Schools

Football Players Who Excel in Classroom are Honored

Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills lead South County schools with four honorees apiece.

The Orange County chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame honored 62 football players from around Orange County on Monday, including 26 from South Orange County schools.

The 41st Scholar Athletes Awards Dinner was held at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The marquee Paul Schwegler Award was shared by two players, Servite kicker Connor Loftus and Foothill defensive lineman Josh Giglio. Both carried a 4.8 grade-point average and received a $2,000 scholarship.

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To be honored, athletes had to be selected first-team all-league and carry a 3.5 GPA.

Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills both had four players who were recognized for their outstanding academic performance among the south county honorees:

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  • Ethan DeSilva, Dallas Kessman, Riley Detrick and Michael Schmall of Mission Viejo; Andrew Strange of San Clemente; Brendan Beckley of Dana Hills;
  • Mark Martindale, Garrett Gastil, Ryan Ur and Tommy Vorsheck of Laguna Hills; Ryan Murphy of El Toro; Paul Boes of Aliso Niguel;
  • Colten Christensen and Douglas Woodward of Santa Margarita Catholic; Joey Kimpler of JSerra;
  • Andrew Boehm, Jonathan Metcalfe and Preston Risser of Corona del Mar; Chris Paul and Austin Paxson of Laguna Beach;
  • Bryan Flores, Mitchell Pok and Brennan Smith of St. Margaret’s; Andrew Sears of Capistrano Valley Christian; Joseph Molina of Saddleback Valley Christian.

Michael Frisina and Steven Watts of Saddleback College were also recognized.

Willy Puga of Garden Grove, Frank Mazzotta of La Habra and Troy Thomas of Servite were named the organization's coaches of the year.


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