Football: Leroy Palu voted division's Defensive Player of the Year

Leroy Palu (57) was voted the division's Defensive Player of the Year
Leroy Palu (57) was voted the division's Defensive Player of the Year

Cerritos College sophomore defensive tackle Leroy Palu (Mayfair HS) was voted the National Division Central League Defensive Player of the Year. He was one of nine Falcons to earn 1st Team recognition and first defensive Player of the Year since Alex Bush in 2016. Also earning 1st Team honors include sophomore offensive lineman Kamuta Levasa (Mater Dei HS/Independence, KS CC), sophomore wide receiver Chase Grosfeld (Los Alamitos HS), sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Blair (Downey HS), sophomore defensive end Adam Tomczyk (Los Alamitos HS/Utah State University), sophomore linebacker Caleb Nuhi-Yandall (Banning HS), sophomore cornerback Jailen Dozier (Downey HS), sophomore punter Christian Guerra (Paramount HS) and sophomore utility player Luke Clay (La Serna HS). Five of those selections were unanimous picks.

Those who were voted in as 2nd Team selections included freshman offensive lineman Demetrio Sandoval (Downey HS) and freshman kick returner Rocco Caldarella (Valley Christian HS).

On the year, Palu recorded 39 tackles on the year and led the Falcons in tackles for loss (13) and quarterback sacks (5.5), while Tomczyk led all defensive linemen with 43 stops. He also recorded nine tackles for loss and four sacks to go along with two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Tomczyk was a unanimous pick for 1st Team. Nuhi-Yandall posted the second most tackles on defense over the nine-game schedule with 52, while finishing with 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. He also broke up three passes and picked off a pass.

Dozier led the team with eight pass break-ups and recorded 14 tackles with one tackle for loss. Guerra, who was also a unanimous pick, punted only 28 times on the year and averaged 38.9 yards with an astounding 15 of his punts landing inside the 20-yard line. As for Clay, another unanimous pick, he was a jack-of-all trades for Cerritos, as he served as a long snapper, recorded 21 tackles as a defensive back and even returned three punts. Clay broke up two passes on defense, had 1.5 tackles for loss, while he forced a fumble and recovered one. He averaged 22 yards per punt return.

On offense, Grosfeld led the team with 42 catches, with four of his team-leading seven touchdowns coming in the last game of the year. He recorded 499 receiving yards and had two games of over 100 receiving yards. Blair, who led all receivers with 675 yards on 35 catches, found the end zone six times. He had consecutive games with over 100 receiving yards and caught touchdowns in five different games. Levasa, as well as Sandoval, were crucial in the team's offensive production. As a team, the Falcons finished with 2,154 passing yards and 976 rushing yards in just nine games. The offensive line allowed less that two sacks per game.

A late contributor to the Falcons special teams, Caldarella started returning kickoffs the second half of the season. He finished the year with 12 returns for 389 yards (32.4 yards per return), as well as an 88-yard touchdown against Citrus College to open the game.