Several Southampton Academy players earn all-state honors
Published 11:34 am Saturday, November 23, 2013
Several Southampton Academy Raider players received all-state and all-conference honors. From left, Colin Swenson, defensive end; Greg Johnson, offensive guard; Triston Holland, tight end; Matt Rose, quarterback; Tonee HIll, running back; Ethan Edwards, linebacker; Cam Hines, defensive back; and Paul Parker, defensive end. — SUBMITTED | TERRY BELL
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.—Eight Southampton Academy Raiders have received recognition of some sort — five of them all-state honors.
Junior Matt Rose was recognized as the first team all-state and first team all-conference quarterback; Senior Tonee Hill was recognized as the first team all-state and first team all-conference running back; Senior Greg Johnson earned first team honors at offensive guard for first team all-state and first team all-conference; Junior Paul Parker made the first team all-state and first team all-conference teams at defensive end; Junior Ethan Edwards was first team at linebacker for the all-state and all-conference teams; Senior Cam Hines was first team all confectioner at defensive back; Senior Colin Swenson was second team all-conference at defensive end; and Senior Triston Holland was second team all-conference at tight end.
Ethan Edwards was co-defensive player of the year.
“I thought with what we did in the regular season, even though we did not finish it off like we would have wanted, that they deserved this,” Head Coach Dale Marks said. “We had a lot of games this year where it was basically over at halftime. I thought our kids played extermely well during the course of the season, and as a result, six were voted on the first team for all-conference.”
Even though the team didn’t get the championship they wanted, Marks said he didn’t want that to take away from what they have accomplished as young men over the past three years.
“I just can’t say enough about what we did this year, and how proud I am,” he said. “Going into the Championship, we had a 29 game winning streak. That is a tremendous accomplishment.
“And we did get one state championship. We were hoping to get another, but the kids are resilient and they will get over this. Hopefully, it will be an experience that they will look back on and have good thoughts about.”
Marks said it was going to hurt losing his seniors, but that he has a good nucleus coming back next year.
“I’m expecting my upcoming seniors to come back, and show as much if not more leadership than they did this year,” he said. “I think they will. I think we will pick up and go from where we left off. And I hope we will be playing in that last game of the season.”