Hillsdale, Norwayne lead All-WCAL football honors

The All-Wayne County Athletic League football teams were recently released, and as expected, the top two teams in the league dominated the awards. 

Hillsdale swept the Player of the Year awards. Senior running back Owen Sloan, the Division VII Northeast Inland District Offensive Player of the Year, was named the league's MVP. Placekicker A.J. Brown, who is working his way up the area leaderboards for total points, was named the league’s Special Teams MVP. 

Selected as Coach of the Year was Norwayne’s Adam Indorf, who guided his team to yet another league crown.

Sloan has rushed for 1,645 yards and 26 touchdowns entering his team's Nov. 21 regional final game. He is sixth all-time in area history with 4,575 career rushing yards and is tied for third all-time with 66 career rushing touchdowns. He already holds five school records.

Brown is second to Orrville's Chad Teague for the most total career points by a kicker with 221. Teague posted 241 in 1997-2000. Brown did pass Teague for most PATs by an area kicker and sits at 189, five more than Teague nailed throughout his career.

Indorf and his coaching staff overcame multiple injuries, losing several top-tier offensive linemen before the season started. They lost another in Week 1, then lost their starting center in the first quarter against WCAL rival Hillsdale, but they still earned the league title with a 24-19 win.

Earning first-team selections for Norwayne were senior wide receiver Ryder Ingold, who reeled in over 1,000 yards, Carter Miller, Caleb Ruggles, Carson Arnold, Jacob Bruner and Bryant Frary.

The Falcons duo was joined by Kael Lewis, Jake Haven, Brady Heller and Kyle Turk. 

Earning first-team honors for Smithville, which won 10 games for the first time since 2004, were Mason Haines, who became the program’s all-time rushing leader and is ninth all-time in area history with 4,089 yards, Isaiah Lee, who racked up 1,200 yards via running, receiving and returning, and lineman Chase Tomassetti.

Dalton had Jackson Oswald, Carter Hignight and Conner Mori picked. 

Rittman had 1,000-yard rusher Carson Smith, Christian DuBiel and Jacob Glick honored. 

Waynedale had Gradey Posey, Jayden Hochstetler and Micah Raber selected. 

Rylie Ramsier was picked from Northwestern, and Ian Radebaugh was honored from Chippewa.

Earning second-team honors were Norwayne’s Caleb Wiles, Cameron Hackworth, Cade Leach and Matthew Troup, Hillsdale's Knox Lewis, Hayden McFadden, Brock Bower and Aiden Hoffman, Smithville's Javen Woodarski, Will Blankenship and Dylan Kreider, Dalton's Aiden Pelfrey, Jaxon Ryder, who rushed for 862 yards despite missing multiple games due to an ACL/PCL injury, and Mitchell Reynolds, Rittman's Myles Fox, Rocco Taylor and Garret Shreve, Waynedale's Branson Zuercher, Maddox Kidd and Isaiah Miller, Northwestern's Grady Ellerbrock and Jesse Hanshaw and Chippewa's Watson Vincenski and Jonas Radebaugh.