Seo, 'Wojo' make a splash

"Hakop had an amazing season last year and I think it was definitely worthy of player of the year," Tornadoes Coach Ara Oganesyan said. "But I think the other coaches were looking for him to be a little bit more of a versatile player. Unfortunately, last year with our team being such a young team, he didn't have that kind of luxury.

"It's extremely important to play a well-rounded game that involves the whole team, so this year we adjusted to it and the coaches gave him the credit and saw his game grow."

In the CIF wild-card round, Kaplanyan scored all but one goal in Hoover's 16-12 win over Cathedral City.

8 — Mark Verso, St. Francis soccer, sophomore

Coming off a stellar freshman season, the sophomore forward refused to stay pat. He hit the weight room intent on improving his conditioning and the result was a 22-goal, six-assist season (50 points) for the Mission League's Offensive Player of the Year.

Verso, who shared All-CIF, All-Area and ESPN Rise All-State nods with his older brother Eric, was named to the Division I first team after helping St. Francis finish second in league with a 9-3 record.

"I wanted to help us win a league championship, but this is a great achievement and honor," Verso said. "It's a great honor to get this award because there are a lot of incredible players that come out of the division. I wanted to be an impact player and I had to do that by coming out and playing hard."

Verso helped St. Francis post a 15-10 record. The Golden Knights saw their season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs.

9 — Eric Kazangian, Flintridge Prep football, soccer and tennis, senior

Though he played three sports for the Rebels, Kazangian's biggest contributions came on the tennis court.

Along with partner Kent Byun, Kazangian helped play a pivotal role in the emergence of the tennis program, which went 29-21 over the last three seasons and won the Prep League crown in 2009 for the first time since 1939.

"They were huge," Rebels Coach Ron Catano said of the tandem. "Those two guys ... were the reason why we had a such a good record the past three years. They were all talented and experienced for tournament play and they were just really tough when they would get out there.

"They were our good core guys that just put up wins like crazy. They're just super talented and they're great athletes. Without those guys, we wouldn't have been doing so well the past few years."