Wewahitchka's Brown named 1A's best football player

WEWAHITCHKA — Theryl Brown was the state’s top football player in Class 1A this past season, and he has an award to prove it.

The Wewahitchka senior was tabbed the Class 1A player of the year by the Florida Dairy Farmers organization on Wednesday, and he now is in contention for Florida’s Mr. Football award. A running back, Brown led all area players with more than 2,700 yards of total offense and 38 touchdowns.

“This is just a great thing that he’s been honored with that,” Wewa coach Dennis Kizziah said. “He definitely earned it. He earned it on the field, and he’s been dedicated to a whole season of just hard work and helping the team win. That exemplifies the kind of individual he is, too. This is a great stepping stone for the program. He’s probably the first one that’s ever received that here.”

Wewa finished 2-8 in 2010, but the Gators improved to 7-4 this year and reached the playoffs. Brown became the focal point of the Gators’ offense after he spent an injury-plagued 2010 season at wide receiver.

“This year we definitely saw the athletic ability he had,” Kizziah said. “We put him in the backfield and put him in an offense that he could get the ball just any time or direct snap it to him and let him run. It played right into his hands. That’s what we did. We run the single wing, snap it to him and give him a direction to go. He got some good blocking and he was able to make things happen.”

Brown, 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, finished with 130 voting points to surpass Jefferson County’s Alphonso Footman (115) in the balloting. Union County’s Kendall Wright (91) was third.

“He’s not a big kid, but he’s very durable and really worked hard in the offseason getting stronger in his legs and his upper body,” Kizziah said. “That made him the player that he was and the player that he is. He had enough help back there with Justin Flowers and Jalyn Addison that it took a lot of the load off him, and they’re pretty good, too. But Theryl carried the brunt of the load and he just responded to what we were doing.”

Kizziah said Brown is working on improving his grades and exploring his options at the college level.

“It remains to be seen,” Kizziah said. “He is getting some looks from a lot of places. Maybe (junior college). Maybe out in Mississippi.”

Jefferson County coach Jeremy Brown, who graduated from Bay and was an assistant coach at Rutherford during the 1990s, placed third in balloting for Class 1A coach of the year.