Football: Falanga named Defensive Player of the Year

Douglas football coach Mike Rippee issued a challenge to his defense heading into the season, stating simply that the unit had to step up its game.

As a group, the Tiger defense turned in one of the best overall seasons in school history against an exceptionally tough schedule.

Douglas held opponents to just a 48 percent completion rate in passing. They were also superb against the run, holding opponents to less than 150 rushing yards in five games and less than 100 in two games.

Members of the defensive unit were recognized by coaches from around the region as the All-Northern 4A awards were released last week.

Douglas had eight defensive players earn postseason accolades while seven offensive players made the honors lists.

Leading the way was senior defensive tackle Zach Falanga, who was named the Northern 4A Defensive Player of the Year. He also earned first-team all-region defensive tackle honors for the second consecutive year.

Falanga became only the second player in school history to win the award (Brent Koontz in 2006 was the other) and the first lineman in school history to win the award.

"You look at teams around the region this year and it was a defense-dominated year all the way across," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "Even McQueen, our regional champion, didn't get into the state finals on the power of their offense. It was just like that all year.

"For Zach to win that award this year really says something about what coaches thought of him. For a lineman to win it really says something. Normally it goes to a linebacker. But he had the same impact as a linebacker. It helped that we played everyone this year, because every coach was able to see him on film, prepare for him and then see him on the field.

"He was good enough, the coaches saw that and he came away with the award."

Falanga had a team-leading 6.5 sacks on the year, recorded double-figures in tackles for a loss and returned a fumble for a touchdown, but it was often the things that don't show up on the stat sheet that set him apart.

"It's hard for defensive tackles to get sacks because when quarterbacks feel that pressure up the middle, they move into someone else's zone," Rippee said. "But Zach was so quick, he'd get blocked, double-teamed, and he'd still fight it off and make the play.

"You watch on film, if there is one guy that consistently breaks free and gets in the quarterback's face, it was Zach. If they rolled out on him, he was great in pursuit and making plays downfield.

"He just has one of those motors that runs real hard. He always wants to make the play."

He was enough of a force that Rippee said many of the team's defensive game plans were developed specifically around Falanga.

"We made it real clear, our success defensively was going to have a lot to do with him penetrating the line and making plays," Rippee said. "He ate up a lot of blocks up front and freed up our linebackers to make some plays.

"If a team was throwing the ball, he'd be providing pressure on the play at least half the time. He was a big part of what we were able to do defensively."

Rippee said that had Falanga not won Defensive Player of the Year, he would have been a lock for lineman of the year, even though he only played on one side of the ball this season.

August Greth was the Tigers' only other first-team honoree, getting a nod at offensive tackle even though he also started at defensive end. Coupled with Conner Peterson's second-team honors at running back, Douglas had 10 players who started at least the majority of the season on defense earn all-region honors in some form or another.

Safety Matt Metz and linebacker Shane Connelly were second-team honorees while defensive end Riley Griffith, defensive tackle Trevor Hemsath, linebacker Justin Tenney and cornerbacks Dillon Spates and Connor Hughes were honorable mentions.

"Defensively, we played well enough to give the team an opportunity to win every game," Rippee said. "We were in position to win games a lot times because of how the defense played.

"Our goal was to be a shut-down defense. We had to play better defense and the kids really stepped up and answered that call. When you get into big games against quality opponents, your defense has to step it up to give you a chance. They did that this year."

Rippee said that wasn't taking anything away from his offense, which was pounded with key injuries at inopportune times throughout the year.

The Tigers only had one game (Carson) where every offensive starter was available throughout the game.

"The injuries on offense were big," Rippee said. "We lost some important options as the year went on. We weren't able to stretch the field like we would have hoped in most games and things just didn't work out."

Still, Peterson came up big, becoming the first sophomore in school history to eclipse the 1,000-yard rushing mark.

Greth first-team mention on the offensive line was accompanied by honorable mentions for tackle Spencer Fellows, guard Zack Tierney, center Ben Reed and tight end Trevor Shaffer.

Carson was the only other team in the region to place five offensive lineman on the all-region team.

Receiver Nick Maestretti was also an honorable mention honoree for the Tigers after grabbing 16 catches for 265 yards.