Centennial's Martinez is state player of yearBy JOHN MURPHY
The Press-Enterprise Taylor Martinez, Matt Logan and the rest of the 2008 Corona Centennial football team may come down to Earth soon, but it hasn't happened yet.
The downpour of awards continues unabated this week with Martinez, a senior quarterback, being named the Maxpreps.com state Division I Player of the Year.
"It's weird. It's like a dream," Martinez said by cell phone Monday afternoon. "To go 15-0 and be named IE Player of the Year by (The Press-Enterprise) and State Player of the Year by Maxpreps, it's just weird.
"But I feel great about it. It shows that hard work pays off. All of the coaches and the players are responsible for this award. Especially Coach Logan. He really gets the best out of you. He challenged me at practice and let me throw the ball and run the ball, and he taught me how to read defenses."
Martinez, a transfer from San Bernardino Cajon before his senior year, had jaw-dropping statistics this season. The Nebraska-bound standout threw for nearly 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns, and ran for 750 yards and 12 scores.
In doing so, he led Centennial to the state Division I playoff bowl game, where it defeated Concord De La Salle, 21-16.
It has been raining awards for Centennial since then. The Huskies last week were named the state Team of the Year by CalHiSports.com. Logan was named the National Coach of the Year by Russell Athletic, as determined by the folks at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.
Logan, contacted mid-day Monday, was enthused about Martinez's plaudit.
"It's a great honor," he said. "Taylor had a great season for us. Of course, the most important stat is the win-loss record, but he also had all of the supporting stats."