Image: Marquez Cooper celebrates after scoring a touchdown. Photo by Mike Clark of the Montgomery Sentinel
By Matt Cohen
Most Valuable Player: Michael Janis, QB, Churchill
Janis was the most important player on the biggest breakout team of the season. The three sport star had the best season by any quarterback in the County. Janis threw for 1,665 yards and 22 touchdowns in the regular season. That goes along with 731 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. Janis threw for 236 yards and six touchdowns against Gaithersburg. In two games against powerhouse Northwest, Janis had five total touchdowns, and nearly 300 total passing yards, along with over 100 rushing yards. Janis led a high powered Churchill offense, and was one of the key reasons why Churchill gave Northwest such a big test, and why Churchill got a home playoff game.
Offensive Player of the Year: Marquez Cooper, RB, Quince Orchard
Cooper was absolutely dominant out of the backfield in the 2018 season. The junior running back was the best offensive player on this 4A state champion QO team. Cooper finished the season with 2,021 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns, both were the most in Montgomery County, and both were the second highest totals in the DC metropolitan area. All of that game in just 14 games. Cooper played his best in the biggest games, going for 243 yards against Paint Branch, 223 against Northwest, and 243 yards in the state title game against North Point.
Defensive Player of the Year: Bryan Bresee, DE, Damascus
Bresee is rated as the number one player in the country for the class of 2020, and thus it was no surprise that he outclassed nearly all of his opponents. In playing 12 games, Bresee has 12.5 sacks and 34 tackles for loss. Not only did he do that in just 12 games, but he barely played in the second half, if at all, in most games, as Damascus often held such a big lead at halftime. Bresee is simply too big, too strong, and too talented for anyone in Montgomery County to handle, as he dominated game after game.
Coach of the Year: Willie Williams, Churchill
The turnaround Williams has led at Churchill is utterly spectacular. In both 2015 and 2016, Churchill went 2-8. Williams was hired for the 2017 season, and Churchill showed improvement, going 5-5. In 2018, Williams led one of the best surprises of the year. Churchill went 9-1 in the regular season, earning the number two seed in the playoffs, and thus a home playoff game. Williams’ team had arguably the County’s best offense, scoring 41.0 points per game, and that’s including a 13 point effort in Week 1 against RM. Williams developed Michael Janis into Montgomery County’s best quarterback.
Rookie of the Year: Brian Plummer, QB, Quince Orchard
Plummer had big shoes to fill. The sophomore was taking over for former QO star QB Doc Bonner, who had graduated, and was off to play football at Air Force. Plummer stepped in, and played well beyond his years. Plummer threw for over 1,000 yards, and helped QO win the 2018 4A state championship. He made plays with his arms and legs throughout the season. Head coach John Kelley never asked him to do too much, especially with Cooper in the backfield, but Plummer made seemingly every play that was asked of him.
Breakout Player of the Year: Aaron Strauss, WR, Wootton
Strauss was buried on the Wootton depth chart last season with Noelly Miller and Elijah Trent dominating on outside. In 2018, Miller moved to quarterback to replace the graduated Grant Saylor, and Trent had also graduated. This left Strauss to take over as the top wide receiver in a potent passing offense. Due to injuries, Strauss had to adjust to having multiple different quarterbacks, but it never slowed down his production. Strauss finished the season with 949 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. His 949 yards not only were best in Montgomery County, but it was the highest total in the Washington DC area. His breakout season led to receiving his first two offers to play college football.
All MoCo teams are still to come on MoCoFootball.com
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