SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Football

2005 San Diego Section Report:
Muheize chosen as Silver Pigskin Award winner

By Phillip Brents
Posted Dec. 8, 2006

It is an award in San Diego County high school sports like no other. In fact, there are only seven names etched on its titanium surface. One belongs to former High High School and current USC standout Reggie Bush, who has gone on record stating that he covets the award more than winning this year’s Heisman Trophy, which he did on Dec. 10 in a runaway vote.

The award in question is the Silver Pigskin trophy, awarded annually by KUSI-TV’s own award-winning Prep Pigskin Report to denote its Player of the Year.

Former Hilltop quarterback Jake Fadden last year’s recipient, was on hand to present it to this year’s winner, record-setting El Cajon Valley signal-caller Abraham Muheize, amid gala ceremonies telecast live from the San Diego Hall of Champions on Dec. 8.

Muheize, who was among five finalists for this year’s coveted award, called the honor “a great one.”

“It would be great to be on the same page with Reggie Bush,” he said humbly.

KUSI-TV sports anchor Paul Rudy called Muheize’s victory (viewers voted for the five finalists, with the Braves quarterback receiving 49 percent of votes) a “great story line.”

Those words were most appropriately chosen.

Muheize enters Tuesday’s San Diego Section Division II championship game — the first-ever appearance by a Braves team in a CIF title contest in the school’s 50-plus-year history — with 4,994 total offensive yards, including 3,835 passing yards and 1,159 rushing yards. He has passed for 39 touchdowns and rushed for 11 more to give him 50 touchdowns in 13 games.

He threw seven touchdown passes and racked up a section-record 608 all-purpose yards in a 56-32 quarterfinal-round playoff victory against Castle Park.

Those are career numbers for some players.

What makes this story amazing is that Muheize had never played the quarterback position before. Last season, he earned All-Grossmont North League honors as a running back and defensive back.

But El Cajon Valley coach Jason Texler decided to revamp the Braves’ offensive scheme this season, going with a five-receiver spread and handing the ball to whom he termed “the team’s best athlete.”

In this case, Muheize got the call and, like the Energizer Bunny, kept going … and going and going.

“The coach wanted me to have the ball. I had to step it up because I knew he wanted us to win,” said Muheize, who became the first player in PPR’s seven-year history to win back-to-back Player of the Week awards (in weeks 13 and 14 this season) and who was also featured as one of the Friday night program’s spotlighted scholar-athletes.

Muheize was joined on the stage by fellow finalists Josh Holmes, a lineman for Point Loma, as well as Poway running back Brandon Sullivan, Cathedral Catholic running back Demetrius Sumler and Rancho Bernardo lineman Will Yeatman.

Sumler finished the season in the Division III semifinals with 2,467 yards and 31 touchdowns — ranking second to Valhalla’s Garen Demery (2,558 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns) — to finish his prep career with as the section-leader in career rushing yards (more than 5,500 yards). Sullivan rushed for 1,544 yards and 23 touchdowns in leading the Titans to this year’s Division I quarterfinals.

For these select individuals — chosen from a list of more than 100 players — standout collegiate careers likely await. In Muheize’s case, he has been recruited mainly as a defensive back. Entering Tuesday’s finals, he leads the section with nine interceptions, including a pivotal pick-off with 42.9 seconds remaining in the Braves’ Dec. 2 semifinal match-up against top-ranked Mira Mesa that secured a 26-21 victory.

Besides the five finalists (all of whom were ferried to the Hall of Champions by a fleet of limousines), all student-athletes who received recognition on the program this season were invited to attend the Dec. 8 Silver Pigskin gala.

Fadden, who finished the 2004 season with more than 2,300 passing yards, said he was happy to pass the trophy to another quarterback. Fadden is now attending Mt. San Antonio College, where he gray-shirted this season but hopes to receive significant playing time next season, with a goal of eventually transferring to a four-year college.

Fadden received the award last year from Marian Catholic running back Patrick Gates, who ranks fourth all-time in the section with 5,039 rushing yards.

“It was South Bay to South Bay. That was kind of special,” Fadden said.

But this award, once again epitomized by this year’s winners, seems reserved only for special players.

Heisman watch
Bush, a 2003 Helix graduate, has rushed for 1,658 yards and 15 touchdowns this season for USC (overall he has 2,611 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns), which will play Texas in the 2006 national championship game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4. Bush led his nearest challenger for this year’s coveted award, Texas quarterback Vince Young, by 933 votes in the final tally.