THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9511300130
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER AND JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
DEEP CREEK'S Deon Dyer and Indian River's James Boyd, who sparked their teams to the Eastern Region playoffs, have been selected as the outstanding players in Southeastern District football for 1995.
Dyer, the district's leading scorer and rusher, was chosen as the most valuable on offense. Boyd, who helped the Braves carve out the district leadership in both pass defense and total defense, was picked as the defensive MVP.
The 26-player All-Southeastern team was selected by the coaches of the eight schools.
League champion Deep Creek dominated with eight selections, four on offense and four on defense. Runner-up Western Branch placed seven.
The all-district team has three repeaters, Deep Creek's Dyer and Joe Verdi and Western Branch's Shyrone Stith. Verdi was renamed as the placekicker. Stith was chosen along with Dyer and Churchland's Termaine Sessoms as the running backs. Stith was picked as the kick returner last year.
Verdi also was picked as the punter.
The other selections from Deep Creek were offensive tackle George Mincey, offensive guard Nick Cuffee, down lineman Andre Thomas, linebacker George Miller and defensive back Darryl Huskey.
Western Branch also placed wide receiver Darren Walton, offensive guard Harold Humphrey, defensive end Mark Edmonson, down lineman Jason Hess, linebacker Malik Cook and defensive back Lorenzo Ferguson.
Churchland grabbed five berths. In addition to Sessoms, the other Truckers are center Derrick Brown, defensive end Jermaine Turner, down lineman Sheldon Barnes and linebacker Tee Styles.
Indian River's Boyd was the only two-way selection. Boyd also was picked as the quarterback.
The other first-team picks were Norcom's Lutrell Chavis, a wide receiver, and Jermaine Bullock, an offensive tackle; Indian River's Lance Bishop, a tight end; and Great Bridge's Adrian Hughes, the kick returner.
Dyer, who rushed for 1,289 yards and scored 22 touchdowns, and Walton, the leading receiver in catches (39) and yardage (554), were the only unanimous selections.
Both wide receivers are juniors. Chavis had 18 catches for 262 yards and two touchdowns.
Tight end Bishop also is a junior. He had 10 receptions and scored three touchdowns.
At center Brown, a 265-pound senior, was elevated from last year's second unit. He is a three-year starter at Churchland.
Guards Cuffee and Humphrey are both juniors and were pinwheels in the strong running games of Deep Creek and Western Branch. ``Both are excellent guards,'' said Deep Creek coach Jerry Carter. ``Quick, mobile and powerful.''
The tackles, Norcom's Bullock at 275 pounds and Deep Creek's Mincey at 252, add bulk in the line. They are seniors. Bullock, an excellent student who played on Norcom's state championship team, likely will get an academic scholarship. Mincey was rated as Deep Creek's best offensive lineman by Carter and also will play college football.
Boyd is the lone junior in the backfield. He led the district in passing, throwing for 1,132 yards, and was the total offense leader with 1,520 yards. ``The best all-around player in the area,'' said Indian River coach Bob Parker, whose team plays Saturday in the state Division 6 semifinals against Lake Braddock at Oscar Smith.
Sessoms was runner-up to Dyer in rushing, gaining 708 yards and scoring eight touchdowns. Stith was the No. 3 ground-gainer with 670 yards and racked up 11 touchdowns. Both were go-to players when tough yardage was necessary.
``Sessoms had 11 fourth-and-short yardage first downs,'' pointed out Churchland coach Ken Taylor.
Verdi was the district's kickscoring leader with 49 points. He converted 37 extra points and made four field goals. Endzone kickoffs also were routine for the 5-10, 165 pounder.
The defensive unit has nine seniors and four juniors.
Turner had three fumble recoveries, blocked five passes and had 21 tackles that sent runners to minus-yardage. He was a four-year starter at Churchland. ``Our best defensive player,'' said Taylor.
Edmonson had two fumble recoveries and two sacks and was called ``our toughest player pound for pound'' by Western Branch coach Lew Johnston.
Thomas, coming back from a broken leg a year ago, had six sacks and was regarded as the Hornets' best defensive lineman by Carter. He also had two fumble recoveries and averaged six tackles per game.
At 320 pounds, Churchland's Barnes is the biggest on a defensive unit that averages out at slightly over 300 pounds despite a pair of 155 pounders.
Hess, one of the four juniors on defense, had two fumble recoveries, two sacks and an intercepted pass.
Styles was Churchland's defensive signal caller and had one interception in addition to averaging seven tackles.
Cook, called ``the best linebacker I ever had'' by Johnston, had three sacks.
Miller, a linebacker with sprinter speed, averaged 8.1 tackles and had two interceptions. ``The best at Deep Creek in the past five years,'' said Carter.
Ferguson had 90 first hits on tackles for Western Branch. Huskey, a three-year starter for Deep Creek, had four interceptions and averaged five tackles per game. Boyd had 76 tackles and four interceptions.
In punting Verdi maintained a 34.5-yard average. Returner Hughes averaged nearly 30 yards in returns for Great Bridge.
Carter was picked as Coach of the Year in leading the Hornets to a 7-0 Southeastern record, a 10-0 overall regular season and to the finals of the Division 5 regional playoffs.
The second team included 29 players from all eight schools. ILLUSTRATION: ALL-SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT FOOTBALL TEAMS
[Photos of team members]
[ROSTER]
[For a list of the team members, see microfilm for this date.]
HONORABLE MENTION
[For a copy of the list, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB