Spaulding senior does it all for state football champions
|
|
Spaulding's Gabe Aguilar runs for a gain against Mount Mansfield during the Division II championship in Essex. Aguilar, who played on offense, defense and special teams for the Division II champion Crimson Tide, is the Times Argus football Player of the Year for 2008. Stefan Hard/Times Argus file |
Toolbox
By James Biggam Times Argus Staff - Published: November 27, 2008
Gabe Aguilar wasn't on everyone's radar screen last season when Spaulding won its first-ever football title.
This year, the 5-foot-5, 170-pound senior simply stole the show.
A monster on both sides of the ball, Aguilar racked up 11 rushing touchdowns and tallied a team-high 90 tackles while leading the Crimson Tide to their second straight Division II crown. And even though Spaulding boasted some of Vermont's highest-profile players, none of them contributed as reliably and in as many different areas as Aguilar.
Voted the Crimson Tide's MVP after the season, Aguilar was a hands-down pick as the 2008 Times Argus Football Player of the Year.
"He's an explosive north-south runner, he's got decent speed, he's got a low center of gravity, he's a strong kid for his height and he plays with a lot of heart," Spaulding's first-year coach Erik Anderson said. "All that makes him pretty dangerous."
Aguilar began his football career in fourth grade, joining classmates Markus Browning, Bryant Cleveland and Jake Kittredge on a Barre Youth Sports Association team.
"The others came along later, but I played with those guys from the start," Aguilar said. "BYSA had its ups and downs – it started out kind of shaky – but it got better as the years progressed and as the program got set in stone. Back then I was a lot smaller and then I grew in 7th and 8th grade and I was bigger than most kids. But then everybody grew bigger than me in high school."
Aguilar played junior varsity as a freshman and played sparingly on the varsity team as a sophomore. He earned a starting role on the Tide's defense last season and filled in offensively after a teammate was injured.
"I was the backup running back and Cam (Cummings) got hurt in the game against Rice and that's when I proved that I could run the ball," Aguilar said.
This year, Aguilar did a little bit of everything. He handled his team's kickoffs, he played on the kick-return team and he stepped up as the team's starting tailback. Defensively, he was a middle linebacker on the weak side of the Crimson Tide's "46" defense that comprised four down linemen, three linebackers and four defensive backs.
"Depending on how hard-hitting the game gets, guys get a little tired if they're playing both ways," Anderson said. "But they get used to it and Gabe was definitely one of those guys who didn't want to get taken out. He came out for a couple plays here and there because of a stinger, but he never missed any game for an extended period of time. He's a pretty durable and strong kid, and he was basically out there the entire game. He didn't get much rest."
Aguilar credited his endurance to a summer training regimen with the Barre Wrestling Club.
"In the game against Rice I started cramping up at the end, but as the season progresses it becomes easier and easier to go both ways," he said. "You learn to pace yourself, but you're still going 100 percent all the time."
When Anderson showed up for his first day of practice with the Tide last August, he remembers that Aguilar stood out immediately.
"Gabe was one of the first ones who bought into what we were doing," Anderson said. "He definitely made things go smoother."
Aguilar may have taken a back seat to his teammates in the statistics department last year, but it quickly became clear that 2008 was going to be a breakout season for the senior. His lunch-pail approach helped him rack up 535 rushing yards in addition to touchdown runs of 75, 62, 40 and 33 yards.
"The big thing was our offensive line," Aguilar said. "Our offensive line really gelled as the season progressed. In our game against Woodstock, I got touched once on my three touchdown runs. They did well in the championship game and they did well in the regular season – they really played together."
Aguilar managed to provide the only bright spot in his team's lone loss this season, returning a kickoff for an 82-yard touchdown against Mt. Mansfield.
"He broke some tackles, but there was really good blocking and he was able to visually see that and take the ball upfield," Anderson said. "In that 75-yard touchdown run (against Fair Haven), it was on a sweep and he broke three tackles and took it the distance. He's not the easiest person to tackle or get a hold of. He's quick and he can see and find the holes really well. He did everything he was supposed to do at that position. But his main contribution was as middle-linebacker. I couldn't have asked much more of him."
Next year, Aguilar hopes to play for Castleton State, Norwich or St. Lawrence.
25