RGVSports.com
After a season of standout performances, the pool of candidates for Boys Athlete of the Year is down to six. One will be chosen for Class 6A and another will be chosen for sub-6A, with the winners to be announced at the eighth annual RGVSports.com & Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame awards ceremony.
The ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Col. Philip J. Yeckel Memorial Auditorium on the campus of Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, and admission is free.
The finalists in Class 6A are Edinburg High’s John Gonzalez (baseball), Brownsville Rivera’s Isidro “Chelin” Martinez (soccer and football) and McAllen Memorial’s Trevor Speights (football). The sub-6A race is between Brownsville St. Joseph’s Kai Money (football, basketball and track), La Feria’s Carlos Rodriguez (track) and Hidalgo’s Frankie Sanchez (basketball and soccer).
For a third consecutive year, RGVSports.com and the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame are teaming up to honor the best performances of the 2014-15 season in Rio Grande Valley high school athletics.
Gonzalez, a junior, led Edinburg High to the fourth round of the playoffs for the first time since 1956. He finished the season 9-1 with a microscopic .11 ERA, allowing just a single earned run in 63 innings. He posted 110 strikeouts compared to just 30 walks and is committed to play for Texas Tech following his senior season.
Martinez was the driving force in Rivera’s undefeated run to a state championship, earning Gatorade/USA Today soccer player of the year in Texas.
He was named the state tournament MVP and All-Valley Player of the Year, scoring 23 goals. He also earned first-team all-district honors as the punter and kicker for Rivera’s football team.
Speights ran for the third best single-season rushing total in Valley history in 2014, racking up 2,655 yards and 30 touchdowns. He earned AP All-State first team honors and was named All-Valley Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Speights has the attention of many college programs, garnering eight Division-I offers.
Money quickly emerged to lead the St. Joseph football team as a freshman. He threw for 1,295 yards and ran for another 1,087, compiling 21 total touchdowns to earn All-Metro Newcomer of the Year honors. He was also a starter on the St. Joseph basketball team and placed second in the state meet in the long jump, ranking sixth in the Valley across all classifications with a mark of 21 feet, 6.75 inches.
Rodriguez, from La Feria, made his mark at the Class 4A state track meet, earning a silver medal in the 800-meter run. He finished with a time of 1:56.40, less than two seconds off of first place.
Sanchez was the All-Valley Boys Basketball Player of the Year, leading Hidalgo to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season. At 22.8 points per game, Sanchez ranked as the Valley’s leading scorer. He also lit up the scoreboard on the soccer field, joining the team late in the season and becoming the Pirates’ leader in postseason goals.