A blockbuster campaign, which included the Wright City football program claiming a share of its first-ever EMO title, was capped with seven players receiving Eastern Missouri All-Conference honors.

First team selections were Shane Vehige and JJ McRoberts on defense with Will Janowski nabbing spots on offense, defense and special teams.

Second team choices were Branden Contreras, Jeremy Cundiff and Alex Polston on offense and Christian Ebersohl on defense.

Janowski, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior made an impact in all phases of the game this year. On offense, the flanker had a team-best 43 catches for 512 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for 139 yards and four TDs on 16 carries. The team’s primary return man, he added 258-kick return and 106 punt return yards to surpass 1,000 all-purpose yards.

Patrolling the secondary on defense, Janowski had 57 tackles (30 solo) and seven interceptions with multiple coming against Van-Far/Community, Clopton/Elsberry and South Callaway. He also added a fumble recovery TD.

“Will’s been the model of consistency his whole career,” Wright City Coach Jeff Sargent said. “He’s a four-year starter and I’m not sure there’s been a snap in those four years where he wasn’t on the field defensively. His 18 career interceptions is a school record and he definitely left a legacy with us. I’m looking forward to see where he’ll play in college.”

Vehige, a 6-foot, 202-pound senior was a force at middle linebacker. He recorded 142 tackles (43 solo) with 14 for loss, including a 26-tackle effort in a Week 4 win at North Callaway. He also had four sacks and forced three fumbles during the year.

“Shane was a unanimous first teamer and rightfully so,” Sargent said. “Most every coach agreed that he’s the best linebacker in our conference and that’s pretty special. It’s only his third year playing football and the development he’s made in that time is unbelievable. He has a future in football if he wants it so I’m pretty happy for him.”

Like Vehige, McRoberts made the jump from the second to the first-team this season. The 5-foot-10, 198-pound senior defensive back was second in solo tackles with 30 (67 overall) and second in interceptions with five.

“I think opponents underestimated how good he was,” Sargent said. “They’d try to throw away from Will and it’d usually end with a pick for JJ. We could always count on him to make a big defensive play. “

Contreras, a 5-foot-8, 205-pound junior running back found the endzone more than any other Wildcat, amassing eight touchdowns and 831 rushing yards on 139 carries. He ran for over 150 yards in three games including a season best 183 versus Clopton in Week 5.

“Branden is a true bell cow running back,” Sargent said. “We didn’t get use him as much at the beginning because of injuries but he really got things clicking when he was healthy. And we tried to hand him the ball as much as we could.”

Cundiff, a 5-10, 175-pound senior receiver, ended the season with 27 catches for 255 yards and two touchdowns. He had a three-interception game on defense against North Callaway, and returned the opening kickoff for a TD in the regular season finale versus Mark Twain.

“He’s a three-year starter and what I really liked about Jeremy was how good of a blocker he was for us,” Sargent said. “He helped a ton in that area and we’d throw screen passes in his direction just so he could make a block.”

Polston, a 6-3, 265-pound junior offensive lineman, improved throughout the season and provided an intimidating presence at the tackle position.

“We’ve got another year with him and the sky’s the limit,” Sargent said. “Honestly, it seems like he just keeps growing. He’s got great feet and hopefully he’ll continue to develop athletically.”

Though he may not have racked up the takedowns, Ebersohl, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound senior, was plenty disruptive on Wright City’s defensive line, applying consistent pressure and often forcing the opponents to double-team him.

A starting center on offense, Ebersohl finished with 29 tackles and had three sacks.

“Christian stuffed the middle, always took up two blockers and did a great job for us as a D-lineman,” Sargent said.

Other first team offensive EMO selections were Shawn Yates (Clopton) at quarterback, Cody Cash (North Callaway), Devin Borghardt (South Callaway) and Mason Wortmann (North Callaway) at running back, Bailey Sontag (Montgomery County) and Kyle Martin (Clopton) at receiver, Carson Parker (Montgomery County) at tight end and Aaron Milner (Montgomery County), Ben Bondurant (North Callaway), Will Jeffries (North Callaway), Jacob Bowen (Bowling Green), Ethan Everhart (Bowling Green) and Maximus Roed (Van-Far) at offensive line.

First teamers on defense were Zakk Eivins (Clopton), Kyle Yelton (Montgomery County), Braden Perez (Bowing Green), Jeffries, Roed and Wortmann at defensive line. Avery Epperson (Mark Twain), Clay Lazear (Bowling Green) and Nick Mealy (South Callaway) at linebacker, and Ben Miller (Montgomery County), Cash and Borghardt at defensive back.

Wright City, which was 2-8 in 2018, finished 7-3 overall with a 6-1 EMO mark, grabbing a share of the league championship along with Montgomery County and North Callaway.

The Wildcats’ season was ended with a 40-6 loss against Mexico in the Class 3 District 4 opener on Nov. 1.

Mexico (6-5) upset top seed St. Charles West 28-20 last week and visits No. 2 Lutheran St. Charles (9-2) for the district championship this Friday at 7 p.m.