CCS Junior of the Year
CONNOR MARDEN, QB, CARMEL
Teams need to be well-armed in the wild Mission Trail Athletic League, and Carmel certainly is with junior Connor Marden at quarterback.
In what amounted to a league championship game - the league finale with Pacific Grove -- Carmel defeated Pacific Grove 40-35. Two weeks
later in the second round of the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs, Pacific Grove avenged the defeat, out-scoring Carmel 77-53.
So much for defense.
Marden shined in both Pacific Grove games, throwing for 289 yards and two TDs and rushing for 88 yards in the loss to the Breakers and
passing for 273 yards and three TDs and running for 78 yards and two more scores in the victory against PG.
Regarding the frenetic pace of games against Pacific Grove and the video game-like scoring, Marden said: "I'd go over to the sideline
and then the other team would score and then I'd go back out there and do the same thing. But it was interesting watching other teams
and their offenses."
In Marden, Prep2Prep's CCS Junior of the Year, Carmel has the ultimate weapon - a throwing and running marvel who passed for 2,706 yards
and 25 touchdowns and ran for 1,001 yards and 15 scores this season.
Last season, in earning the P2P Sophomore of the Year award, he passed for 2,340 yards and 31 TDs and ran for 504 yards and six scores.
"I think we did well as a team and I improved from last year to this year because I learned more about the spread offense," Marden said.
"I think I stepped up from last year."
Marden was not groomed since birth to be a quarterback. He excelled in soccer and basketball before high school. However, he gave
football a try as a freshman, at the urging of his parents.
By sophomore year he was lighting it up with regularity, including even in a season-ending 49-42 loss to Soquel in the CCS playoffs. He
threw for 170 yards and three touchdowns that game.
Said coach Golden Anderson to Prep2Prep following the 2012 season: "Not many kids who didn't start playing until ninth grade could do
that in a CCS playoff game. I think the sky's the limit for him."
Marden comes from good athletic stock. His dad, Jay Marden, ran track at Mission San Jose High in Fremont and at Cal. The athleticism
rubbed off as the Padre quarterback also plays basketball and runs track. He was the starting point guard on the basketball team last
season as a sophomore and is still running the point for the Pads.
However, it's football and the Friday night lights that really get Marden - especially when those numbers on the scoreboard keep changing.
"I love competition and I love to throw the ball," Marden said.
Also considered: Anthony Gordon, QB, Terra Nova; Joey Wood, RB, Los Gatos; Kava Cassidy, RB, Serra; Ben Burr-Kirven, RB/LB, Sacred Heart Prep;
Solomon Foketi, LB, Milpitas; Hakeem Mays, RB/DB, Willow Glen; Dante Gomez, LB, Aptos; Jacob Hoekstra, RB, Lincoln-SJ; Kirk Johnson, RB,
Valley Christian; Dakari Monroe, RB/DB, Archbishop Mitty.
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