Darrius Coleman spent the year fielding questions.<\/p>\n
In the fall on the football gridiron, could he replace Dimitrius Bronson in the Kentwood High backfield?<\/p>\n
In the winter on the basketball court, could he supply a defensive spark off the bench?<\/p>\n
In the spring on the track, could he be even better in the hurdles after not taking up that event until his junior year?<\/p>\n
Coleman answered all of those questions \u2014 rather emphatically and successfully at that. He proved to be the key offensive cog in Kentwood\u2019s return to the state football playoffs. He delivered high-energy lock-down defense on the basketball court. And then, he took a giant step forward as one of the state\u2019s elite hurdlers.<\/p>\n
Boil it down and there really wasn\u2019t anybody better than Coleman this school year. And because of that, the KW senior has been chosen from a strong field as the Reporter\u2019s Male Athlete of the Year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was frustrated with my junior year (in football),\u201d Coleman said. \u201cDimitrius told me to keep playing, that my time would come.”<\/p>\n
Coleman\u2019s time did indeed come.<\/p>\n
At 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, he wasn\u2019t the biggest running back in the South Puget Sound League North Division. However, few ran with the same heart, determination and vision.<\/p>\n
More impressive, however, might have been Coleman\u2019s coming-out party.<\/p>\n
Fully aware that people were asking who Kentwood\u2019s next great running back would be, Coleman wasted little time supplying an answer, rushing for 80 yards and three touchdowns in the team\u2019s 28-14 season-opening victory against Class 3A powerhouse Kennedy.<\/p>\n
“Darrius just has some really good vision,\u201d Kentwood football coach Rex Norris said. \u201cAt times, he was even better at seeing the field than Dimitrius (Bronson). He didn’t have the physical presence, but did a lot with what he had.”<\/p>\n
Coleman finished the fall among the state leaders in rushing, going for 1,489 yards and 13 touchdowns on 176 carries. The high point came in Kentwood\u2019s 35-28 overtime win against Edmonds-Woodway that clinched a spot in the Class 4A state playoffs. Coleman compiled 254 total yards, including a game-winning 40-yard touchdown run in OT.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been playing football since I was 7, so it did come a bit natural,\u201d said Coleman, who hasn\u2019t yet decided on college, but still is being recruited by Idaho State, among others. \u201cI just had fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fun didn\u2019t end for Coleman in the fall.<\/p>\n
Though he wasn\u2019t among Kentwood\u2019s starters on the basketball team, not many in the SPSL North could match the spark he provided off the bench. A defensive menace, it wasn\u2019t uncommon to see Coleman hurl his entire body at a loose ball or trade elbows in the paint with much bigger opponents.<\/p>\n
Matter of fact, when the Conquerors became complacent on the floor, Coleman was the first player into the game for coach Michael Angelidis.<\/p>\n
“Something good always happened when he was on the floor,\u201d Angelidis said. \u201cHe really took an aggressive approach and we wanted him to do that. It also came natural to him. It was a role that he cherished.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Coleman, it was always defense first, shoot second.<\/p>\n
“I loved playing defense, because nobody else (loves it),\u201d he said. \u201cI have been a defensive player since I started in basketball because I was scared to shoot (when I was young).\u201d<\/p>\n
He kept going in the spring.<\/p>\n
Despite just beginning the hurdles as a junior, Coleman showed growth beyond his years this season, taking eighth at the state meet in the 110s after stopping the clock in 15.98 seconds. That time, however, was a bit marred as Coleman strained a hamstring midway through. His top time this season of 14.69 would have placed fourth at state.<\/p>\n
“I was surprised that he picked it up so quickly (as a junior),\u201d Kentwood hurdles coach Rhamu McCoy said. \u201cI wasn’t as surprised of his success this year because he’s a great athlete.”<\/p>\n
An athlete who answered every question all year long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Darrius Coleman spent the year fielding questions. In the fall on the football gridiron, could he replace Dimitrius Bronson in the Kentwood High backfield? In the winter on the basketball court, could he supply a defensive spark off the bench? In the spring on the track, could he be even better in the hurdles after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":20651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-20650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20650"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}