Yanez, Seidler honored in league

BURBANK — It was a Burbank-Burroughs cavalcade of honorees in this year's all-league football voting.

The Indians and Bulldogs were in the running for the Pacific League championship up until the final game of the regular season. Burroughs went on to share the league crown with Arcadia, and Burbank finished third.

The teams' impact on the field led to a big all-league haul off of it. The two area teams combined to put 24 (12 for each program) players in the all-league list.

Unfortunately for Bellarmine-Jefferson, an off-year yielded just three all-league awards.

Two of the biggest awards were given to Burroughs senior quarterback Lucas Yanez and Burbank senior linebacker Ryan Seidler. While Yanez was named the offensive player of the year, Seidler earned defensive player-of-the-year accolades.

Indians Coach Keith Knoop said although earning the league's top offensive award was a fine accomplishment for Yanez; he felt his player deserved a higher honor.

"I think he deserved to be named player of the year," said Knoop of the honor that was given to Arcadia's Taylor Lagace. "I think Lucas made his impact in the league and I'm disappointed he didn't win player of the year."

Yanez leaves the Burroughs program after putting his emphatic stamp on the record books. This season, he completed 133 of 214 passes (a 62% completion rate) for 1,965 yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Along with his threat as a passer, Yanez also proved he could run, carrying the ball 96 times for 523 yards (5.5 yards a carry) and nine touchdowns.

Yanez finished with a distinction that no other player in the history of Burroughs has been able to accomplish. He is No. 3 on the all-time Indians career passing list, as well as being No. 9 on the career rushing list. In his career, he completed 303 of 515 passes for 4,280 yards, 36 touchdowns and an NCAA quarterback rating of 145.1. He also gained 1,481 yards rushing.

"I just wish I had more players like Lucas," Knoop said. "He has accomplished a great deal in our program. But we knew he was going to be special when we saw him as a freshman out of the Burbank Vikings program."

Yanez also piloted Burroughs to two consecutive co-league championships.

Seidler proved his worth as a stalwart on defense for Burbank. He led the league with an impressive 151 tackles and averaged nearly 14 a game. In addition, he caused two fumbles and recovered two more.