NORTH KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two Platte County players are among the finalists for an award given out to the top football players in the Kansas City metro area.
The award ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 16 at Olathe West High School in Olathe, Kan. This is the first time the event has been at a neutral site since starting back in 1983.
There will be nine different awards presented. The headlining award is the 36th annual Thomas A. Simone Memorial Award, given to the top player in the Kansas City metro area. Last year’s winner was Park Hill’s Ronnie Bell, who is playing at Michigan.
Citizen file photo
Platte County quarterback Spencer Stewart, shown throwing against Kearney in a game earlier this season, is a finalist for the Frank Fontana Award, given to the most outstanding player in the Kansas City metro area for players schools between Class 1 and Class 4 in both Missouri and Kansas.
“We are excited about the changes and if this go over well, we’ll probably continue it,” said Anthony Simone, Sr., who brought the Simone Award back to honor his late son, Tommy, the namesake of the award, who was killed in an accident in April 1983. “It’s been tried and true in the high school setting all those years. Try something different. In a neutral site so the winner won’t know until it is announced. It has kind of been out of bag last few years. Hopefully it will go over well and continue to improve.”
Pirates quarterback Spencer Stewart is one of four players — three quarterbacks and a running back — vying for the 20th annual Frank Fontana Award, given to the most outstanding small school player in the metro area in schools that are between Class 1 and Class 4 in Missouri and Class 1A to 4A in Kansas.
In his only year at Platte County, the former Shawnee Mission Northwest quarterback guided the Pirates to a 10-2 mark and a share of the Suburban Conference Blue Division title. Platte County finished 10-2 and lost to Smithville in the district title game.
Stewart threw for 2,941 yards and 38 touchdowns this fall. He is the second straight Pirate up for the award following Tanner Clarkson.
The other finalists include Smithville quarterback Kellen Simonic, who threw for 2,428 yards and 27 touchdowns, while helping the Warriors reach the Class 4 semifinals.
The other two finalists are from Kansas: Bishop Miege running back Brison Cobbins, a junior who ran for 1,300 yard and 23 touchdowns and Dylan Mussett, a quarterback from Basehor-Linwood that passed for 2,335 yard and 21 touchdowns. Miege beat Basehor-Linwood in the state semifinals, on the way to a fifth straight state Class 4A title.
Stewart’s main target this year, Dylan Gilbert, is a finalist for the 11th annual Otis Taylor Award, given to the top tight end/wide receiver in the metro area.
The senior hauled in 71 catches for 1,171 yards and 15 touchdowns this year, on his way to breaking career receiving marks at Platte County.
Other finalists includes Smithville’s Garrett Thompson (66 catches/1,139 yards/16 touchdowns), Lawrence Free State’s Keenan Garber (34/814/17) and Blue Valley North’s Garrett Burt (101/1,838/21).
The winner of last year’s award was Bell.
The four finalists for the 27th annual Buck Buchanan Memorial Award are North Kansas City’s defensive end Adetomiwa Adebawore, Rockhurst offensive lineman Danielson Ike, St. Thomas Aquinas offensive lineman Joe Michalski and Fort Osage linebacker Von Young IV. This award is given to the best lineman/linebacker in Class 5-6 in either Missouri or Kansas.
The 19th annual Bobby Bell Award, given to the best lineman/linebacker in Missouri’s or Kansas’ four smallest classes include two Suburban Blue players: Brian Boyd from Smithville and Kearney’s Chopper Mordecai.
The two will be looking to keep the trophy in the conference after Platte County’s Michael Smith won it last year.
Boyd, a linebacker, had 125 tackles and eight tackles for loss. Mordecai, another linebacker, racked up 93 tackles and 15 TFL.
Bishop Miege’s linebacker Dylan Downing (110 tackles, 12 ½ TFLs) and Baseshor-Linewood’s defensive lineman Jace Friesen (80 tackles, 22 TFLs, 8 ½ sacks) are the other finalists.
The biggest award, the Simone, will be decided between one Missouri player and three from Kansas.
The lone Missourian is North Kansas City’s Clyde Price III. The running back racked up 3,022 yards on 314 carries and finished with 38 touchdowns.
Graham Mertz, a Wisconsin commit, led Blue Valley North to the Class 6A title game this year. He passed for 4,088 yards and a state-record 51 touchdowns. Olathe North running back Daymonn Sanchez rolled up 2,143 yards on 272 carries and scored 29 times and finished third in the state of Kansas in rushing yards.
Tank Young is the only non-senior finalist as he compiled 2,075 yards rushing and finished with a 9.7 yards per carry total during his sophomore season at St. Thomas Aquinas, the Class 5A champions. He ran for 26 touchdowns in only 10 games.
On the trophy are four words that mean a lot to Simone, Sr.: love, friendship, courage and champion, all words associated with his son. A talented multi-sport athlete, he was killed when he was struck by a police vehicle near Neeco’s Coffee’s former office off Independence Avenue. The family business is now near downtown Kansas City, but will be moving to a new headquarters in Riverside following the award ceremony.
A panel of sportswriters from the Kansas City area met earlier this month to help craft a list of 10 finalists for each of the awards. Members of the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association then voted for the awards and the top four vote recipients were named as the finalist and selected to attend the event. A red carpet show will kickoff the event at 5 p.m.
“From the beginning I could never imagine how it has grown and developed and the student-athletes of Kansas City have adopted it and looked forward to striving to win the award … that means a great deal for us,” Simone, Sr. said. “I could never imagine it ever, beyond my imagination (how much it has grown).
“We are trying to keep his memory alive.”