Longtime assistant coach, who died in October, remembered
The late Mark Rego, whose love for the game as an assistant high school football coach and ambassador to youth football, will be honored by the Clark County chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
Rego, the offensive line coach for the state champion Union Titans, died in October after a battle with cancer.
His name will now be part of the presentations at the annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet. This year’s banquet is 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hudson’s Bay High School.
The Mark Rego Outstanding Contributions to Amateur Football Award will be one of five special awards. There also will be honors for sportsmanship, the top head coach, the top assistant coach, and a distinguished American award.
All of those are a build-up to the main event of the banquet, featuring 33 high school football players wearing tuxedos, representing 20 programs from the region. They have been nominated for the foundation’s scholarships. At the end of the night, the top six will be named scholarship winners, ranging from ranging from $1,500 to $3,000.
“The main purpose of the event is to honor outstanding young citizens, athletes, and scholars, and encourage younger athletes to follow in the footsteps of those honored,” according to a press release from the chapter.
Former NFL quarterback and current Fort Vancouver head coach Neil Lomax will be the keynote speaker.
Longtime broadcaster and supporter of Clark County high school athletics Carl Click will be the master of ceremonies.
Tickets for the banquet, which includes dessert, are $15 per person or $13.50 if eight are purchased together to reserve a table. To purchase tickets, click here:
https://www.universe.com/events/national-football-foundation-awards-night-tickets-vancouver-V75RZH
The 2019 banquet celebrates the 2018 football season, a banner year for Clark County. For the first time, two teams from the county won state championships. Hockinson won its second consecutive Class 2A title, and the Union Titans won the Class 4A trophy. Mountain View made it to the Class 3A state semifinals.
All nominees must have a grade-point average of at least 3.0. The nominees are:
Battle Ground: Boden Strouse and Seth Workman
Camas: Andrew Boyle and Shane Jamison
Columbia River: Tristan Hoyer and Rylee Sadler
Columbia (White Salmon): Chandlor Bucklin and Oscar Kirkwood
Evergreen: Ryan Blaize
Fort Vancouver: Nick Laurenza and Zjieon Lawrence
Heritage: Jonathan Salo and Kahai Umiamaka
Hockinson: Nicholas Frichtl and Spencer Lindberg
La Center: Conner Myers
Mountain View: Jack Mertens and Andrew Remlinger
Prairie: Jake Clark and Nolen Mickenham
Ridgefield: Simon Berkey and Brock Harrison
Seton Catholic: Aidan Kirby and Robert Voitik Jr.
Stevenson: Cristobal Aguiar and Isaac Hoidal
Skyview: Tyler DeJong and Jayden McGraw
Union: Reagan Kelley and Lincoln Victor
Washougal: Preston Thornton
Woodland: Tyler Flanagan and Elijua Schultz
