Pittsford senior Gavyn Carden earns 2023 Dream Team Offensive Player of the Year
HILLSDALE COUNTY — It was a year of firsts for several Hillsdale County prep football teams in 2023. Overall, two 8-player football teams represented the County in the MHSAA postseason. For one of those teams, it was the first playoff appearance since becoming an 8-player program.
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Despite the overall combined record of Hillsdale County football teams in 2023, dozens of players stood out with their performance on the field this season. The 2023 All-Area Dream Team Offense honorees were chosen from coaches' nominations combined with on-field impact and accolade recognition.
This year, three honorees were chosen as the All-Area Dream Team Co-Captains, an honor given out to three seniors who's on field leadership and performance represented the best of Hillsdale County. Altogether, six athletes were chosen for this honor.
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Honorees were considered for spots on both the dream team offense and defense. Special consideration was given to players who may have filled multiple roles on their team's offense; these players are designated with ATHLETE.
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Player of the Year - Offense
One player was chosen to represent the honorees as the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year. This honoree happens to also be one of the 2023 co-captains and the quarterback of the 7-3 Pittsford Wildcats.
Pittsford senior quarterback Gavyn Carden earns our Offensive Player of the Year honor for 2023 after leading the Wildcats to a 7-2 regular season record and a playoff appearance for in the second-ever season of 8-player football for the program.
Carden and the Pittsford Wildcats went 7-0 to start the 2023 season, including a six-game stretch that saw the team score more than 45 points a game. The team ended their year with a 7-3 mark, including a regional semifinal appearance. The Wildcat offense was the highest scoring in program history since 2005. They outscored their opponents 372-165.
On the stat sheet, Carden had 160 carries for 1,001 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. He completed 64 of his 95 passes for 994 yards, throwing 15 touchdowns to only five interceptions. His efforts earned him honorable mention SCAA East honors at quarterback (only behind first team and state champion QB Sam Lutz of LCS) and All-Area Dream Team.
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His impact on the field also extended to the defense, where Carden had 60 total tackles, three sacks and one interception. He earned first team SCAA East honors and first team MHSFCA All-State honors.
His coach, Mike Burger, said that very few players that he's coached after improved as much as Carden had over this past offseason heading into his senior year.
"The thing that really struck me about Gavyn was how hard he worked in the offseason," Pittsford coach Mike Burger said. "From where he was last year to this year, very few players that I've coached improved like he did. He was all-in with everything that we did. I'm really proud of him. He got us back to where we want to be, competing in the playoffs with all of his teammates. We just had a phenomenal season and I'm really happy for him."
2023 All-Area Dream Team Offense
Co-Captains: Gavyn Carden, Worm Wickham and Austin Neely
QB: Gavyn Carden - Senior - Pittsford
WR: Miguel Pedroza - Senior - Litchfield; Worm Wickham - Senior - Camden-Frontier; Bryce Williams - Senior - Pittsford
RB: Kaiden Conroy - Junior - Camden-Frontier; John Milks - Freshman - Jonesville; Jace Lennox - Junior - Hillsdale; Lukas Strine - Junior - Reading
OL: Wyatt Coshatt - Junior - Hillsdale; Eli LaBo - Senior - Pittsford; Austin Neely - Senior - Reading; Cooper Stevens - Junior - Jonesville; Wyatt Wahtola - Junior - Hillsdale
Center: Brady Stanton - Senior - Jonesville
TE: Jordan Vansickle - Senior - Jonesville
ATHLETE: Tayshawn Bester - Senior - Reading; Logan Leggett - Senior - Camden-Frontier
Punter/Kicker: Cormack Price - Sophomore - Reading
Honorable Mention Offense
QB: Tyler Bills – Litchfield
WR: Brandon Campbell – Litchfield; Junior Alvarez - Litchfield; Dyrk Hensley – Pittsford; Nathan Robbins – Reading; Collin Williams - Waldron
RB: Stephen Petersen – Hillsdale; Carson Playford – Jonesville; Will Thielen – North Adams-Jerome
OL: Logan Allwardt – Camden-Frontier; Devin Wolff – Camden-Frontier; Brayden Miller - Camden-Frontier; Jerome Vasquez – Litchfield; Brady Kast – Hillsdale; Conner Osborn – Pittsford; Brady Hartman - Pittsford (Center); AJ Wilson - Waldron (Center)
ATHLETE: Sam Williams - Waldron
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Pittsford senior Gavyn Carden earns 2023 Dream Team Offensive Player of the Year
