THE LONG, HARD HOURS student-athletes put into game days often overshadows the equally hard work they put into maintaining eligibility and positioning themselves into potential academic scholarships.
Those efforts were recently recognized by the Texas High School Coaches Association’s all-state teams as seven of the area’s football teams were represented. In the case of Friendswood’s Noah Kester and Grayson Merritt and Santa Fe’s Reece Dobson, the THSCA gave them their highest honor, placing both on the Elite team.
To be nominated for Academic All-State, students had to be in good standing with their team, possess good moral character, be in their senior year of competition and have an overall grade point average of 92 or above.
Among those receiving the honor were:
Clear Brook: Curtis Falkenburg, Honorable Mention.
Clear Falls: Stephen Kozetz, 1st team, Jude Ballew, Ronin Deemer, Ayann Tiam, Honorable Mention.
Clear Springs: Garrett Rooker, 1st team, Carter Kelly, Evan Mason, Beth Staats, Jack Sweeny, 2nd team, Beau Roberts, Will Roberds, Andrew Scott, Honorable Mention.
Dickinson: David De Los Santos, Tanner Flores, Guillermo Garcia-Rodriguez, 2nd team, John Maggiolino, Martin Rangel, Christian Welch, Honorable Mention.
Friendswood: Noah Kester, Grayson Merritt, Elite, Seth Downs, Ryan Mitchell, 1st team, Reagan Keathley, Travis Mueller, 2nd team, Reed Cooksey, Koby Jackman, Garrett Massey, John McCabe, Sean McEnery, Michael Riggs, Scott Van Waekom, Honorable Mention.
Galveston Ball: Robert Ellis, Dylan Parish, Honorable Mention.
Santa Fe: Reece Dobson, Elite, Cade Albrecht, Hunter Ganding, Kaleb Jones, 2nd team, Preston Logan, Honorable Mention.
Texas City: Rashaun Smith, Brayden Torres, 2nd team, Nikolas Fuentes, Corday Williams, Honorable Mention.
