Haggard, Luchese named to All-Empire football team

Petaluma High’s Luke Haggard and Casa Grande’s Tommy Luchese have been chosen to the All-Empire football team.|

The efforts of offensive linemen often go unnoticed in the maelstorm of the head butting at the heart of every football play. However, two area high school players stood out enough to be chosen to The Press Democrat’s All Redwood Empire Large School football team.

Named to the first team were Casa Grande senior Tommy Luchese and Petaluma junior Luke Haggard. Both played on both sides of scrimmage, but it was on offense that they really shined.

Luchese (5-foot-11, 225 pounds) anchored the Casa line at guard. A team captain, he was the leader of a front unit that made almost irrelevant an inordinate number of injuries to Casa running backs, opening big holes no matter who carried the ball.

It was Luchese and his line mates who provided the time that allowed Casa to record three thrilling comebacks and earn a spot in the North Coast Section playoffs.

Tackle Haggard was similarly valuable for Petaluma’s Trojans. Petaluma was 1-3 when it finally got its offensive line in place. Led by Haggard, the blockers dominated for the rest of the season, winning six straight games, including five in Sonoma County League play to finish second to Analy in the chase for the pennant and earn a spot in the North Coast Section playoffs.

Largely through the efforts of Haggard and his line teammates, Petaluma was able to rush for 2,784 yards, averaging 253 yards a game.

Casa Grande tight end Trevor Naugle and kicker Brandon Keefer were named to the second-team offense. Both are seniors.

Although Naugle had a good pass-catching season with 26 receptions for 297 yards and two touchdowns, equally important was his strong blocking as part of the Casa offensive line.

Keefer was a huge part of Casa Grande’s amazing string of comeback victories, hitting one field goal to win a game outright and another to send a contest into overtime where the Gauchos prevailed. For the season, he hit eight of eight field goal attempts and 20 of 21 PAT kicks. Add seven touchdown receptions, and he was responsible for 86 Gaucho points.

Defensively, linebackers Connor Richardson from Petaluma and Travis Voight from Casa Grande were named to the second team.

Richardson was an outstanding fullback on offense, running for a team-high 13 touchdowns, but made perhaps an even bigger impact on defense as a wide-ranging linebacker who was a key to a Trojan defense that, at one point, recorded four straight shutouts.

Voight, who also started on the offensive line, led the Gauchos with 96 tackles, 69 solo, and had nine tackles for loss, more than three times as many as anyone else on the team.

Cardinal Newman quarterback Jordon Brookshire was the Player of the Year.

Jonathon Dewey of Ukiah was Coach of the Year.

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