For his efforts, Decker is The Inquirer's Southeastern Pennsylvania football coach of the year.
Ridley, whose only regular-season slip-up was a 20-14 home loss to Garnet Valley in Week 9, advanced to the state semifinals before bowing to eventual champion La Salle, 35-7.
The runners-up for coach-of-the-year honors were La Salle's Drew Gordon, Archbishop Wood's Steve Devlin, and Avon Grove's Marvin Dooley.
Team of the year
Not surprisingly, La Salle takes this award back to Wyndmoor. Following a Week 4 loss to archrival St. Joseph's Prep, the Explorers stormed, literally, to statewide glory at the highest classification. Two of their final three victories were earned in the snow.
Drew Loughery and company defeated State College, District 6's representative, for the title at snow-covered HersheyPark Stadium. Two weeks earlier, with the white stuff falling at Banko Field in Bethlehem, the squad rallied for a 17-14 win over District 11 champ Easton.
Against Easton, La Salle trailed, 14-0, less than seven minutes into the state quarterfinal. From there, over the final 137 minutes of a banner season, the defense yielded only a late second-quarter touchdown to Ridley.
In soundly beating State College, 24-7, the 14-1 Explorers became the first Catholic League – and District 12 – school to secure a state football championship.
Rookie of the year
Freshman Jared Alwan was a quality playmaker for St. Joseph's Prep. At outside linebacker, the 6-foot, 215-pounder registered 51 tackles, including two sacks, and recovered a pair of fumbles for a defense that held Catholic League foes to an average of 9.8 points per game during the regular season.
Sophomore of the Year
