College Football:
American Metro Conference Honorees:
Wait. What?
Citrus College quarterback Adam Urena led the Owls to their first perfect season in school history.
He set the single-season and career TD passing records.
And led Citrus to a bowl win at Mt. San Jacinto.
But Urena wasn’t named the Offensive Player of the Year.
That accolade went to West LA’s Malik Norman.
Norman carried the ball 252 times for 1,683 yards and 13 TD’s.
He also caught 19 passes for 163 yards and one score.
With zero disrespect towards Norman, the fact is that West LA went 3-7 overall and 1-4 in conference, which was good for fifth place in a six-team conference this season.
Citrus defeated West LA, 40-14, back on October 29th.
Their 2022 season was so off the rails good that Citrus’ next closest conference foe had six less wins than did the Owls.
In contrast, Urena completed 213-of-313 pass attempts (68 percent completion ratio) for 2,683 yards.
He threw 33 TD passes and was picked just three times.
Urena found 10 different receivers for TD’s.
Citrus receiver, Jesse Carmona, (32 catches for 499 yards & a team-high eight TD’s) and tight end, Alex Vazquez (15 catches for 164 and four TD’s), earned first-team all-conference status.
Elijah Finney, who rushed for 353 yards and four TD’s was selected to the first team, as was lineman, Ronnie Mendez.
The Owls dominated the first-team defense with seven selections.
The Ayala duo of linebacker Chandler Carthan (55 tackles, 6.5 for loss and four sacks), and safety Drew Merrill (31 tackles and three picks) more than earned their spots.
In fact, Carthan was also named the first-team punter after averaging nearly 40 yards per punt.
Defensive tackle Nathan Kneubuhler (20 tackles, two fumble recoveries), defensive end Gabriel Tamba (18 tackles and four sacks), linebacker JJ Edwards (35 tackles, five sacks) and cornerback Matthew Littlejohn (25 tackles, one pick) represented the Owls on the first team.
Jonathan Guerrero, (who led Citrus with 482 rushing yards and two TD’s), Robert Vega (had a team-high 549 receiving yards on 32 receptions and six TD’s) and Austin Urena (program-best 53 catches for 494 yards and three TD’s) were named to the second team.
Citrus head coach Brandon Hayashi was rightfully selected as Coach of the Year.
Hayashi is very popular with his players, because he gives everyone a fair shot, with no preconceived notions about size or speed or anything else.
Hayashi and his staff led the Owls to literally their best season in school history, and they accomplished the feat despite being forced to persevere through the worst of tragedies.
Citrus sophomore, Luke Pruitt, died in a motorcycle crash near the midway point of the season.
And to say his teammates and coaches were gutted would be a massive understatement.
But as Luke would have wanted them to do, the Owls got back on the field and very much played with Pruitt-like hard-nosed football.
On a classy note, Pruitt was posthumously named the honorary Defensive Player of the Year.
Congratulations to the entire program for writing your names and the 2022 version of this program into the forever history book.
All-American Metro:
Offensive Player of the Year: Malik Norman, West LA running back
Defensive Player of the Year: Blake Iglesias, Santa Ana tackle
Honorary Defensive Player of the Year: Luke Pruitt, Citrus tackle
Coach of the Year: Brandon Hayashi, Citrus College
First Team Offense:
Mathue Calderon, West LA cemter
Wyatt Terlaak, Santa Ana lineman
Ronnie Mendez, Citrus lineman
Emanuel Sanchez, Glendale lineman
Allen Arrtaga, Glendale lineman
Alex Vazquez, Citrus tight end
Kristian Constantine, Santa Ana receiver
Jesse Carmona, Citrus receiver
Artis Cole, Glendale receiver
JP Segura, OCC running back
Elijah Finney, Citrus running back
Adam Urena, Citrus quarterback
John Deldado, Glendale kicker
Caleb Snowden, Glendale all-purpose
Jahrique Lowe, Glendale utility
First-Team Defense:
Nathan Kneubuhler, Citrus tackle
Emiliano Contreras, Glendale tackle
Chris Gonzalez, West LA defensive end
Gabriel Tamba, Citrus defensive end
Christopher Rosales, West LA linebacker
Chandler Carthan, Citrus linebacker
Jailen Edwards, Citrus linebacker
Chase Center, Glendale likebacker
Matthew Littlejohn, Citrus cornerback
Dominique Benson, Glendale cornerback
Drew Merrill, Citrus safety
Nathaniel Lyken, OCC safety
Chandler Carthan, Citrus punter
Billy Hester, OCC kick returner
Kobe Kossak, Santa Ana punt return
Second-Team Offense:
Rayaan Shaw, Citrus center
Irshad Largardye, West LA lineman
Levi Banuelos, Santa Ana lineman
Maximus Tafeaga, Citrus lineman
Nate Reyna, West LA lineman
Isaiah Alonzo, OCC tight end
Kaden Baptista, OCC receiver
Kyran Hayes, Santa Ana receiver
Austin Urena, Citrus receiver
Nicholas Johnson, Glendale receiver
Jamiel Henning, Santa Ana running back
Jonathan Guerrero, Citrus running back
Michael Franklin, LA Southwest quarterback
Nicholas Garcia, Glendale quarterback
Anthony Gomez, Santa Ana kicker
JP Segura, OCC all-purpose
Jonah Capitulo, LA Southwest all-purpose
Damon Badenhorst, West LA all-purpose
Robert Vega, Citrus utility
Glenn Atkins, OCC utility
Second-Team Defense:
Jacob Crespin, Santa Ana tackle
John Foster, LA Southwest tackle
Siaosi Niumenitolu, Santa Ana defensive end
Percy Johnson, Glendale defensive end
Josh Garcia, Citrus defensive end
Jaden Genova, Santa Ana linebacker
Jake Hall, OCC linbacker
Enrique Diaz, Glendale linebacker
Matt Wann, Santa Ana linebacker
Jacob Cisneros, Citrus linebacker
Jonathan Calderon, Citrus cornerback
Gabriel Magana, Santa Ana safety
Isaiah Loera, Citrus safety
CJ Wiggins, West LA punter
Kawassia Burns LA Southwest kick return
Isaiah Espinoza, Citrus punt return
2022 American-Metro Conference Standings:
Citrus (11-0, 5-0)
Santa Ana (5-5, 4-1)
Glendale (5-5, 3-2)
OCC (3-7, 2-3)
West LA (3-7, 1-4)
LA Southwest (0-10, 0-5)
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