Andres Enriquez Defensive Player of the Year

Many students play sports here at CHS, and fewer play them at the varsity level, but only one student holds the title of MVP. Named the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year by the Monterey Herald, senior Andres Enriquez filled the role with his excellent final football season at Carmel High.

With a total of nine sacks on the season, Enriquez led the team by a landslide, and led the whole league in forced fumbles, with a total of six.

“I credit most, if not all of my success, to the outstanding coaching staff and [my] fellow teammates,” the 17-year-old defensive tackle humbly says in reference to his experience within the program.

According to varsity head coach Golden Anderson, Enriquez has proved to be a major leader on the field, not necessarily with the things he says, but with the way he plays. Anderson says that Enriquez has always been a lead-by-example kind of player, not too wordy, but always working hard.

Though a Central Coast Section playoff loss may not have been the ideal way to end the year, or his entire Carmel football career for that matter, Enriquez has no regrets.

“I’m proud of the way our team fought and wouldn’t have wanted to play alongside a different group of guys.”

Noting that Enriquez was able to play anywhere on the defensive line effectively, Anderson says the senior was the kind of player who doesn’t come along too often. All of his sacks were from different positions on the line, proving that it was his raw talent that got him so close to the ball.

Anderson recollects that, over his three years as a varsity starter, Enriquez’s technique just kept getting better, which helped him challenge opponents who were much bigger on the line.

“He was really good against the run and still had nine sacks, which is a lot of sacks for someone since I’ve been here. Usually you get a bunch of guys with three or four sacks…where Dre is in the interior getting them,” says Anderson, referring to the rare talent that the third-year veteran displayed.

Through his excellent final performance at Carmel High, it is apparent that Andres Enriquez is the deserving athlete for the Padre of the Month.
-Lennie Rodriguez