Matt Adorni, Cody Coontz, Keegan Sell, Mason Williams earn top district honors

The Portage Trail Conference has featured some really strong high school football over the years.

So it's no surprise that the PTC swept the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association Northeast Inland District's top awards in Division VI with Mogadore winning Defensive Player of the Year (Mason Williams) and Coach of the Year (Matt Adorni) and Rootstown snagging Offensive Player of the Year (Cody Coontz).

Moreover, a longtime PTC stalwart now in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference, Garfield, landed its own big winner as junior Keegan Sell snagged Defensive Player of the Year in Division V.

Sell steamrolled his way through opposing offenses for a grand total of 162 tackles, 31 for loss, while tacking on five sacks, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. (He also ran for roughly 1,000 yards.)

Back to Division VI for a second, Coontz tallied a program-record 2,322 rushing yards on 293 carries and notched 30 touchdowns for the Rovers.

Meanwhile, Williams, an Ohio University commit at tight end, was devastating on the defensive line. His numbers (45 tackles) don't demonstrate the extent to which he took away an entire side of the field and wreaked havoc. (Williams was also brilliant on offense, tallying over 1,410 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground.)

Adorni led one of Mogadore's smallest teams in years (with fewer than 40 players on the roster) to an undefeated regular season, with one close win over one tough foe after another (including Field, Liberty-Benton, Lucas and Warren JFK), and the Region 21 championship game.

Now, let's go division-by-division to see all of the local honorees (please note Portage County didn't have any Division I or II teams this past season):

Division III

Aurora, which shook off any thoughts of a down year with eight wins, had four first-team selections, in offensive lineman Joey Arnold, kicker Dom Trivisonno, linebacker Cade Fromwiller and defensive back Zach Anzells. (All are seniors except Trivisonno.)

Senior running back Alex Tenorio, the Greenmen's first 1,000-yard back since Chris Vanzo in 2016, earned second-team honors, alongside Aurora senior offensive lineman Quinn Gorman and quarterback Matt Geier, and Roosevelt senior punter Jon Jon Smith.

Versatile Rough Riders standout Donovan Daetwyler battled through injury to earn honorable mention, alongside fellow Roosevelt senior Michael Bonanno, and Aurora's Rocco Courtad, Zach Nemet and Sam Retton.

Division IV

Streetsboro junior Preston Hopperton earned first team all-district honors for the second straight season after battling through injuries to tally 28 touchdowns (21 on the ground and seven through the air) despite missing one full game and parts of three others to injury. Rockets senior kicker Dom Incorvati (50/51 XP, 4/4 FG, 10 onside kicks recovered) and leading tackler Jackson Gula, a sophomore defensive back, joined Hopperton on the first team. So did Field's dynamic duo of senior quarterback Braxton Baumberger (who passed for 1,141 yards and ran for another 636) and sophomore running back Drexal McAmis (169 carries, 1,156 yards, 13 TD), as well as Ravenna senior linebacker Pavel Henderson (74 tackles, 4 INT).

Falcons wide receiver Garit Greene and Ravens offensive lineman Dean Baker earned second team all-district honors.

Division V

Sell wasn't the only G-Men standout to earn high honors.

His season-long partner in the backfield (and linebacker corps), Jesse Grace, earned first team all-district recognition at running back after turning 115 carries into 909 yards and 11 touchdowns, while kicker Ethan Bittence and offensive lineman Jon Wiczen also earned first team (along with Sell, of course).

Crestwood also had a pair of first-team honorees in sophomore running back Nate Blasiole (220 carries, 1,018 yards) and junior offensive lineman Cody Brugmann.

With no second team in Division V unlike most other divisions, all other honorees received honorable mention, including Crestwood's Jonas Honeycutt and Garfield's Carter Bates, Eric Geddes, Vinnie Grandizio and Deacon Sommer.

Division VI

The PTC didn't just dominate the highest honors in Division VI.

Mogadore, Rootstown and Southeast each landed first-team selections on the offensive line in seniors Trevor Davis and Tyler Shellenbarger for the Wildcats, junior Tony Karp for the Rovers and senior Evan Riffle for the Pirates.

Mogadore, Rootstown and Waterloo added a first-team all-district defensive lineman apiece in Mason Williams, Drew Nero (52 tackles, 11 TFL) and Austin Wise (52 tackles, 5 TFL), respectively.

Wildcats QB Zeke Cameron and DB Devin Graham and Rovers punter Luke DeAngelis (and Coontz, of course) also earned first team all-district honors.

Mogadore senior defensive back Nick Coffman; Rootstown senior offensive lineman Linden White; Southeast seniors Brady Corley (DL), Matt Donovan (DB) and Carson Dunn (K); and Waterloo junior back Jayden Hakin all earned second team all-district honors. Rootstown's Branden Bobbs and Brian Youngblood and Southeast's Case Myers earned honorable mention.

Division VII

After an incredible season in which he did a little bit of everything for Windham, senior Chase Eye (who ran for 1,279 yards on 10.3 per carry, tallied 30 total touchdowns and also amassed 79 tackles) earned first team all-district honors, as did one of his leading blockers, Anthony Paolella, and his younger brother, linebacker Jack Eye, who had a team-leading 87 tackles (10 for loss).

Carlos Bruton and Lucas Churchill earned honorable mention for the Bombers.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Cody Coontz, Keegan Sell, Mason Williams earn top district honors