It was a good season for Falcon football. With seven wins and three losses, the South Whidbey football team was competitive in every game.

At least when healthy. Quarterback Hunter Rawls and running back Henry Mead were injured and missed the final three games, of which the only win was a defensive 6-2 victory over Coupeville.

The Cascade Conference named their 2008 All-Conference players this week and

10 Falcons made the cut.

Making first team on offense was center Trapper Rawls.

On the second team were Mead and offensive lineman David Monell.

Honorable mention went to running back Danny Zuver and lineman Joe Kinser.

For the defense, Monell, Rawls and Luke Hodson were named to the first team.

Linebackers Nick Tenuta and Jon Poolman were named to the second team. Honorable mention honors went to Zuver, lineman Dillon Parrick and defensive back Lucas Yale.

Getting named on both sides of the line was “quite an honor,” Rawls said. “But being named with all these other great guys is the best thing. The coaches did their job and we tried our best to do ours.”

Hodson plans to go out for football in college and thinks the award can’t hurt.

“I probably won’t be going out for quarterback, though,” referring to his fill-in work in the Falcon’s final loss to the Blaine Borderites.

Mead made the list, though he suffered a concussion in the Archbishop Murphy game on Oct. 24, and was on injured reserve the balance of the season.

“I think it was a positive change for the team to have a running back quick enough to cut around the outside this year,” he said. “I really wanted to finish the season, but that’s the way it goes.”

The always soft-spoken Monell has a demeanor that belies his fierce tackling ability.

“It’s good to be recognized,” he said quietly upon hearing the news.

Zuver, seldom at a loss for words, thanked the league.

“I always like to compete at the highest level of competition and strive to do better,” he said. Yale added that playing well is a great way to get back at schools that sometimes think they’re better than South Whidbey.

“Beating them on the field is very satisfying,” he said.

Mead, Zuver, Kinser and Poolman will be back.

Kinser said that the strong junior class means 2009 will be a good season.

“All the hard work throughout the year made the difference,” he said. Poolman agreed, adding that this was his most enjoyable year playing football.

Tenuta said his first thought when he heard the news was, “That is pretty sweet.”

For the season, the offense rushed the ball 1,760 yards and passed for 1,276 more, a decidedly more balanced attack than the Falcons fielded in the past.

“When we were totally healthy, we played as well as any team in the state,” Falcon coach Mark Hodson said. “Even in the games we lost, those guys played hard to the last second of the last quarter, and any team taking us for granted did so at their peril. All the coaches are extremely proud of what they did.”

Defensive coordinator Damian Greene pointed to another significant statistic.

“We stopped 53 passes this year, compared to 27 last season,” he said. “That’s a clear indicator that we played tight games that resulted in three touchdowns and two safeties.”

Greene noted that it is traditionally hard to get linebackers on the list.

“David, Luke and Trapper did an awesome job for us,” he said. “Nick and Lucas in the backfield were a constant threat to the other team’s passing game.”

Greene added that Monell continued to be impressive — he was the league’s defensive MVP last year — as he forced opposing teams to adjust their offenses.

“He forced the teams to throw, and that’s why our pass defense was so effective.”

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or sports@south

whidbeyrecord.com.