by Rick Eymer
S
tanford tight end Zach Ertz and junior lineman David Yankey have been busy in the postseason, but not necessarily on the football field. They’ve been reeling in All-America honors since helping the Cardinal win the Pac-12 Conference championship and earn a berth in the Rose Bowl game on January 1. The most recent honors came their way on Tuesday when Ertz was named a first-team AllAmerican by The Associated Press and Yankey was named to the second team. It’s one of the most prestigious honors in the college game. “Growing up, you always want to be one of the best people in your position in the nation,” Ertz said. Earlier, Ertz and Yankey were named to the Sporting News’ 2012 All-America Team. Stanford is one of five schools to land two players on the Sporting News’ 2012 All-America Team, joined by Alabama, Florida, Florida State and Texas A&M. Ertz now has four All-America honors already in hand, including American Football Coaches Association and Walter Camp Football Foundation, and has earned the title of consensus All-American. Yankey has been named twice among the three All-America teams to date. The Football Writers Association of America team is still to be announced. Ertz leads all FBS tight ends this year with 66 receptions and 837 receiving yards, both school records at the position. The 6-foot-6 redshirt junior is one reception and 97 yards away from breaking into Stanford’s all-time top 10 in each category among all pass catchers. Ertz has led Stanford in receiving in seven of 13 games this season. He caught a career-high 11 passes including the game-tying touchdown at top-ranked Oregon to send the game to overtime, while he hauled in the Cardinal’s game-winning touchdowns against both No. 2 USC and No. 13 Oregon State. Yankey, meanwhile, has been the nation’s most versatile lineman this season, playing well at four out of the five offensive line positions plus tight end. The 6-foot-5 junior has started all 13 games at left tackle for a Stanford offensive line that has paved the way for six 200-plus yard rushing performances and protected two first-year starting quarterbacks with just 1.54 sacks per game. Yankey has graded at 86 percent this season and allowed one sack.
Earlier this week, Yankey was named a recipient of the 2012 Morris Trophy for the Outstanding Lineman in the Pac-12 Conference. Yankey is joined by defensive tackle Will Sutton of Arizona State as winners for the 33rd annual Morris Trophy. The Morris Trophy is a unique award given to the outstanding offensive and defensive linemen in the Pac-12 Conference. What makes the award unique is the selection procedure, which has the starting offensive linemen in the conference voting for the defensive winner and vice versa. It is truly a players’ award. Yankey is Stanford’s third alltime Morris Trophy winner and first in 10 years. Kwame Harris won in 2002 and Willie Howard in 1999. “This is a great honor bestowed upon David because it was selected by the players of the Pac12 Conference,” said Stanford run game coordinator/offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren. “This award lends further credence to our belief that David is the most dominant and versatile offensive lineman in the conference and in the nation.” Yankey was voted All-Pac-12 first team by the conference’s coaches and has been selected as a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association and Sporting News. * * * * Stanford defensive line coach Randy Hart has been named the 2012 FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year presented by ProGrass. He was chosen by a panel of previous winners of the award. Hart in his third year at Stanford has led a defensive front that has totaled 21.0 sacks among 39.5 tackles for loss, paving the way for an historic Cardinal defense that has broken the school sacks record (56.0). Stanford leads the nation in sacks and tackles for loss (120.0) and ranks third in rushing defense (87.69). Eleven of Stanford’s last 16 opponents have been held under 100 yards rushing. In a string of three consecutive games this season, the Pac-12 Champion Cardinal recorded three of its top 10 single-game rushing defense performances in school history: No. 3 at Colorado (minus-21 yards), No. 4 vs. Washington State (minus-18) and t-No. 9 at California (3). “Randy is always energetic and gets our defensive line ready to compete every day,” said Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw. “He’s done a great job developing depth, so that we can rotate players and keep them all fresh.” N
Keith Peters
Sports
Palo Alto’s Kirby Gee (4) and teammates Wes Woo (18) and Jacob Dorward battled visiting Mountain View on near-even terms before the Spartans pulled away in the second half for a 3-0 nonleague victory on Tuesday.
M-A coach hopes wrestling duals will help ignite interest in the sport Palo Alto boys play for soccer tournament championship on Saturday by Rick Eymer enlo-Atherton wrestling coach Peter Wright wants to revive the sport at his school and the fifth-year coach hopes the Cross Division Schools Duals on Saturday will help ignite interest. Wright, who was raised in the wrestling-rich Midwest, thinks the Peninsula Athletic League can become one of the power leagues, so he’s invited three Ocean Division teams and three Bay Division teams to compete. The tournament includes M-A, Half Moon Bay and Sequoia from the Bay Division and Burlingame, Mills and Aragon from the Ocean Division. The tournament will be held in the main gymnasium at M-A starting at 10 a.m. and will conclude some time
near 4 p.m. “We have kids here who wrestle year round in a club program,” Wright said. “They go to tournaments on their own. We’re hoping to showcase all that hard work.” The Cross Division tournament may not be the most prestigious tournament in the Central Coast Section but that’s not the idea. Wright hopes it attracts support from parents, friends and students of all six schools. It’s a start and he hopes the tournament can become a traditional event. Most M-A students are aware the school has a wrestling team but they don’t necessarily understand wrestling. This is the opportunity to learn about it. The tournament features two mats, with two dual meets going
on simultaneously and continuous action. The Gunn and Palo Alto wrestling teams, meanwhile, were busy last weekend. Gunn hosted its annual quadrangular meet and went 2-1, posting victories over Salinas (78-6) and Watsonville (75-6) before losing to Serra in the finals (36-32). The Padres came in ranked No. 3 in the CCS while Gunn was ranked No. 9. Serra and Gunn each won seven matches, but the Padres had five pins compared to the Titans’ two falls and two technical falls. “I was pleased with our progess and effort this early in the season,” said Gunn coach Chris Horpel. “Whenever you start a season with
Davante Adams
game in Fresno State history. At Paly, Adams helped the Vikings win the CIF Division I state title in 2010. He caught 64 passes for 1,094 yards and 12 touchdowns. He redshirted at Fresno State in 201112, working hard in the weight room to improve his strength and speed. The work has paid off. “It’s just crazy,” Adams said of all the success he and his teammates have enjoyed this season. “You really don’t know how things are going to go — especially coming off a not-so-special season last year.” Adams said the team got together and made the decision to be better than the 4-9 team in 2011. “We can’t be a losing team. We have to turn the season around,” Adams said of what was discussed. “We just went out there every week and had fun. When you’re having fun each week, it makes the season all the better.” Adams had a season-high 12 re-
ceptions in a 42-25 loss at Oregon, the season-best 198 receiving yards against New Mexico, which included an 89-yard touchdown, and four games in which he caught a pair of TD passes. Next up for Adams and the Bulldogs will be the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu on Dec. 24. Fresno will face off against SMU (6-6) on ESPN at 5 p.m. “We’ve got a bowl game coming up and we want to win it, obviously,” Adams said. And for next year? “We haven’t set, actually, hard goals yet, but I want to win another Mountain West Conference title,” Adams said. “Next year, we can win every game on our schedule.” And personally? “Just to keep producing,” he said in a video interview. “Make a name for ourselves.” That’s something Davante Adams evidently has done already. N
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led all FBS freshman in receiving yards, yards per game and touchdown catches. He tied for fourth in the nation in touchdown receptions, No. 12 in the FBS for receptions and 14th in the country in receiving yards. That helped Adams earn a nomination for the Biletnikoff Award, which honors the top receiver in the nation. Adams also has been named to the College Football Performance Awards 2012 National Freshman of the Year Watch List. Earlier in the season, Adams was named Fresno State’s Sysco StudentAthlete of the Week after having one of the best receiving games in school history during a 49-32 win at New Mexico. Adams caught nine passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns. His 198 yards was the 12th most in a
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