By Dave Moormann
MaxPreps.com
Seniors Eric Cutrera of Lake Charles Barbe and Barkevious Mingo of West Monroe, won Most Valuable Player honors on the Class 5A All-State football team as voted upon by the Louisiana Sportswriters Association.
Central’s Sid Edwards was named Coach of the Year after leading his team to the state semifinals. Central hadn’t won a playoff game since 1978 nor appeared in the semifinals since 1975.
“I’m really humbled and honored to be recognized like this,” Edwards said. “I know in an industry like ours that during any given year there are a number of coaches who are deserving of an honor like this.”
Cutrera, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound quarterback, completed 115 of 187 passes for 1,784 yards and 18 touchdowns in nine regular-season games. He also rushed for 212 yards. Including playoff games, Cutrera threw for 2,677 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Mingo, a 6-5, 205-pound linebacker, amassed 59 total tackles, including seven quarterback sacks. He had four other tackles for losses, forced four fumbles and recovered seven fumbles.
Dutchtown running back Eddie Lacy made the team for the second year in a row after rushing for 1,024 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Edwards had one of his players make the team in wide receiver Shedrick Davis, who led
Central with 57 receptions for 831 yards and four touchdowns.
Return specialist Cooper Germai of Lafayette St. Thomas More returned 12 kickoffs for 397 yards. He also blocked seven kicks and returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
West Monroe quarterback D.J. Banks made the team as an athlete. He passed for 1,471 yards and 875 touchdowns.
Jimmy Shaver wins award again
In what is getting to be a familiar occurrence, Lake Charles Barbe football coach Jimmy Shaver won another Lake Charles American Press Southwest Louisiana Coach of the Year award.
It was the sixth time in its 59-year history that Shaver has received the honor. No other coach has won it more than three times.
Although sponsored by the newspaper, area coaches vote on the award.
Shaver directed Barbe to an undefeated regular season and into the Class 5A state semifinals, where it lost to eventual state runner-up West Monroe. Along the way, Barbe won the District 2-5A championship.
Westlake’s Max Caldarera finished second after winning the award last year. Caldarera directed Westlake to an undefeated regular season and into the Class 3A quarterfinals.
Johnny Cryer of Rosepine was the third-place finisher.
Ballots were sent to head coaches in Calcasieau, Cameron, Jeff Davis, Allen, Beauregard and Vernon parishes, as well as parts of Acadiana parish.
Jamie Schiro rewarded for longevity
Longtime Westlake assistant coach Jamie Schiro was recognized as the first winner of the Charles Vicknair Award.
The honor is presented to the top assistant in the Lake Charles area and is named in the memory of legendary Southwest Louisiana coach Charles Vicknair.
Other finalists were DeQuincy’s W.A. Ashworth, St. Louis Catholic’s Wayne Cespiva, Barbe’s Mike Cutrera and DeRidder’s Mitch Mills.
Schiro first came to Westlake as a student assistant coach in 1978-79 and has remained ever since. He is now offensive coordinator.
Westlake’s productive offenses of the last two years has let it to the Class 3A final and quarterfinals and a combined record of 24-2.
In 2007, running back Vincent Collins rushed for 2,297 yards and 33 touchdowns. This past season, with Collins sidelined much of the time with a high ankle sprain, Westlake averaged 395 yards total offense and 37 points per game.
Quarterback Trent Whitley helped to compensate for Collins’ absence in throwing for 1,105 yards and 17 touchdowns.
“When I got here, my personal situation with my family was such that I didn’t want to move my kids from school to school, and my wife had a good job here,” Schiro said in explaining his longevity. “I like Westlake, it’s been my home.”
Soccer: New Orleans Jesuit upholds top ranking
New Orleans Jesuit proved its No. 1 ranking to be well deserved, as it beat the second- and third-ranked teams to win the 26th annual St. Paul’s Holiday Invitational.
The Blue Jays remained unbeaten at 16-0-1 in beating second-ranked Shreveport Caddo, 4-0, in the championship game. Caddo suffered its first loss in 18 games.
Jesuit had stopped second-ranked Captain Shreve in the semifinals, 4-0.
Stephen Cabbos helped Jesuit to an early 2-0 lead against Caddo in scoring on a penalty kick and then placing an indirect kick in front of the goal for Trey Kramer to head the ball into the net.
Colin Sens scored Jesuit’s third goal on a breakaway at 24:22 of the first half. Alexi Petrou completed the scoring in the second half when he took a short-hop bouncing ball and moved past a defender to slip the ball in the goal.
Jesuit outshot Caddo for the game, 11-5.
Basketball: Alexandria Peabody finally falls at home
No Louisiana team has yet to beat Alexandria Peabody in its five-year old gym known as the “Emerald Palace”.
But the unthinkable has happened. The Warriors actually lost a game on their home court when Lee High of Alabama stopped them, 52-38, in their Shootout on the Red River Holiday Classic.
“This was a tough one, Peabody coach Charles Smith said. “Lee had some great athletes, and we were just too young to match up will them….Give Lee all the credit.”
Lee was actually designated as the home team in handing Peabody its third loss in 13 games overall. Peabody beat Lee by 40 points in last year’s tournament.
“I think we caught Peabody young this year,” Lee coach Greg Brown said. “We have some experienced guards on this team, and we were able to use them to our advantage.”
Lee’s strong defense limited Peabody standout guard/forward Markel Brown to 15 points, which is far below his average.
In giving the loss a positive spin, Smith said, "You know that eventually it would happen. We knew coming in with this team that we had our work cut out for us. We're just working on playing relaxed and playing our game….
“I think we can learn a lot more from this loss than another win. We'll get back into practice, and keep working on our skills and fundamentals, and try to improve as the season goes on."
