"Tonight is a celebration of Wolverine football, for a special season," said Wood River High School football coach Mike Glenn introducing Tuesday's "Wolverine Rage" football banquet at the Hailey high school.
First-year coach Glenn presided at the well-attended dinner that honored the 70 players in the 2005 Wood River football program—16 seniors, 15 juniors, 8 sophomores and 31 freshmen.
Wood River, after winning only one game the past two seasons, rebounded with a 4-6 record for third place in the Great Basin Conference West and a state playoff berth. The Wolverines averaged 18.1 points per game and yielded only 21.2 ppg.
Glenn said, "We had a group of seniors we really felt would get our program going. A lot of good things took place this year. There is a football community here in the valley and we're going to run with it."
The new coach congratulated the coaches on his staff for their hard work and saluted the seniors, but he also demanded more commitment from his younger players. "The best is yet to come," he said.
Scott Bartlett, the senior running back who set a new single-season school record for rushing yardage, was named "Player of the Year" for the offensive backs. Other top awards for positional players were:
Defensive line—Andrew Grimaldo and Dusty Selner. Receivers—Huston Brashears. Offensive line—Casey Lane. Linebackers—Carl Browning. Defensive backs—Danny Ward and Jeff Conover. Quarterback—Danny Kramer.
Most Inspirational Player was linebacker Carl Browning, the team's top tackler. Most Improved was Alex Burwell. Captains were Tyler Jackson, Dusty Selner, Adrian Grimaldo, Andrew Grimaldo and Carl Browning. The Special Teams' "Player of the Year" was Danny Ward.
The Coaches Award went to Tyler Jackson. Jason Syms won a Special Award given by coach Glenn. Prep Team top players were junior Travis Beckman and sophomore Jared Rade. Dale Martin presented special awards to the team managers.
Coaches who shared the microphone with Glenn and announced the awards were Rob Swanson, Chris Malmgren, Sam Glenn, Pete Naumes, John Rade, Jeff Loomis and Chris Cey.
Head freshman coach Cey along with co-coaches Charley Miller and Derek Brown announced awards for the ninth-grade team, which played six games during the season.
They were: Most Inspirational—Michael Brunker. Most Improved—Anthony Todd. Leadership—Cody Chandler and Clayton Jensen.
Coach Glenn revealed Wood River's All-League selections.
Named to the Great Basin Conference West first team were senior Scott Bartlett as running back, junior Danny Ward as defensive back, senior Carl Browning as inside linebacker and senior Andrew Grimaldo on the defensive line.
Wood River second-teamers on the All-Conference squad were:
Adrian Grimaldo (senior, OL), Tyler Jackson (senior RB and punter), Jeff Conover (junior, DB), Erik Jacobson (sophomore, OLB), Anthony Quarles and Dusty Selner (junior, senior, DL). Honorable mention selections were senior Alex Burwell, senior Huston Brashears and sophomore Collin Hand.
