The trip to the Alaska School Activities Association state football championship semifinals may have ended the Thunder Mountain High School Falcons’ season a week early, but their honors continue.
Falcons senior Q’on Bear-Clark was selected as the Southeast Conference Offensive Player of the Year on Wednesday evening and TMHS head coach Randy Quinto was chosen as Coach of the Year. Juneau-Douglas High School Crimson Bears senior Hunter Hickok received the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award for the second time.
“Man, it means all the work I put in this season and in the offseason paid off,” Bear-Clark said. “That is really nice. I cannot thank my teammates enough. They worked so hard every day in practice and we just had one goal: to just better every year. I think we did that. I really cannot thank my team enough. I cannot run the ball without them blocking for me … it is just … well, I just can’t thank them enough.”
Bear-Clark averaged 10-plus yards per game on his path to setting a new Juneau high school rushing record of 2,071 rushing yards. That eclipses the mark of 1,975 set by JDHS’ Brian Felix in 2003. Bear-Clark had four games of 300-plus yards and registered 26 rushing touchdowns on the season.
“It feels nice when you get a good run,” Bear-Clark said. “It is a game of inches, and you are fighting for every one. When you can get more and more each time, it means you are doing a good job for your team. It is nice.”
Bear-Clark is dedicating the remainder of his senior year to preparation for playing college football.
“It is a big dream of mine,” Bear-Clark said. “I worked really hard for that this year. I really want to get noticed.”
Bear-Clark has had some college scouts interested and is concentrating on some key essentials.
“I just have to work on grades and training in the offseason,” Bear-Clark said. “I have to become stronger and faster and get good grades all across the board. That is extremely important.”
TMHS first-year head coach Quinto engineered the Falcons (4-5 overall, 2-1 SEC) to their first-ever win over crosstown rival JDHS in the Glacier Bowl at Adair Kennedy Field. That prevented the Crimson Bears from reaching the state playoffs for the first time since 2002 (2003-12 large school, 2013-14 medium). This was the Falcons’ third trip to the medium school playoffs in four seasons (2011, 2012); they previously qualified in the small school division (2010).
“It is a great honor from those guys,” Quinto said. “Coming in as a first-year head coach and taking over for the program and trying to change things and run things my way. I think it went pretty well. I had a great staff behind me. We got a monkey off our back being able to beat our crosstown rival and being able to go to the playoffs and double the amount of wins we had in the previous year. It was a long season, but I look back now and feel like it was pretty successful. I was pretty surprised by the selection.”
The Falcons received 16 SEC position awards including first-team selections Tom Ramage (assistant coach), senior Jas Lippert (guard), junior Garth Tupou (inside linebacker), and senior Mason Kullander (interior lineman).
“Between coach Hamrick (JDHS head coach Kevin Hamrick) and the other coaches, I think it went very cordial on the voting,” Quinto said. “He helped me out in some of those spots where I nominated kids, and I returned the favor. I think it worked out well for both schools and our players.”
One of the top honors went to JDHS’ Hickok, who repeated his SEC selection as defensive player of the year. Hickok won the honor last season and went on to be selected to the 2014 First Team All-State Team as an inside linebacker. This season, Hickok averaged 12 tackles per game, including an average of four per game that resulted in a loss of yards. He recorded four interceptions. Hickok was also named to the first team as a tight end and interior lineman.
“That is pretty cool,” Hickok said. “I was not really expecting that. I didn’t feel like I had the best defensive year, but I am pretty pumped about this selection. I just didn’t think I compared to what I did last year.”
The youth of the Crimson Bears meant Hickok had to be more of an all-around player.
“I kind of played everywhere,” Hickok said. “So I didn’t really know what to expect. The season did not go as we expected. We did not expect to lose the games we did, but we had some good offensive statistics, such as Bubba (Stults) who threw for a ton of yards and some good defensive players. It wasn’t a bad season. We were just really young, a lot of first-year players in varsity experience. I just tried to bring on some leadership. I am not always the best at communication with players, but I did the best that I could.”
Hickok will also spend the remainder of the school year preparing for a chance at football after high school.
“I plan at going to play college ball somewhere,” Hickok said. “I am not sure where yet. Anywhere that wants me, pretty much. I definitely need to improve on my speed and strength, obviously. I am not going to be the big guy anymore once I get to college. It is a whole new ballgame up there.”
Hickok said the biggest thing he learned this season was overcoming adversity.
“Kind of last season too,” Hickok said. “This year we had issues throughout the team. We came together and worked through it, whether that was kids not coming to practice, kids not being eligible … we learned to work with what we had.”
The Crimson Bears (5-3 OA, 1-2 SEC) received 17 SEC position awards including first team sophomore Bubba Stults (quarterback), sophomore Donavin McCurley (wide receiver, defensive back, return specialist), senior Kana Galletes (tackle, long snapper), sophomore Lance Fenumiai (outside linebacker), and sophomore Michael Cesar (defensive back).
North Pole High School seniors Zach Harrison and Jesse Bennett were selected the Lineman and Utility Player of the Year, respectively. The Patriots (4-5 OA, 3-0 SEC) had 20 SEC selections (12 first team) and the Ketchikan Kings (2-4 OA, 0-3 SEC) had 12 (4 first team).
The SE All-Conference voting was hosted telephonically from North Pole High School. SEC coaches sent their nominations a week earlier. Each head coach had the option of nominating up to eight offensive players, eight defensive players, one kicker, one punter, one return specialist, and one long snapper. The school that is hosting the selection conference puts all the nominees on a ballot by position, then when the meeting takes place each coach gets one vote. Nominated players went through two ballot votes to arrive at the first, second and honorable mention selections. All players that make first team all-conference are forwarded for the coaches associations All-State voting after the completion of the state football championships.
SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
(Position, name, year, school):
Offensive – Q’on Bear-Clark, SR, TMHS
Defensive – Hunter Hickok, SR, JDHS
Lineman – Zach Harrison, SR, NP
Utility Player – Jesse Bennett, SR, NP
SEC FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
(Position, name, year, school):
Quarterback – Bubba Stults, SO, JDHS
Running Back – Trevor Ortiz, JR, KTN
Running Back – Q’on Bear-Clark, SR, TMHS
Full Back – Nate Fousel, SR, KTN
Wide Receiver – Donavin McCurley, SO, JDHS
Wide Receiver – Marshal Chace, SR, NP
Tight End – Hunter Hickok, SR, JDHS
Tackle – Wesley Aultman, SR, NP
Tackle – Kana Galletes, SR, JDHS
Guard – Jas Lippert, SR, TMHS
Guard – Zach Hartrison, SR, NP
Center – Richard Jason, SR, NP
SEC FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
(Position, name, year, school):
Outside Linebacker – Nate Fousel, SR, KTN
Outside Linebacker – Lance Fenumiai, SO, JDHS
Inside Linebacker – Garth Tupou, JR, TMHS
Inside Linebacker – Craig Light, SR, NP
Defensive Back – John Robinson, SR, NP
Defensive Back – Jakob Arnold, SR, NP
Defensive Back – Michael Cesar, SO, JDHS
Defensive Back – Donavin McCurley, SO, JDHS
Interior Lineman – Hunter Hickok, SR, JDHS
Interior Lineman – Mason Kullander, SR, TMHS
Interior Lineman – Jayce Carlson, SR, KTN
Interior Lineman – Joseph Stefan, SR, NP
SEC FIRST TEAM SPECIALIST
(Position, name, year, school):
Punter – Marshal Chace, SR, NP
Return Specialist – Donovan McCurley, SO, JDHS
Long Snapper – Kana Galletes, SR, JDHS
Kicker – John Robinson, SR, NP
SEC COACHES OF THE YEAR
(Position, name, school):
Coach – Randy Quinto, TMHS
Assistant Coach – Tom Ramage, TMHS
SEC SECOND TEAM OFFENSE
(Position, name, year, school):
Quarterback – Brendan Wong, FR, KTN
Running Back – Eric Butler, SR, NP
Full Back – Cameron Irwin, SR, NP
Wide Receiver – Kyle Schnur, SR, KTN
Wide Receiver – Kaden Girard, SR. NP
Tight End – Cameron Harris, SO, KTN
Tackle – Meki Sikione, SR, TMHS
Guard – Jayce Carlson, SR, KTN
Guard – Taylor Sutak, SR, JDHS
Center – Mason Kullander, SR, TMHS
SEC SECOND TEAM DEFENSE
(Position, name, year, school):
Outside Linebacker – Jordan Avalos, SR, NP
Outside Linebacker – Chase Becker, SR, TMHS
Inside Linebacker – Michael Greer, JR, KTN
Inside Linebacker – Nathan Van Sickle, SO, JDHS
Defensive Back – Skyler Yost, SR, NP
Defensive Back – Hansel Hinckle, FR, TMHS
Defensive Back – Nico Deguzman, JR, KTN
Interior Lineman – John Elisoff, SO, JDHS
Interior Lineman – Kana Galletes, SR, JDHS
Interior Lineman – Naki Latu, SR, TMHS
Interior Lineman – Trey Freeman, SR, NP
SEC SECOND TEAM SPECIALIST
(Position, name, year, school):
Punter – None Chosen
Return Specialist – None Chosen
Long Snapper – Meki Sikione, SR, TMHS
Long Snapper – Micah Eichner, SO, KTN
Kicker – Riley Olsen, JR, TMHS
SEC HONORABLE MENTION
(Position, name, year, school):
Tight End – Tyler Tate, SR, NP
Guard – Dawson Chilton, JR, TMHS
Guard – John Elisoff, SO, JDHS
Interior Lineman – Ben Strickler, SR, JDHS
Interior Lineman – Meki Sikione, SR, TMHS
Interior Lineman – Cameron Harris, SO, KTN
Interior Lineman – Tyler Kiel, SR, NP
Juneau-Douglas High School senior Hunter Hickok, shown in action against the Thunder Mountain Falcons this season, was selected the Southeast Conference Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday.
