12/5/16

(Tacoma, WA) What a weekend for Washington State High School Football Championships and ESN was pleased to have provided live and free play-by-play of 5 of the 6 Title Games. There were many spectacular performances that we got to witness and we named our Players of the Game for each or our broadcasts along with a Play of the Game.

Here are our selections from each of those broadcasts plus we’ve added more honors in giving each team an Offensive and Defensive Player of the Game with some honorable mentions. We also have our overall Championship awards of an MVP. Offensive Player of the Championships, Defensive Player of the Championships and Coach of the Championships.

We understand there will be disagreements, players missed that played better than we observed and we remind you we are unbiased from our perspective and these players simply shined to us and were worthy of “our” honor. This is not an official list by any means but we try to look at this as a fan with no rooting interest would look at each of these games. I should note, as a former Offensive and Defensive lineman I understand this type of list many times unfair to those who don’t get their hands on the ball.

Congratulations to all teams, players and coaches just getting to these games is a monumental effort and regardless of the final scores each of these teams deserved their spot on Championship Weekend in the Tacoma Dome!

Championship Weekend MVP

Kaden Jenks Royal

Kaden Jenks of Royal earned this award with an all around effort leading the Knights to their 2nd straight State Championship. Jenks the Quarterback threw for 246 yards with 2 Touchdowns including a 62-yard opening scoring drive. Janks was clearly the leading rusher for the Knights as well running the ball 20 times for 146 yards. Jenks wasn’t done there he led the team in tackles from his safety/linebacker position with 8 tackles and broke up 2 pass attempts. Jenks also contributed on specials teams as the punter with 2 punts for a total of 71 yards and came on to long snap as well. For this all-around performance Kaden Jenks was our State Championship Weekend MVP!

Championship Weekend Offensive Player

Conner Johnson ArchBishop Murphy

Conner Johnson was 10 for 12 for 356 yards and 5 Touchdowns.

Championship Weekend Defensive Player

Dillon Crawford Kamiakin

Dillon Crawford led the Braves shutting down the potent O’Dea offense with 14 tackles, 12 solo tackles and 2 for losses plus the tackle in OT to end the game giving Kamiakin the Championship.

Championship Weekend Coach

Josh Fay Napavine

Coach Fay was selected after winning his 2nd Title in 4 appearances and playing in the Championship game for the 3rd straight year. Clearly any of these coaches could have been chosen but during a year where most teams were new or had not been in the Title game for some time the Napavine Tigers bucked those trends and not only returned, they got the job done.