It was another incredible season of San Pedro Prep Football in 2016.

Once again, the San Pedro High football team grabbed most of the headlines starting with the hire of new coach Corey Miller who took over for the retired 25-year icon Mike Walsh.

The headlines kept coming from there.

First, the 'Let's Play Football' commercial by the National Football League was filmed on campus at San Pedro High's Pirate Stadium in July. October was also memorable when Walsh was inducted into the San Pedro Sportswalk Of Fame early, and then the Pirates won 20-7 over Banning of Wilmington at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 22 as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District's 2nd Annual Coliseum Gridiron Classic.

The Pirates were also one of two teams to first play on El Camino College's newly remodeled Murdock Stadium on October 28 in a Marine League championship showdown with eventual winner & three-time CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 champion Narbonne of Harbor City.

Miller's first season would end with a CIF-LACS Division 1 semifinal loss to runner-up Dorsey of Los Angeles but the Pirates did finish 10-3 overall, 4-1 in the Marine League.

Mary Star (6-4 overall) and second-year coach Jason Gelber had as good enough season as any, but was still left out of the CIF-Southern Section Division 13 playoffs due to their 1-2 finish in the four-team Santa Fe League, along with the fact there were no at-large spots available in their division even though the Stars were one victory over the at-large limit (five victories).

In spite of that, Mary Star had an impressive resume, defeating a 2015 CIF-SS runner-up Linfield Christian of Temecula on the road, and the defense kept four teams out of the end zone, shutting out Verbum Dei of Los Angeles and St. Monica of Santa Monica in back-to-back weeks during mid-October.

The two players that made the most impact and garnered more attention around town, is the San Pedro duo of senior OL/DL Nick Ford and senior WR/DB Raymond Geha, the 2016 San Pedro News Pilot Prep Football Co-Players Of The Year.

Ford, who has 17 NCAA Division 1 scholarship offers, including five from the Pac-12 Conference, was chosen as the Marine League's Defensive Player Of The Year, and the CIF-LACS Offensive Lineman Of The Year. The three-year veteran was the anchor of a bruising offensive line that was able to guide the Pirates to 4,004 total yards of offense and 43 offensive touchdowns, registering 25 pancake blocks. On defense, the two-time All-City selection registered 56 tackles (43 solo), 24 tackles for loss and ten sacks, plus a forced fumble and two pass deflections.

Meanwhile, Geha was the most dangerous player who made big plays in a variety of ways.

The three-time All-Marine League first team selection & the league's All-Purpose Player Of The Year caught 40 passes for 645 yards (16.5 yards per catch) and six touchdowns, also gaining 411 yards on kickoff returns, returning two for touchdowns. Geha also contributed defensively with 20 tackles, 6 pass deflections and an interception.

Most Outstanding Player all-around is Mary Star senior QB/LB/K Robert Enciso (1,089 passing yards, 509 rushing years, 14 total TDs), who had his best season in his three-years as a starter.

Here is the 2016 All-San Pedro News Pilot Prep Football Team

OFFENSE
QB – Austin Jackson (San Pedro, senior)

RB – Sean Davenport (San Pedro, junior)
RB - Kai Kaneshiro (San Pedro, junior)

RB – Jasen Watanabe (Mary Star, senior)
WR - Raymond Geha (San Pedro, senior)
WR – Genki Mouri (Mary Star, senior)
OL – Damian Lopez (San Pedro, senior)
OL – Kyle Branch (San Pedro, senior)
OL – Kenny Howard (San Pedro, senior)
OL – Matt Sestich (Mary Star, senior)
OL – Kaze Hayashi (Mary Star, junior)

ATH. – Robert Enciso (Mary Star, senior)

DEFENSE
DL – Nicolas Ford (San Pedro, senior)
DL – Izzy Amalfitano (Mary Star, senior)

DL – Nick Zabatta (San Pedro, senior)
DL - Daichi Kusunoki (Mary Star, senior)
LB - Sohl Gafa (San Pedro, senior)
LB – Junior Gafa (San Pedro, sophomore)
LB – Jaime Casiano Jr. (Mary Star, senior)*

DB – Hunter Bjazevich (Mary Star, senior)
DB – Luis Padilla (San Pedro, senior)

DB – Corey Fausto (San Pedro, junior)
DB – Mikey Hernandez Jr. (San Pedro, senior)

K/P – Tanner Carcamo (San Pedro, senior)

HONORABLE MENTION: Justin Escoto (San Pedro, DL, senior); Isaiah Bumgarner (San Pedro, WR, senior); Alejandro Saldana (Mary Star, OL, senior); Nathan Trudnich (Mary Star, LB, sophomore); Alec McWilliams (Mary Star, WR, senior).

CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR: Nicolas Ford & Raymond Geha.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Robert Enciso.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Luis Padilla.

LINEMAN OF THE YEAR: Izzy Amalfitano.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Junior Gafa.

(Note - *Casiano Jr. is a defensive back; Nick Ford, Raymond Geha, Robert Enciso & Izzy Amalfitano split duet photos courtesy of John Mattera, John Mattera Photography)