{"id":122266,"date":"2013-12-24T22:07:02","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T05:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/six-named-to-all-conference-football-team\/"},"modified":"2013-12-24T22:07:02","modified_gmt":"2013-12-25T05:07:02","slug":"six-named-to-all-conference-football-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/six-named-to-all-conference-football-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Six named to all-conference football team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"All
All conference football players Evan Moore, Deano Valdez, Ethen Upton, Tristen Medina, Kellen Gatzke and Rusher Ammon stand in front of Dolores High School.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Even in a losing season, the contributions made by six Dolores High School football players did not go unnoticed as the players were named to the all-conference team.<\/p>\n

ETHEN UPTON<\/p>\n

First team<\/p>\n

Of the Bears named to this year\u2019s all-conference team, none made more of an impact that than two-way star senior and team MVP Ethen Upton.<\/p>\n

On offense, Upton was nothing short of spectacular, leading the team in rushing with 327 yards rushing and 121 yards passing.<\/p>\n

On defense, Upton was equally impressive, finishing first on the team in tackles with 101 while consistently disrupting plays from the linebacker position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll remember how much fun we had, especially at the muddy practice,\u201d said Upton, recounting what he will remember most about his big season.<\/p>\n

EVAN MOORE<\/p>\n

First team<\/p>\n

Opening holes for Upton from his position on the offensive line and complementing him at linebacker, senior Evan Moore was equally impressive.<\/p>\n

In addition to anchoring the Bears up front, Moore proved to be a force on defense, recording 97 tackles and forcing three five fumbles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely had lots of fun,\u201d said Moore. \u201cI\u2019m really going to miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

DEANO VALDEZ<\/p>\n

Second team<\/p>\n

Serving as one of the Bears\u2019 emotional leaders, senior Deano Valdez capped off a wonderful career with his second consecutive appearance on the all-conference team.<\/p>\n

In addition to recording 101 yards rushing and 131 yards receiving, Valdez was outstanding on defense, recording 75 tackles, several pass deflections and countless bone-jarring hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty satisfied with what I did and what I accomplished,\u201d said Valdez.<\/p>\n

KELLEN GATZKE<\/p>\n

Second team<\/p>\n

Playing his first year of organized football, junior Kellen Gatzke made an instant impact, excelling as a kicker and defensive end.<\/p>\n

Along with his 47 tackles, Gatzke converted six of eight extra points on the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my first year of football, so I think I did pretty good,\u201d said Gatzke.<\/p>\n

RUSHER AMMON<\/p>\n

Honorable mention<\/p>\n

A player who vastly improved over the course of the year, Bears senior Rusher Ammon earned a well-deserved spot on the all-conference team.<\/p>\n

As a defensive lineman, Ammon registered 35 tackles and as a fullback, consistently opened holes for Bears\u2019 running backs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to feel like the other coaches and players recognized that I played my heart out this year,\u201d said Ammon of his selection.<\/p>\n

TRISTEN MEDINA<\/p>\n

Honorable mention<\/p>\n

The lone freshman representing the Bears on the all-conference team, quarterback Tristen Medina performed admirably under difficult conditions.<\/p>\n

Although Medina did not accumulate gaudy numbers due to issues with his offensive line, the freshman showed demonstrated great poise while providing hope for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had to come in and prove myself,\u201d said Medina. \u201cI\u2019m going to work hard on working with our players in the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upton, Moore make first team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6363],"tags":[188],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-122266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ds-news","tag-dolores-star"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122266"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=122266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}