Senior tackle Lucas Holder and senior defensive back Chris Smoot headline a group of seven Carroll County players selected to the All-Southwest District football team.
Holder and Smoot both were chosen to represent the Cavaliers on the All-SWD first team, while teammates Taylor Case, Patrick Davis, Connor Lundy, Garrett Burcham, and Daniel Wolford were all picked second-team all-district. Holder was also named to the All-Region IV first team, while Smoot earned second-team all-region honors as a wideout and defensive back.
A 6-5, 270-pound left tackle, Holder only gave up one sack over the past two years. Several colleges are interested in Holder’s services at the next level, and for good reason, said Carroll County head coach Tom Hale.
“We moved him to left tackle this year to help him out in those regards because most big-time college tackles are left tackles since most quarterbacks are right-handed. He did a good job for us in that regard in both pass blocking and run blocking,” Hale said. “It takes more than one person just to run block, but on the edge his pass blocking was very, very good.”
Hale said other coaches in the Southwest District selected Holder unanimously to the All-SWD first team. He felt like Holder had his best season as a senior despite having to play both ways almost all the time.
“That is always tougher, but in spite of that he had a better year than he did last year. He is in excellent shape and he has very good feet,” Hale said. “He is tall and he has good leverage. To only give up one sack in two years, that tells you he has good feet.”
Smoot was honored as a first-team all-district selection as both a receiver and a defensive back. Clearly Carroll County’s top playmaker, Smoot led the Cavs in numerous categories on both sides of the ball. As a wideout, he led the team with 47 catches for 792 yards and six touchdowns. He receiving yardage is believed to be a single-season school record at CCHS. His 16.9 yards per catch average was highest on the team for players with more than 10 catches. He also averaged a team-leading 79.2 yards receiving per game.
“We’ll miss Chris. He definitely had great hands and that confidence about him that when you threw the ball to him he was going to catch it. He made some spectacular catches and runs for us this year. The one that sticks out in my mind is the one he made against Martinsville that turned the whole momentum of the game,” Hale said. “I think he was a playmaker and the good teams like Richlands, they knew they had to do something to keep him from making plays. Because of that they changed what they did defensively to cover him up. Even with that, he was still able to get catches and make plays.”
As a defensive back, Smoot led Carroll County in solo tackles (60) and total tackles (87). The 6-1, 160-pound senior also paced the Cavaliers in interceptions (3), fumble recoveries (5) and tied for the team lead in caused fumbles (2).
Case, Davis and Lundy all earned All-SWD second-team honors on the offensive side of the ball.
Case finished second behind Smoot in most offensive categories to earn All-SWD second-team accolades as a receiver. The 5-10, 157-pound senior hauled in 35 receptions for 426 yards and two touchdowns in 2012. He averaged 12.1 yards per catch and 42.6 yards receiving per contest.
Lundy was picked to the All-SWD second team for his play at quarterback. The 6-4, 180-pound junior signal caller completed 109-of-236 passes (46 percent) for 1,723 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 1,723 passing yards is also believed to be a single-season school record.
Senior tailback Patrick Davis provided the Cavaliers with plenty of speed in 2012. He led Carroll with 283 yards rushing on 55 carries for an average of 5.2 yards per rush to earn second-team honors as a running back. Davis also rushed for two touchdowns in 2012 and led Carroll with 357 kick return yards with a touchdown for an average of 27.5 yards per return.
Defensively, Garrett Burcham and Daniel Wolford received second-team All-SWD accolades. A 6-0, 215-pound sophomore defensive tackle, Burcham was fourth on the team with 39 solo tackles, 46 total tackles, and was tied for fourth on the team in tackles for loss with six. Burcham also caused a fumble and recovered another one in 2012.
Also a sophomore, Wolford finished third on the team in tackles (58) and fourth in solo tackles (37) as a linebacker. He also had one tackle for loss, caused two fumbles and recorded one interception in 2012.
Honorable Mention all-district players for Carroll County in 2012 were Brian Phillips, Jared Haga, Kody Alley, Josh Blankenship, Duncan Reece and Patrick Davis.
Richlands dominated All-SWD voting with 19 selections to the first and second teams. Richlands won the Coaching Staff of the Year award and the Blue Tornado’s Todd McGlothlin was named Defensive Player of the Year, while Marion’s Ethan Richardson was selected as the Offensive Player of the Year.
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