Six Warriors in all earn Coastal Athletic League accolades after
9-1 season
Kareem Lucas didn’t make defenders miss once, he usually made them whiff on a tackle twice, three times even.
In side-stepping, rumbling and bulldozing his way to 1,413 yards on the ground in 10 games for the 9-1 Anchorpoint Christian Warriors 8-man football team, Lucas ran free and untouched to the end zone on more occasions than what should be allowed from a defensive standpoint. The 6-foot-1, 220 pounder found paydirt a whopping 25 times on the ground in 2010.
Let’s break these numbers down – 10 games, 1,413 yards and 25 touchdowns. Yeah, thats a 140-yard, 2.5 touchdown per-game effort. In a 78-46 victory over Pinewood on Oct. 30, which clinched the Warriors’ fourth straight league title, Lucas ripped off 332 yards on a mere 14 carries, seven of those went for touchdowns.
It’s no wonder Lucas was named the Coastal Athletic League’s Most Valuable Player.
In all, the Warriors took home six postseason awards after a nearly spotless season.
Defensive end Stefan Perry heard the direction of “rush the quarterback” and knew exactly what to do. The junior, who earned co-Defensive Player of the year honors, finished 2010 with 24 sacks, including a breakout game against Faith Christian where he pursued the opposing QB for nine sacks. Perry led the Warriors with 80 tackles, averaging nearly nine takedowns per game. Pinewood’s Peter Gallagher shared the award.
Jordan Suniga, Samuel Apolinar, Ian Weymouth and Ruben Alnas garnered First-Team recognition.
Suniga, who missed all of 2009 with a knee injury returned his senior season and wound up posting numbers that placed him in the top five in the league in five different categories – interceptions, sacks, tackles, scoring and total offense. At fullback, Suniga not only helped clear the lane for Lucas, but also churned out an impressive 525 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.
Apolinar lined up at quarterback, receiver, running back and corner back for the Warriors, epitomizing the versatility needed in 8-man football. Weymouth provided a lot of the grunt work on both offense and defense, contributing a pair of receiving touchdowns on one side and four sacks on the other.
Alnas, one of four team captains, assumed a multitude of responsibilities, whether it was kickoff and punt returns or blanketing opposing receivers.
