Well-deserved: North football earns five first team district honors

The McKinney North football team had five players honored with first team all-district selections in District 13-4A action.

"It's a well-deserved recognition for those kids," said Mike Fecci, North head coach. "All-district is a huge honor for a player to get because it's voted on by the other coaches in the district. You as a coach think highly of your own players, but to have other guys recognize them and their talents is a nice thing."

The five first team selections for North were offensive lineman Sean Yoo, defensive tackle Dominique Parish, defensive end Will Ashun, linebacker James Triplett, and cornerback Maliek Golden. Four of the five, Yoo, Parish, Ashun, and Golden, were unanimous selections.

"I think we were well represented," Fecci said. "I was happy for the ones who got on it. Our program had a good showing. We had some kids who played extremely well. I was pleased with it."

Fecci is proud that the other coaches in the district saw the same level of talent and dedication he saw among his program's best.

"You want other guys to recognize what you see every day and the kids who were able to get some awards speaks volumes to what other people out there do see in our program," he said. "For them to put a vote to it and to show it means a lot for these kids."

Fecci was particularly satisfied with the district selections given that the 2012 season was North's first one in District 13-4A.

"It's a new district for us and you never know how those things are going to go when you go into them the first time," he said. "You don't know how the dynamic of the room is going to be and how the votes will fall. With our district it was what it should be. The other coaches recognized those players that needed to be recognized."

As for those who were honored, what cannot be denied on the offensive side was Yoo's presence in the trenches.

"He's one of our hardest workers," Fecci said. "He's the heart and soul of our offensive line. He plays with tenacious effort and I'm awfully proud of the year he's had. The way he plays the game and the way he practices says a lot. He's a tremendous competitor and those guys up front have to be that way."

Yoo's performance this season was all the more impressive given his leadership as the only senior on the offensive line.

"He was the lone senior up there and he had a big job of leading those guys," Fecci said. "Of all the groups in our football team, I feel our offensive line was the one group that each week got better and better at a constant pace and Sean had a lot to do with that."

North's other four first team selections came on the defensive end.

"One of the kids I was really happy for was Dominique Parish at defensive tackle, considering he'd never played it before," Fecci said. "We moved him there in the third game of the season."

Even more impressive for Parish than earning first team district honors at a position he'd never played before was the fact that he played half of the season injured.

"In the first district game of the year he tears the labrum in his shoulder," Fecci said. "He played the whole district season with it. He fought hard. It was a great testament to that season he had. He put his heart and soul into our program for four years."

Ashun also shined, wreaking havoc from the defensive end position.

"Will had a tremendous year for us," Fecci said. "He was a force a lot of people had a hard time with. He played at a high level with a high motor and he made a lot of plays. He's a very athletic young man, gave a lot of competitors fits."

It didn't take long for cornerback Golden to earn a reputation around the district as a game-changing defender.

"Maliek was a shutdown guy," Fecci said. "Talking with the other coaches, he was one of those guys they weren't sure if they could throw the ball on that guy. He shut a lot of great opponents down."

Linebacker Triplett proved to be a reliable difference maker for the Bulldogs, one whose presence Fecci said will be missed.

"Trip is real athletic," he said. "Like all of the other players honored, he's a hardworking kid, a program kid. He had a great season, made a lot of plays for us in open space. It's nice to have guys like that. We'll miss him immensely."

The Bulldogs' defensive honors say a lot for their team given that they all came at different positions.

"I was real happy that they were all spread out," Fecci said. "We had players recognized from each area of the four major areas. That's great."

While their playing abilities landed them on the all-district list, what Fecci is most proud of is that the five Bulldogs that were honored were great team players in addition to being talented ones.

"The one common trait they all have besides being really good players is that they were program guys," he said. "They bought into our philosophy. They were McKinney North through and through. They believed in us and believed in the system and in turn they got rewarded for it. I'm real happy for them."

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