Football: Tigers rake in postseason accolades

Coaches around the Northern 4A released their selections for the football postseason honors last week.

Douglas High's Johnny Pollack became only the second player in school history to win the Northern 4A Player of the Year award (Luke Rippee was the first in 2003) after leading the region in rushing with 1,277 yards and starting at middle linebacker. He also caught 17 passes for 192 yards on the year.

The senior Pollack took first-team all-region honors at both linebacker and running back as well.

Douglas kicker Nikolai Vasquez, a senior, also earned first-team all-region honors after going 38-for-40 on PATs during the year and 7-for-12 in field goals with a school-record 51-yarder among them. He also made a regular habit of placing kickoffs through the end zone and averaged 43.8 yards per punt with a long of 63.

Senior Garrett Tenney was a first-team all-region defensive end and junior Zach Falanga was a first-team defensive tackle. Tenney had five sacks and a fumble-recovery on the year while Falanga led the team with eight sacks.

Earning second-team all-region honors were senior wide receiver Danny King (35 catches, 415 yards and four touchdowns), senior offensive linemen Ryan Moglich and Jacob Phillips and junior defensive back Austin Neddenriep (1 interception).

Pollack was the Sierra League Player of the Year as well, earning first-team honors at both running back and linebacker.

King, Phillips, Moglich, Vasquez, Tenney, Falanga and Neddenriep were all first-team all-league selections as well.

Neddenriep was a second-team all-league wide receiver with his 30 catches for 444 yards and eight touchdowns and Matt Metz was a second-team selection at defensive back.

Offensive linemen August Greth and Danny Bloom were honorable mention selections for the Tigers.