Vote for The Fresno Bee Defensive Player of the Year
.jpg "Here are the candidates for The Fresno Bee’s Defensive Player of the Year from left to right: Jalen O’Neal of Bullard, Ricky Correia of Central, Tobin Phillips of San Joaquin Memorial, Je’kob Jones of Central, Hudson Walker of Redwood and Tyler Mello of Hanford. Not pictured is Jose Valencia of Tulare Western.")
Voting is now closed.
They say defense wins championships in football and here’s your chance to vote the biggest difference-maker in the Central Section this fall with voting for The Bee’s Defensive Player of the Year.
You can vote often as you like until noon Dec. 30.
Here are the seven candidates for the honor:
DE Tobin Phillips, San Joaquin Memorial: Voted the County/Metro Athletic Conference co-Defensive Player of the Year, Phillilps finished with 90 tackles and 14 sacks, helping the Panthers to a 12-2 record and 5-0 in the CMAC.
DL Ricky Correia, Central: Correia was the Tri-River Athletic Conference Lineman of the Year after totaling 70 tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks (-39 yards) and one pass breakup to help his squad to the CIF Division I-AA state championship.
DL Jalen O’Neal, Bullard: O’Neal was named the CMAC co-Defensive Player of the Year after finishing with 57 tackles and 24.5 tackles for a loss. He also totaled a team-high 16 sacks and three pass deflections.
LB Je’kob Jones, Central: Jones was the TRAC Defensive Player of the Year. He finished with 85 tackles and 13 tackles for loss. He also had five sacks, two interceptions and one 1 pass deflection.
LB Tyler Mello, Hanford: He was named the West Yosemite League Defensive Player of the Year and helped the Bullpups to an 11-1 record. He led the team with 145 tackles (84 solo) and recorded 13.0 tackles for loss, nine sacks for a loss of 42 yards, with two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
DE Hudson Walker, Redwood: Named co-Lineman of the Year in the WYL, Walker accumulated 64 tackles and a team-leading 10 sacks to go along with a pass deflection.
FS Jose Valencia of Tulare Western: He was named the East Yosemite League Defensive Player of the Year after leading the Mustangs in tackles (68) during an 11-3 season that included a 5-0 mark in league play. Valencia had five interceptions and five pass deflections and also recovered two fumbles.
This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 11:09 AM.
