Isabell Named MVP; Eight Pirates Make All-DAC

merrillville-pirates-logoBryant Isabell led a group of eight Merrillville High School Pirates on the 2013 All Duneland Athletic Conference football team. Isabell, who was also named the conference's offensive Most Valuable Player, also led the Pirates to the top spot in the conference standings.

Merrillville was followed in the standings by Lake Central, Portage, Crown Point, Valparaiso, Chesterton, La Porte and Michigan City.

On the all-conference team, Isabell was joined by Merrillville teammates Tom Scolaro, DJ Wilkins, Tyrie Fuller, Darnell Robinson, Ronnie Giles, Ryan Neal and Shawn Streck.

Lake Central, who was led by the Duneland's Defensive Most Valuable Player Gelen Robinson, had the next highest number of all-conference selections with six. Robinson was joined by LC teammates Antwan Davis, Brandon Scott, Jessie Ruiz, Mitch Oskan and Brian Rice. The Indians placed second in conference behind Merrillville.

Portage, who finished third, was led by five all-conference selections in 2013: Cody Maldonado, Sam Schest, Kenyota Rollins, Aaron Luick and Gage Pearman. The Indians' Nathan Johnson was named the DAC's best kicker.

Crown Point and Valparaiso each had four all-conference mentions. Representing the Bulldogs were Tristan Peterson, Jake Jatis, Connor Andras and Brendyn McKinnon. The Vikings had Angelo Madrigal, Kyle Bishop, Blake Biesen and David Hittinger named to the team. The All-DAC punter, Jared Smolar, also represented Valparaiso.

Chesterton, La Porte and Michigan City all had three named all-conference. The Trojans' were represented by Andrew Ralph, Jordan Dilosa and Tyler Gillespie while the Slicers were led by Charles Salary, John Shuble and Matt Otwinowski. The Wolves had Anthony Lemon, Logan Kaletha and Ryan Washington as their all-conference selections.