Greenwave cleans up on league’s top awards

Hockey has its hat trick, basketball, the 3-pointer and baseball, the grand slam.

For the Greenwave football program, add the clean sweep.

Fallon’s state-bound team claimed the Northern 3A’s five top awards in voting conducted by the league’s coaches.

The Greenwave breezed through an undefeated regular season in the Northern 3A with an 8-0 record and 10-1 overall. Fallon has also won two playoff games and faces Fernley in Carson City on Saturday for the state trophy. The only blemish on Fallon’s record came in the first game when California High School in San Ramon, Calif., doubled up on the Wave, 25-12.

Coach Brooke Hill is this year’s Coach of the Year, an honor he has won four previous times since becoming head coach in 2009. The Fallon grad was an assistant coach for seven seasons. Hill, the 3A Coach of the Year in 2015 when Fallon first won a state title since the mid-1970s, also earned the same recognition last year.

In addition to Hill receiving a top postseason award, Brock Richardson is this year’s Most Valuable Player. Offensive Player of the Year goes to Elijah Jackson, while the Defensive Player of the Year is Dominyke Edwards. Sione Otuafi is the league’s Offensive Lineman of the Year.

Fallon placed five additional players on the first team, one on the second and four on Honorable Mention.

The versatile Richardson played on both offense and defense and was on the kickoff and punt return teams. The Fallon senior led the team in rushing with 648 yards, receiving with 844 yards, kickoff returns with 190 yards and punt returns with 91 yards for a total of 1,773 all-purpose yards. He scored a team-high 130 points, which included 21 touchdowns and a pair of 2-point conversions.

On defense, Richardson recorded 51 tackles including 38 solo sticks.

Jackson lit up the field every time Fallon played offense. The senior quarterback, who hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Fallon the 3A basketball title earlier this year, completed 114 of 171 passes for 2,019 yards and 29 touchdowns. During the season, he didn’t throw an interception. When Jackson wasn’t aiming for one of his receivers, he rushed for 483 yards on 48 carries and scored seven touchdowns.

Edwards, another Fallon senior, emerged as the league’s dominant defensive player. Out of 112 tackles he had 96 solo stops. He also had two sacks, two fumble recoveries and two interceptions resulting in one touchdown.

Otuafi, a 6-foot-3 inch, 290-pound senior offensive lineman, did his talking on the field by making the Fallon offense the best in the league. The Fallon line opened the holes for 2,360 rushing yards and 2,278 passing yards.

Tommy McCormick earned a first-team section as a wide receiver and linebacker. The two-time state wrestling champ hauled down 52 passes for 798 yards and 14 touchdowns on offense. He also had the speed to patrol the defensive secondary for 68 tackles. He had two interceptions, one for a touchdown.

Thomas Steele made himself known on both sides of the ball as both an offensive and defensive lineman. He had 42 total tackles including a pair of quarterback sacks.

Ethan Andrews was a first-team cornerback. He had 27 total tackles, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

The second team included Levi Andrews, running back; and honorable mention were James Harmony, offensive lineman; Nofofia Falani, defensive lineman; Devin Souza, cornerback; and Julian Evans, lineman.