Gragnano, Pastorello Receive Empire Honors

Quarterback Todd Gragnano of Los Alamitos High School and fullback Joe Pastorello of Katella were named players of the year in the Empire League by the league’s football coaches.

Gragnano passed for 1,560 yards and 11 touchdowns in 10 games. Pastorello rushed for 1,132 yards and 15 touchdowns. Los Alamitos linebacker Eric Thompson was named the league’s defensive player of the year.

The coaches’ teams:

FIRST TEAM

OFFENSE

Quarterback Todd Gragnano: Los Alamitos Dave Swearingen: El Dorado Running Backs Dave Berman: El Dorado Eric Caesar: Los Alamitos Derek Harris: Cypress Joe Pastorello: Katella Linemen Cole Blossey: Los Alamitos Jon Dixon: Katella John Land: Esperanza Tom Lemoine: El Dorado C. Underwood: Esperanza Center

Brian Harris: Esperanza Tight End Phil Dematteo: Los Alamitos Wide Receivers Ron Monninger: Los Alamitos Adrian Oliphant: Loara Kicker Phil Nevin: El Dorado DEFENSE

Linemen Troy Clark: Loara Sean Donahue: Esperanza Jake Grumet: Los Alamitos Matt Werner: Esperanza Ends Gio Catalano: Los Alamitos Brian Tomazic: El Dorado Linebackers Scott Clauson: El Dorado Steve Melkerson: Esperanza Eric Thompson: Los Alamitos Darrin Van Zee: Loara Backs Bob Ferrell: Los Alamitos Matt Luke: El Dorado Ozzie Merano: Katella Chris Nomura: Cypress Winston Wolf: Los Alamitos Punter Kevin Leon: Esperanza SECOND TEAM

Offense: QB--Dennis Briggs (Katella); RB--Brian Dawson (Cypress), Jeoff Meek (Esperanza) and Chris Stewart (Los Alamitos); Linemen--Jim Elliott (Loara), Art Lopez (El Dorado), Mike Reith (Los Alamitos) and Sam Song (Katella); Center--Dave Havens (Los Alamitos); TE--Tim Hall (Katella); WR--Shawn Facione (El Dorado) and Brett Richter (Esperanza); Kicker--Chris Park (Los Alamitos).

Defense: Linemen--Rod Berry (Cypress), Kirk Gurske (El Dorado) and Keith Navidi (Esperanza); DE--Craig Chuha (Esperanza) and Aaron Foglesong (Katella); LB--Terry Brown (Katella), Brian Havens (Los Alamitos) and Fred Leglar (Katella); Backs--Randy Halcomb (Loara), Dave Haub (Los Alamitos), Greg Hausen (Esperanza) and Brian Yourstone (Katella); Punter--Joey Chavez (Cypress).