By Jacob Seliga
Lead Writer
On Saturday afternoon in North Phoenix, 130 of the top football and flag football athletes from around Arizona met at Chateau Luxe for the 34th annual Ed Doherty award ceremony.
The Doherty award is presented to the top boys football player in the state of Arizona during a given season and the winner is selected from a panel of 13 media members.
The 13 media members nominated different players throughout the regular season to be eligible for the award and from the list of 125 different players, the panel then votes for their top five finalists from whom the winner would be selected from.
This year's finalists were as followed:
Dezmen Roebuck, Senior, Marana
Tait Reynolds, QB, Queen Creek
Jimmy Leon, TE/DE, Mica Mountain
Wyatt Horton, QB, Pinnacle
Jaxon Knutson, QB, McClintock
In a narrow vote, the winner of the 2024 Ed Doherty Award was Dezmen Roebuck from Marana high school.
As a senior, Roebuck led Marana to the school’s best record in 55 years and led the Tigers to the open division becoming only the second team from Southern Arizona to appear in the top bracket.
“I just want to thank God and my parents, I also want to thank my coach, coach Steward for pushing me at practice everyday and my teammates for pushing me at practice they made me a better player and man,” said Roebuck.
Now, Roebuck will head to the University of Washington to play wide receiver for the Huskies.
With the award, the final cap has been put on his successful high school career that saw him break the career reception record for the state with 352 and saw him become only the second receiver in state history to reach over 4,000 receiving yards in a career.
Flag Football Player of the Year
On Saturday, for the first time ever the Ed Doherty committee awarded the flag football player of the year award.
As opposed to the award on the boys side that handed out nominations on a weekly basis, five athletes were selected at the end of the regular season to be nominated for the award.
Samaya Taylor-Jenkins, WR, Hamilton
Katelyn Jewell, QB, Canyon View
Madison Coger, WR, Campo Verde
Marlie Phillips, QB, Hamilton
Malaysia Roebuck, WR, Marana
After multiple rounds of voting that saw two players tie in each round, the co-winners of the first ever flag football player of the year were Samaya Taylor-Jenkins and Katelyn Jewell.
Jewell led the Canyon View Jaguars back to the 5A conference state championship where the Jaguars avenged their championship loss in 2023 with a victory in 2024.
“We had a chip on our shoulder from last year and so we worked really hard and our motto was unfinished business, and now it’s finished,” said Jewell.
This season, Jewell threw for 65 touchdowns and 4,113 yards as the Jaguars finished with a 15-1 record and nine running clock victories.
Our school in general is a new school, but we are not nothing but strong athletically. So I think a legacy has been set at Canyon View especially in flag football, “ said Jewell.
Hamilton was one of the original schools to help lead the push for the AIA to adopt flag football as a sanctioned sport and last season in its inaugural season, the Huskies fell short of a 6A championship.
This season however, Taylor-Jenkins would roll through the competition as Hamilton coasted to the 6A state championship and a top three national ranking.
”It feels amazing to be able to make history and win this award and just come back and win our championship after we came up short last year, all of it just feels so surreal,” said Taylor-Jenkins.
This season, Taylor-Jenkins finished with 2,138 receiving yards and 39 receiving touchdowns and also received the honor of being selected as the Arizona Cardinals player of the year.
“It feels good to know that little girls are going to look up to me and that I am making a name for myself out here and that Ed Doherty and all the organizations are beginning to recognize girls flag football,” said Taylor-Jenkins.
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