dillard; Stranahan; Rico Ford, Ely; Rod Carter, Fort Keith Evans, St. Thomas. Not present: Recardo Rodrick Baker, Dcerfield Beach; Jeff Mondron, Lauderdale. Standing: Quintin Jones, Ely; Bennie Kendrick, Plantation; James Linder, Dillard. Remaining All-County selections IOC The area had a lot of strong candidates for the NewsSun-Sentlncl Coach of the Year, but when the balloting was completed, Northeast's Lynn Stickfort finished on top.

Stickfort took over a stagnant program four years agoand has turned out four winners. Three times his teams were 7-3. This year the Tigers finished 8-2 and made the state playoffs for the first time in school history. The Hurricanes then won the region before bowiy; Thomns is the sectional championship. "We thought thought this could be our big year," Stickfort said, "We had some good skill people like Brad Hankerson coming back at quarterback, Mike Dixson at running back, Ear1 Hiott at tight end and Grantis Bell at wide receiver, but the line was questionable.

It did not look too promising in the spring jamboree, but the line came together all at once in the fall." Stickfort credited an improved summer weight program for helping the team's success. "It got us off to the quick.start we had not had the year before," Stickfort said. "In the past we lost early and were knocked out of the race early. All of our first six games this year were district games and we won them all. That made us the team everyone else had to chase." Another plus was the Hurricanes' 33-30 district vie-1 tory over Deerfield Beach during the regular season.

"The Deerfield game was the landmark win for us," Stickfort said. "We had beaten a fine team and it made my kld and me believers.".