Jordan Loving, Myles Meyer earn All-St. John Player of the Year honors
Published 12:02 am Saturday, December 31, 2016
- Riverside Academy quarterback Jordan Loving, No. 9, passed for 1,397 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season. He added 205 yards and two touchdowns in the final and was named Outstanding Player of the Game.
A lot of football fans claim football is king in the River Parishes.
With nearly 40 gold state championship trophies at eight schools, plus 20 or so silver runner-up trophies, it’s hard to dispute that premise.
It’s also hard to dispute with the wealth of talent this area produces year after year.
One look at L’OBSERVATEUR’s 2016 All-St. John the Baptist Parish football team provides even more proof that St. John Parish grows more than sugar cane.
The team recognizes the area’s best football players in a year that fans may remember as a dream season after all eight schools made the playoffs and three reached the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with a chance for a title.
East St. John defensive lineman Myles Meyer was the coaches’ pick as District 7-5A MVP. He had 15 tackles for loss, eight sacks, five fumble recoveries and one interception for the Wildcats this season.
While the Lutcher Bulldogs were hoping for a repeat in Class 3A, St. John the Baptist Parish was assured of a winner in the Select Schools Division III game.
For the first time in the storied rivalry between Riverside Academy and St. Charles Catholic, the teams met for a football title.
For 48 minutes on Dec. 2 they battled it out and when it was over, the Rebels left with the golden trophy, the Comets with the silver and fans on both sides of the Dome left with pride intact.
For Riverside, the 47-20 win was the completion of a mission left unfinished from 2015 when the Rebels left the Superdome battered and bruised and with their own runner-up trophy.
With the bulk of its team returning, including Offensive Player of the Year, quarterback Jordan Loving, few doubted Riverside’s potential to get back to the final this year.
The team’s only loss was in the season opener to Class 5A John Ehret.
For the St. Charles Comets 2016 was an example of what a bunch of overachievers can accomplish. Comets coach Frank Monica had to replace 20 starters and build an offense around quarterback Lloyd Nash.
Back in August he joked his team was so young and inexperienced he had to pick them up from the local day care for practice.
Somehow, though, they got it together to go 11-2 and reach the finals for the first time since 2011.
Monica is the 2016 Coach of the Year.
In his second year as head coach of the East St. John Wildcats, coach Aldon Foster had fans celebrating a return to the post season after the team had to sit out last year’s playoffs.
The Wildcats had to overcome more than their share of adversity as injuries mounted up, but still finished 5-5 and secured its spot in the Class 5A bracket, losing in the first round to Barbe.
Among the many bright spots this season was senior defensive lineman Miles Myers, the Defensive Player of the Year.
It was no surprise that the West St. John High Rams secured a birth in the playoffs, and they once again showed how well their regular season schedule prepares them.
The Rams made another surprising run in the Class 2A bracket, reaching the quarterfinals with players like quarterback Austin Alexander and receiver Jamal Walters, both of whom could have made this team at several positions.
— By Lori Lyons
