Five Cardinal Gridders Receive All-State Honors

WAITSBURG – The Associated Press named its Washington All-State first and second teams in December, and four members of the Waitsburg-Prescott team made the 2B rosters.

Senior wide receiver Devin Acevedo was named to the first team, which was well-deserved, according to WP football coach Jeff Bartlow. "Devin has the softest hands probably in my 16 years here," the coach said. "He was one of our best ever at catching the ball."

Second-team selections included senior defensive back Talen Larsen, senior linebacker Michael Grant and junior offensive lineman Mark Montgomery.

"Talen was one of my biggest hitters and was a physical player for two years," said Bartlow. "He comes up and stops and supports the run so well; one of my best ever in doing that. And Michael averaged over 11 tackles a game and will go down as one of my best ILB ever to play in my tenure at WHS and WP. Mark was a nice surprise and will have a chance to do this again next year."

In addition to the AP selections, Waitsburg senior Chance Leroue was chosen to be a participant in the "Earl Barden Coaches All-State Game," to be played on June 20 at West Valley High in Yakima. He will play outside linebacker.

Leroue missed five games last season because of a knee injury, and so missed out in the all-state selections. "He had three really good playoff games (wins over Liberty and Tonasket and the loss to LRS) and that helped him secure a spot on the All-State game that will be played in June," Bartlow said.