By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor 2016 Pasadena Sports Now Football Honors Most Valuable Player: Amon Milliner, La Salle Offensive Player of Year: Michael Bonds, St. Francis Defensive Player of Year: Myles Cecil, La Salle All-Purpose Player of Year: Daniel Scott, St. Francis Coach of the Year: Jim Bonds, St. Francis No player turned more heads […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
2016 Pasadena Sports Now Football Honors
Most Valuable Player: Amon Milliner, La Salle
Offensive Player of Year: Michael Bonds, St. Francis
Defensive Player of Year: Myles Cecil, La Salle
All-Purpose Player of Year: Daniel Scott, St. Francis
Coach of the Year: Jim Bonds, St. Francis
No player turned more heads this season, nor was more expected of than La Salle running back Amon Milliner.
The senior rushed for an area-best 2,406 yards on 301 carries, and scored 25 touchdowns.
He averaged 201 yards per game, and had 11 catches for 89 yards.
Milliner finished his remarkable prep career with 17 consecutive games north of the 100-yard rushing mark.
For his record-breaking season, Amon Milliner has been named Pasadena Sports Now’s Most Valuable Player.
Milliner, for 12 consecutive weeks, saw the box stacked against him.
But his speed, agility, strength, vision and offensive line led him to single-game and single-season rushing records.
“Amon is a very special player, who has great character and a strong work ethic,” La Salle coach Russell Gordon said. “Amon doesn’t say much, he leads by his actions on and off the field. When our opponent’s defensive coaches scouted us, they definitely knew they were not going to stop Amon. They had to just limit his big plays. Our opponents stacked the box weekly and Amon still rushed for over 200 yards in most games.”
La Salle (7-5) won its first two Angelus League game in school history, and its first playoff victory in 9 years.
Milliner had five games with 200 yards or more and his 342 yards rushing against Harvard-Westlake broke a school record.
“The games Amon had under 200 yards, people acted like he didn’t have a good game,” Gordon said. “That’s just ludicrous. Everyone asks me ‘how are you going to replace Amon?’ I tell them ‘I’m not, you can not replace a young man like him.’ I will miss coaching Amon. Whenever the game was on the line, I knew to give the ball to #5, and he will keep the Lancers alive.”
Milliner scored multiple touchdowns in 9 of 12 games and rushed for at least 150 yards in 8 games this season.
Even when the passing game struggled at times, and the pressure was on Milliner to lead La Salle to victory, this young man battled for and earned every one of those 2,406 yards.
He finished a once-in-a-lifetime prep career with 4,330 yards rushing and 48 touchdowns.
Despite all his success, Milliner’s coaches and teammates use the word “humble” most in referencing Milliner the person.
“For myself, I think I had a great season, and what surprised me was that I got over 2,000 yards,” Milliner said. “For the team, we did great on both sides of the ball, and just tried to go out every game and have fun. We were a senior-heavy team, and after last week’s loss, we were all emotional because it was our last game together. But we all knew it would end eventually and that there are greater things in life than football.”
Milliner’s week-by-week rushing statistics:
Week 0: 161 yards, 2 touchdowns in 43-6 win over El Camino Real
Week 1: 126 yards, 2 touchdowns in 37-0 win over Monrovia
Week 2: 256 yards, 3 touchdowns in 35-21 loss to Bishop Diego
Week 3: 239 yards, 3 touchdowns in 44-6 win over Muir
Week 4: 242 yards, 2 touchdowns in 28-25 triple-overtime win over Notre Dame Prep
Week 5: 259 yards, 3 touchdowns in 38-28 loss to St. Francis
Week 6: 118 yards, no scores in 17-0 loss to Cathedral
Week 7: 138 yards, 1 touchdown in 16-14 win over St. Paul
Week 8: 342 yards, 4 touchdowns in 55-28 win over Harvard-Westlake
Week 9: 139 yards, no scores in 28-0 loss to Salesian
Week 10: 195 yards, 3 touchdowns in 27-7 playoff win over Mayfair
Week 11: 191 yards, 2 touchdowns in 46-41 loss to Silverado
