Unwritten guidelines of sports journalism suggest that players should not share a postseason award. For some reason, it was established at an undeterminable time in the past that a decision should be made, one way or the other.

In other words, handing out postseason awards sometimes isn't as easy as it seems. Then again sometimes, it is. Guidelines or no guidelines.

Whitehouse's Patrick Mahomes (5) evades an Arlington Seguin defender during the Wildcats' 50-44 overtime win Friday night in Mesquite. (Jaime R. Carrero, ETSN.fm)
Whitehouse's Patrick Mahomes (5) evades an Arlington Seguin defender during the Wildcats' 50-44 overtime win Friday night in Mesquite. (Jaime R. Carrero, ETSN.fm)
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Well, we made up our minds, and we thought it was pretty easy this time around. No, we're not fickle. We just know how good Whitehouse's Patrick Mahomes and Carthage's Blake Bogenschutz are.

To say that the senior quarterback duo assembled two of the best single-season performances in East Texas football history is not an overstatement. Mahomes and Bogenschutz, who each re-wrote school passing records, combined for 8,622 passing yards, 107 touchdown passes, 1,386 rushing yards, and 22 touchdown runs.

Yes, that's 10,008 total yards of offense and 129 touchdowns.

Blake Bogenschutz fires a pass during Carthage's 34-23 Class 3A Division I state championship win over Kilgore on Dec. 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Bud Worley, ETSN.fm)
Blake Bogenschutz fires a pass during Carthage's 34-23 Class 3A Division I state championship win over Kilgore on Dec. 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Bud Worley, ETSN.fm)
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Mahomes led Whitehouse to a school-record 12 wins and the Wildcats' second third-round playoff appearance in school history. Bogenschutz commanded Carthage to its fourth state championship victory in six years.

For this staggering list of on-field achievements, we have no doubt that Mahomes and Bogenschutz deserve to each be honored as ETSN.fm's 2013 East Texas Football Super Team Offensive Player of the Year.

There were other players across the region not named Mahomes and Bogenschutz who could have easily won the award for their monster seasons. But when we thought back on 2013, Mahomes and Bogenschutz stood above the rest. The quarterbacks follow another signal caller as ETSN.fm's Offensive Player of the Year: John Tyler's Greg Ward, who now plays for the Houston Cougars.

Whitehouse's Patrick Mahomes looks for a target under pressure from Sulphur Springs' Dedric Smith and Derrick Ingram in their Class 4A Division II Region II area-round playoff in Forney. (Jaime R. Carrero, ETSN.fm)
Whitehouse's Patrick Mahomes looks for a target under pressure from Sulphur Springs' Dedric Smith and Derrick Ingram in their Class 4A Division II Region II area-round playoff in Forney. (Jaime R. Carrero, ETSN.fm)
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Typically, if there's a close call on a postseason award, the rationale is, "Well, fans can't blame us for picking so-and-so over so-and-so. We can't be wrong either way."

In this case, we knew if we did not award Mahomes and Bogenschutz together, we would be slighting one of the best seasons in the region's history by picking one player over the other. Unwritten guidelines be damned: if Patrick Mahomes and Blake Bogenschutz have the seasons they enjoyed this past fall, then there's nothing wrong with letting them each claim the East Texas Super Team Offensive Player of the Year award.

Additionally, we would be remiss to honor these two players without acknowledging their contributions to ETSN.fm in our 20-month history.

These two quarterbacks have been among the most visible athletes in our website's young lifetime. We have bothered them with interviews at practice, at our offices, after games, and over the phone. Heck, we've even bugged their parents.

Kilgore's Joseph Shepherd (11) chases Carthage's Blake Bogenschutz (4) during Carthage's 34-23 Class 3A Division I state championship win Dec. 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Christopher Vinn, ETSN.fm)
Kilgore's Joseph Shepherd (11) chases Carthage's Blake Bogenschutz (4) during Carthage's 34-23 Class 3A Division I state championship win Dec. 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Christopher Vinn, ETSN.fm)
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To their credit, Patrick and Blake have always been not only willing to answer questions and participate in photo shoots, but have made clear efforts to be polite and accommodating, from keeping us updated during their respective recruiting processes to saying hello when they encountered us at other sporting events.

On-field accomplishments decide who get awards such as this one, but we would be lying if we didn't note how rewarding it is to honor two student-athletes of Patrick and Blake's caliber -- on and off the field -- with the top offensive award that ETSN.fm hands out annually.

Does this year's Co-Player of the Year case mean we will make a habit of it in the future? Certainly not. But -- and we hope we're wrong when we say this -- we have a hard time believing that every year there will be two performances of this magnitude in the same season.

We hope East Texas football fans enjoyed watching these two quarterbacks as much as we did. Texas Tech and UTSA fans should be giddy.

ETSN.fm 2013 East Texas Football Super Team

Co-Offensive Players of the Year

Blake Bogenschutz

and

Patrick Mahomes

 

BY THE NUMBERS

Blake Bogenschutz

  • School: Carthage
  • Class: Senior
  • Position: Quarterback
  • Height: 6-1
  • Weight: 180
  • College: committed to UTSA
  • Passing: 231 of 393, 4,003 yards, 57 TDs, 4 INTs
  • Rushing: 97 carries, 446 yards, 7 TDs
  • Career achievements: 35-8 record as a starting quarterback, including an 11-2 postseason record ... set Carthage records for career passing yards (9,569), single-season passing yards (4,003), career touchdown passes (119), single-season touchdown passes (57), career completions, career attempts, and single-season attempts (393) ... finished 11th in state history for career passing yards ... finished fifth in state history for career touchdown passes ... finished fifth in single-season state history for touchdown passes (57) ... led Carthage to its fourth state championship.
  • Twitter handle: @BlakeBogie

 

Patrick Mahomes

  • School: Whitehouse
  • Class: Senior
  • Position: Quarterback
  • Height: 6-3
  • Weight: 203
  • College: committed to Texas Tech
  • Passing: 287 of 495, 4,619 yards, 50 TDs, 6 INTs
  • Rushing: 157 carries, 940 yards, 15 TDs
  • Career achievements: 22-3 record as a starting quarterback ... led Whitehouse to two of its four double-digit-win seasons in school history ... led Whitehouse to a school-record 12-1 mark in 2013 ... finished second in school history in career passing yards (8,458) behind current SFA quarterback Hunter Taylor (9,143) ... finished second in school history in career touchdown passes (96) behind Taylor (105) ... threw for 619 yards, third-most in single-game state history, in 65-60 third-round loss to Mesquite Poteet in 2013.
  • Twitter handle: @PatrickMahomes5

 

 

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