Ooltewah, which suffered a 55-49 double-overtime quarterfinal loss to Farragut on Friday in the TSSAA Class 5A football playoffs, walked away with five top awards announced by Region 4-5A coaches.
The Owls’ Jake Sullivan is the special teams player of the year, Collin Thurman got the quarterback honor, Kendell Robinson the top defensive back, Sincere Quinn, the newcomer of the year, and Aleksander Toser the kicker of the year.
Ooltewah finished second to Rhea County in the final regular season standings.
The Golden Eagles, also ousted by Farragut, got eight awards, including team of the year, Mark Pemberton coach of the year, Taylor Owenby, defensive assistant of the year, running back Cody Bice, offensive player of the year, Jawan Martin, defensive player of the year, Mason Stephenson, running back of the year, Justin Tucker, offensive lineman of the year and Jared Edwards, offensive lineman of the year.
Walker Valley quarterback Kolton Gibson was named player of the year. The Mustangs’ Cooper Melton was the region’s top receiver and Skyler Swafford the top linebacker. Todd Burkhart was chosen the offensive assistant of the year.
Cleveland’s Skyler Davis was honored with the ironman award and Micaleous Elder shared the newcomer of the year award with the Owls’ Quinn.
McMinn County’s Xzayvier Beckingham received the defensive lineman award.
Here is a complete list of the awards and other members of the All-Region team.
A banquet will be held for the honorees on Dec. 11 at Cleveland High School at 11 a.m.:
Region 4-5A Awards 2016
Team of the Year: Rhea County
Coach of the Year: Mark Pemberton – Rhea County
Offensive Assistant of the Year: Todd Burkhart – Walker Valley
Defensive Assistant of the Year: Taylor Owenby – Rhea County
Player of the Year: Colton Gibson – Walker Valley
Offensive Player of the Year: Cody Bice – Rhea County
Defensive Player of the Year: Jawan Martin – Rhea County
Special Teams Player of the Year: Jake Sullivan – Ooltewah
Kicker of the Year: Aleksander Toser -- Ooltewah
Running Back: Mason Stephenson – Rhea County
Offensive Lineman: Justin Tucker – Rhea County
Quarterback: Collin Thurman – Ooltewah
Receiver: Cooper Melton – Walker Valley
Tight end/fullback: Jared Edwards – Rhea County
Ironman Award: Skyler Davis – Cleveland
Defensive Lineman: Xzayvier Beckingham – McMinn County
Linebacker: Skyler Swafford – Walker Valley
Defensive Back: Kendell Robinson – Ooltewah
Newcomer of the Year: Sincere Quinn – Ooltewah; Micaleous Elder – Cleveland
All-Region 2016
Rhea County -- Tyler Brown, Eddie Davis, Justin Parson, Christian Simon, Chandler Kaylor, Bradley Evans, Jared Edwards – Academic
Ooltewah -- Will Whitson, Andrew Manning, Cameron Turner, Zaire Bruner, Ron Darius Wash, Ethan Walls – Academic
McMinn County -- Roman Lockmiller, Xavier Abernathy, Jake Watson, Stephan Hjulberg, Hunter Jaynes-Academic
Walker Valley -- Bryce Nunnelly, Zach Eslinger, Chris Allen Ogle, Skyler Swafford-Academic
Cleveland -- Romeo Wykle, Keegan Jones, River Shaffer – Academic
Soddy Daisy -- Ty Boeck, Owen Vice, Jaden Holcombe – Academic
White County -- Jake Shockey, Trey Brewington, Malik Murray - Academic
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)