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Hello, everyone and welcome back to the Huddle and this week we are talking about the Columbus Cardinals All-District defensive players.
I decided to write this as a column so I can have a little more fun with the story and also apologize for taking so long to write about them.
I already wrote a story highlighting the offensive All-District players, and now it is time I give some love to the defensive players. It’s only fair to do so because these guys truly played their hearts out this season.
Starting with the Co-Defensive MVP for the Cards and that was none other than Brody Vinklarek. Brody V, as I like to call him, was a legit pitbull out of the field for the Cards this season.
He made several big plays, especially in their final game against Yoakum, where he came away with an interception to set up a score to get the Cards back into the game. He was seemingly all over the field and while he played a hard game this young man always had a smile on his face and was a true leader for the Cards this past season. I cannot think of someone more deserving of this award, and I think Cardinal football fans would agree with me.
Moving onto the First All-District team, six Cards selected and they were, Brody Tribe, Christopher Quinn, Rylan Carruthers, Ty Wiggs, Elijah Capiro and Brennan Hicks.
These six names sound familiar because they were always being announced on the PA system in the stadiums because they were always making plays. Brody Tribe and Carruthers played alongside Vinklarek from the linebacker position, and they were complete game wreckers.
They came away with turnovers and TFLs to help lead the Cards to being one of the best defenses in the state this season. They were complimented by Quinn, Wiggs, Capiro and Hicks who all got in on the fun too constantly thwarting any passing or run plays the opposition threw at them.
The Second All-District team consisted of six more Cardinals and they were Jesus Mendoza, Zayde Cinningham, Sean Sutton, Kash Wilbert, Cole Tribe and Angel Ferretiz. The two that jump off the page here are Sutton and Wilbert.
Sutton is a junior, and Wilbert is a freshman, and they dominated the secondary from the safety position. Sutton is a big kid, and he hits hard, really hard. He had opposing players checking over their shoulder for #7 because they knew he was always circling like a shark with blood in the water.
Then Wilbert is a speedy and crafty player that was a ball hawk for the Cards this season, with one of his highlight plays being against Bellville where he got a pick-6.
Then there is Cole Tribe who like his brother who is just big and strong and made a name for himself rushing the passer this season. Mendoza, Cunningham and Ferretiz were a trio of players that almost fed off each other this season.
They challenged each other and got the best out of one another and like all the other players on this list, they played a big role in helping the Cards being one of the best defenses in the state. They helped lead this team to the Regional Finals, being just two games short of capturing yet another State Championship.
Thank you all so much for reading not only my columns but the paper as a whole, and I will see you guys in the next Huddle.
