Top offensive players to get top awards

First of three parts

There is just one game remaining in the 2004 edition of the Commonwealth Football League, and when the undefeated Shell Chiefs and the upstart Verizon Nitro vie for the championship this weekend, the league officials will give some of the standout players some well-deserved recognition for a job well done.

On the offensive side, Miller Barbarians quarterback Plasido Tagabuel will be recognized for having thrown for the most yards of any passer in the league. “Plas Pass” was the only QB to weather all six games for his team, and he racked up 423 yards through the air in doing so.

The durable Tagabuel was able to evade oncoming tacklers to go 22-for-77 with six touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while averaging 71 yards per game to take the top billing.

While the Black and Gold ruled the air, Stanley Iakopo and the Shell Chiefs were winning all of the battles on the ground. Despite playing in only five games, Iakopo led all running backs with 43 rushes for 372 yards and six touchdowns. With a mixture of speed and power, Stanley was as close as possible to a sure thing, as he averages 8.7 yards per carry, and 74 yards per game. He will also be rewarded for his efforts during the award ceremony this weekend.

As good a back as Iakopo has proved himself to be, chances are that he would not have been able to be so dominant were it not for his solid offensive line.

For allowing the most productive offense in the league to have a chance to operate, Wes Foster, Steve Stettenbenz, Jeff Norita, Charlie Peters, Tony Paurillo, Wilbur Sablan, and John Kapileo will get their due when they are recognized this weekend as the finest unit in the game.

The offensive line stood pat for three quarterbacks and three of the Top 4 running backs and allowed them to accumulate 1,213 yards and 134 points in six games.

Though no team was able to find more success in the air than the Chiefs, no individual found more success than Alison Kaipat of the Miller Barbarians.

Kaipat reeled in eight catches for 233 yards and caught four of them for touchdowns in five regular season games. Kaipat spent most of his time on the field slipping behind opposing corner backs, but he also checked in with the defense for double duty to help his team to a respectable 3-3 record.