Stratford rakes in District A-4 honors

Jan. 13—STRATFORD — The Stratford High School football team had seven players earn All-District A-4 honors when the list was released last month.

The Bulldogs received two of the top district awards. Nolan Hall was named the District A-4 Co-Most Valuable Player and Hunter Morton was chosen as the A-4 Co-Offensvie Player of the Year.

"We have a great group of senior young men both on and off the field. It's groups like this that make me feel humbled and honored to be a coach," said Stratford head coach Michael Blackburn. "Coaching this group has made me a better person and coach. After a tough season a year ago, they dedicated themselves to work hard and to do whatever was asked of them for the sake of the team and I am proud of what they were able to accomplish."

Josiah Stevens was selected as the Defensive Tackle of the Year and fellow SHS linemen Aaron Carter was named the Defensive End of the Year and Blake English was named the Noseguard of the Year.

Jase Fulks received three District A-4 accolades. The do-it-all senior was the Special Teams Player of the Year and was also an all-district fullback and tight end.

Sean Harian was an all-district defensive back for the Bulldogs.

"These seniors — along with Jaden Alberson, Daniel Welsh, Axel McKinney and Caleb Brown — will all be hard to replace next year and will be missed by all," Blackburn said.

NOLAN HALL

Hall rushed for more than 1,000 yards and threw for nearly 900 yards during his senior campaign.

"Nolan is the complete definition of a leader and has been that way for a while. He led us on the offensive side of the ball from the quarterback position," Blackburn said. "Nolan's ability always made him a threat to go score on any play."

For his career, Hall had over 2,000 rushing yards and nearly 1,800 passing yards.

Blackburn said Hall was also one of his team's leaders on defense. Playing both safety and cornerback, he finished with 41 tackles and one interception. Hall finished his career with 134 tackles and six interceptions.

HUNTER MORTON

Morton rushed for more than 1,000 yards and also had more than 300 yards receiving during his senior campaign.

"Hunter falls in the same category as Nolan when it comes to being a leader. He was easily in the conversation of MVP as well," Blackburn said. "Hunter was a threat to take any play the distance with his great speed."

Morton was also a force from his outside linebacker/safety position. He had 54 tackles, five sacks and one interception in 2022. For his career, he had 160 tackles and four interceptions.

JOSIAH STEVENS

"Josiah has been a steady performer for us his entire high school career. He will always do whatever is asked of him," Blackburn said. "He has played center until this year, but we felt like we were better as a team if we could move him to left tackle and he moved right over and never missed a beat doing a great job."

Blackburn said Stevens could have been honored for his play on either side of the ball.

"He is very strong and always did a great job of plugging things up along the defensive line for us," he said.

Stevens finished the year with 34 tackles and one sack.

"Josiah doesn't ever say much, but is very respected by his teammates because of such a strong work ethic," Blackburn said.

AARON CARTER

Aaron battled through knee injuries during the latter part of his career and Blackburn said the senior worked hard to get back on the field.

"Like all of the seniors, he has shown great leadership through his actions. He missed his junior year and then had to miss time this year as well," Blackburn explained. "When Aaron was on the field, we were always a better team. He could have been on this list on either side of the ball as well. He was dominant on the defensive line, mainly from a defensive end position."

Carter finished his senior season with 64 tackles and five sacks.

"Aaron was also very dominating on the offensive line for us from his right tackle position," Blackburn noted.

BLAKE ENGLISH

English finished with 36 tackles and a sack for the Bulldogs in his final season.

"Blake is just another outstanding young man that works extremely hard and will always be ready to do whatever is needed. Just like Aaron and Josiah, Blake could have received this honor on either side of the ball. He played left guard for us and had a great ability to pull and trap or wrap up into a hole and we tried to utilize that as much as possible," Blackburn said. "On the defensive side of the ball, Blake was a force from the nose guard position where he was very tough to block."

JASE FULKS

"Jase was one of our most versatile players on the team and he filled several valuable roles. He received the special teams' award because of his ability to long snap and cover in punting situations," Blackburn said. "Jase is an excellent long snapper on both our extra point/field goal unit and our punt team as well. Jase would snap and then be the first down the field in many instances to cover the punt."

Fulks filled a lot of roles for the Bulldogs.

"Jase excelled on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball also. He was a great lead blocker in our run game."

Fulks finished with 34 tackles and two sacks on defense. He also had 91 yards receiving and caught one touchdown pass.

SEAN HARIAN

"Sean has been a great addition to our team over the last couple of years," Blackburn said. "He was injured early in our Week 6 game, so he only played a little more than half of the season this year but he was a big key when he was able to be on the field. He played receiver on offense and corner on defense where he was a physical presence on both sides of the ball.".

Other A-4 awards

The other Co-MVP was Kaden Barron of Ringling. Karson Daniel was a Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the Blue Devils.

The A-4 Co-Defensive Players of the Year were Marsae Sanders of Wynnewood and Trever Christiansen of Dibble.

The Co-Offensive Linemen of the Year were D.J. Lewis of Ringling and Ethan White of Wynnewood.

Speedster Derick Fields of Wynnewood was named the District A-4 Running Back of the Year.

Wayne standout Kaleb Madden was the district Wide Receiver of the Year.

Co-Tight Ends of the Year in District A-4 were Kash Rose of Ringling and Cole Green of Elmore City.

The other Co-Defensive Tackle of the Year was Healdton product John Ferrell and the other Co-Defensive End of the Year was Cristoval Cruz of Dibble.

The Co-Inside Linebackers of the Year were Jericho Taylor of Wynnewood and Toby Aycox of Healdton.

The Outside Linebacker of the Year was given to Adam Fields of Wynnewood.

The Co-Safeties of the Year in the district were Jacob Cavness of Rush Springs and John Mathis of Wynnewood. The Co-Cornerbacks of the Year went to Nathan Harpole of Dibble and Daviar Carr of Ringling.

The other Co-Noseguard of the Year was Jaiden Miller of Ringling.

The District A-4 Injured Player of the Year was Bryson Arrington of Elmore City.

Veteran Phil Koons of Ringling was named the A-4 Head Coach of the Year.