Greater Houston’s best for Bayou Bowl

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Greater Houston’s best for Bayou Bowl

By Dave Rogers

Published March 1, 2009

The leading rusher in Greater Houston and the Greater Houston Defensive Player of the Year top the list of players named to the Texas team for the seventh annual Bayou Bowl.

Parade All-American wide receiver A.J. Dugat of Dayton is on the list for the June 13 high school all-star game at Stallworth Stadium along with Baytown’s most decorated players, Sterling quarterback Keagan Kogut and Lee offensive lineman Austin Riley.

“I think we got a team that everybody’s excited about,†Westfield head football coach Corby Meekins, head coach for this year’s Texas team, said late last week.

“I let both our offensive and defensive staffs pick their teams and they did a great job. I think we have some extremely good running backs and receivers.â€

The roster for the Louisiana team will be announced soon.

Dugat caught 113 passes for 1,776 yards and 21 touchdowns for Dayton’s Class 4A Division II finalists.

Pearland running back Kasey Carrier rushed for 2,117 yards and 25 TDs to lead Greater Houston running backs and Pasadena Memorial’s Bo Snelson, another Bayou Bowl running back, had 1,904 yards and 24 TDs rushing.

West Brook’s Christine Michael, a Texas A&M recruit who rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and 74 TDs in three years, completes the backfield.

Receivers besides Dugat are Darius Johnson of Hightower, LaMarquis King of Nimitz, Ja-Mes Logan of Westfield, Nick Harwell of Elkins and Ryan Walker of Southlake Carroll.

Johnson, along with Snelson and Carrier, was a finalist for the Touchdown Club of Houston Offensive Player of the Year award. He had 53 catches for 1,022 yards and 11 scores.

Walker is one of two Southlake Carroll players named to the team. The other is quarterback Kyle Padron. He was averaging 300 yards passing per game when he was injured at midseason of his senior year and, like Johnson, signed with SMU.

“We expanded the Greater Houston area to Dallas,†joked Dick Olin, the former Baytown Lee coach who remains on the Bayou Bowl board of directors.

Padron, Cy-Creek’s Austin Pugliese (2,448 yards and 17 TDs passing) and Kogut are the team’s quarterbacks.

Kogut was District 21-5A’s passing leader (1,687 yards and 17 TDs) and Offensive Player of the Year.

Riley, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound tackle for Lee, was a unanimous All-District 21-5A pick.

The three-year Gander starter is joined on the Texas team offensive line by Jerrel Watkins of Channelview, DaMarcus Baymon of Cy-Creek, Greg Langthorpe of Oak Ridge, Kevin Forsch of Klein Oak and Ben Hughes of Fort Bend Austin.

The 6-5, 245-pound Hughes was first-team all-state at center with Forsch (6-4, 300) a second-team all-state pick at guard.

“There is a bunch of talent, a lot of good football players there,†said David Raffield, the Cy-Falls head coach who is offensive coordinator for the Texas team. “I think I left six or seven wide receivers off that any other year would have been on the team.â€

Pearland strong safety Jarrad Stewart, the Touchdown Club’s Greater Houston Defensive Player of the Year, leads the Texas Team defense. The Utah signee was in on 119 tackles and had six interceptions.

He is one of four TD Club Defensive Player of the Year finalists on the defense put together by Texas team defensive coordinator Troy Aduddell, the Clear Lake head coach.

The others are defensive tackle Devin Williams of Cinco Ranch, linebacker Princeton Jackson of Cy-Ridge and rover Chase Maires of The Woodlands.

“We looked at a lot of film,†Aduddell said. “We had more than 100 applicants for defense. It’s a fun thing. You get an idea of what the (college) recruiters go through, because there’s a lot of good people out there.â€

The Texas team defensive line includes Cinco Ranch’s Williams, Devin Williams of Galveston Ball and Jordan Wilson of Conroe at defensive tackle. Ends are Kirby Ennis of Huntsville, Eric Dego of Westside, Radermon Scypion of Port Arthur Memorial and Emerson Evans of Alief Taylor.

Linebackers include Jackson, Jesse Beauchamp of Klein Collins, Tahare Ray of Spring and Phillip Stewart of Hightower, with Maires and Clear Lake’s Nathan Snow at rover.

In the secondary with Stewart are cornerbacks Andre May of North Shore, Kendrick Washington of Brenham and Quaylon Ewing of Kempner and safeties Colton Valencia of Hightower and Steven Campbell of Jersey Village.

Clear Creek’s Tommy Henshaw is the team’s punter-kicker.

The Texas team won last summer’s Bayou Bowl 24-14 to end a three-year run by Louisiana and knot the series at three wins each.

The event, which features weeklong activities for the players and the Baytown community, is a fundraiser for the Shrine Hospital and the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association..