Carson High football honors seniors at banquet

Carson High officially ended its 2010 football season and said goodbye to its senior class Monday night at the annual awards banquet at the Carson Nugget.

Carson celebrated another tremendous season, compiling a 10-2 record and a share of the Northern 4A regular-season title with Reed and McQueen. All three teams finished 7-1 in league play. The Senators reached the regional finals where they lost 34-14 to McQueen, the eventual state runner-up.

Carson coach Blair Roman doesn't give out an MVP award. Instead, he uses the event to honor his senior players.

"I prefer to honor seniors at the banquet," Roman said before the event. "I give some type of award to every senior who plays for me. I feel like I demand a lot to make it with the program, and they all deserve some sort of recognition."

The top award - Most Outstanding Senior - which takes into account play on the field, leadership and character, was shared by defensive end-wingback Jon Parker and quarterback Trey Jensen.

Jensen threw for 1,257 yards and nine TDs and rushed for 260 yards. Parker, who gave the Senators' ground game a boost when Dylan Sawyers was out of action for four weeks, rushed for 274 yards and six scores, and caught 11 passes for 108 yards and two TDs. Parker also had 72 tackles and five sacks.

Parker is being recruited by UNLV and the University of Nevada, Reno. UNLV visited with him last week and he took an official visit to Nevada last week.

Tyler Collins, the all-region tight end and starting linebacker, won the Pride Award.

"It (the award) is special to me," Roman said. "It's given to the player who not only excels on the field, but exudes the meaning of Carson pride by his commitment in the weight room, commitment to his teammates and commitment to team success."

Collins, used primarily as a blocker on offense, caught eight passes for 69 yards. He was second on the team in tackles with 95.

Matt Cooper, starting offensive lineman, was the Scholar-Athlete winner, while Collins, linebacker-fullback Connor Beattie, Jensen, wide receiver-defensive back Gabe Pongasi and defensive lineman Darian Goldman were named team captains.

"The scholar-athlete was really hard to pick this year because I had two other very deserving players in Tyler and Connor," Roman said. "The captains were voted on by the team prior to the homecoming game and remained our captains for the rest of the year."

The Hoggie Award went to senior center Danny Gall, a three-year varsity player. Dalton Simpson, also a starter on the offensive line, won the Most Improved Player Award.

"Danny is a deserving recipient of the Hoggie Award," Roman said. "He was our offensive line leader this year and a three-year player for us.

"Dalton, without a doubt, is our most improved, especially when you take into account his improvement from his junior to senior year. Here's a kid that we took in and had never played before, and he turned himself into a second-team all-region performer this year."

The Hard Hat Award was shared by Bryce Altus, Chris Steele and Caleb Jeffers. Altus, a linebacker, finished with 67 tackles and two interceptions. Jeffers, a starting defensive end, ended up with 63 tackles and five sacks. Steele, who played wide receiver and linebacker, caught 18 passes for 198 yards and a score. Defensively, he had 43 tackles and an interception which he returned for a score in the first game against Spanish Springs.

"The Hard Hat is a big award in our program because it goes to guys who were kind of unsung and worked their tails off and had great senior years," Roman said. "It's a great award to point to underclassmen to use as an example of how their senior year can be."

Colby Blueberg and Pongasi shared the Primetime Award, which is given to the top senior defensive backs. Blueberg led the team with six interceptions and nine passes defensed, while Pongasi had three interceptions and three passes defensed en route to all-Northern 4A honors.

"It's a very tough position because everybody knows when you screwed up," Roman said. "We had two very good corners this year, and Gabe and Colby were a big reason why we matched up well with passing teams."

Beattie was the winner of the Most Inspirational Award. He was one of the leaders on defense and one of the hardest hitters, too. He gained 608 yards and scored seven times, and he also had 47 tackles with two interceptions.

Erik DeMar, Mike Bolanos and Manny Estrada were the Scout Team Award winners, while Cooper, Collins, Beattie and junior Zach White were Academic All-State after posting 4.0 GPA's, according to Roman.

Brandon Akers, A.J. Winder, Zach Herbert, Ronny Price, Ruben Olivares, Aaron Mangione, Zach Hudacko and Jason Chun received Senior Commitment awards.

Also honored at the banquet were Al Texeira, who passed away during the football season. Texeira, who coached many of the current Carson players in their youth sports days, was the winner of the Milan Tresnit Award for his support of the football program and his work in the community. Matt Texeira accepted the award on behalf of his brother.

Maury Tresnit, who owns Mo & Sluggo's, won the Community Support Award. Tresnit has worked as a member of the chain gang at home football games, and he has hosted Carson's annual Kick-off Dinner.