Wingstop Player of the Week: This defender leading Sunrise Mountain to best season in school history

By Jesse Granger

Friday, Oct. 16, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The Sunrise Mountain High football team has already won more games this season than every other season combined since opening in 2009.

The Miners are doing it with a dominant defense led by a sophomore who likely wouldn’t be there if he had decided to play football a little earlier.

Middle linebacker Dalwin Spates racked up 15 tackles, four tackles for a loss and three sacks last week in the Miners’ 34-27 win over Rancho.

The performance earned him our Wingstop Player of the Week award and lifted Sunrise Mountain’s record to an impressive 5-2. They entered the season with just two all-time victories.

Spates played football for the first time last season on the Sunrise Mountain freshman squad. Now, with 44 tackles in the past three games, he’s one of the reasons why the Miners are on the verge of reaching the playoffs for the first time in school history.

“We probably wouldn’t have gotten him had he played little league football,” Sunrise Mountain coach Chris Sawyers said. “Another one of these schools with the open enrollment would have tried to get him. So we are thankful that he didn’t because we were able to get him in and now we are obviously reaping the benefit of it.”

Sawyers recognized Spates’ talent as a freshman and started preparing him for the varsity level over the offseason.

“After my freshman year, coach Sawyers saw what I could do and he told me we were going to get me in the weight room and get me bigger, and you can go out there on varsity,” Spates said. “He made me into a monster.”

The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Spates added the bulk needed to take on bigger players. It complements his speed, which Sawyers says is the trait that separates him on game days.

“He’s as fast as any running back, and he’s a really good finesse linebacker right now,” Sawyers said.

With Spates as the anchor, the Miners went from allowing 48.5 points per game in 2014, to only 24.1 this season. The feeling around Sunrise Mountain is this season is the start of something special.

With two more years of football left after this season, and a surrounding cast that includes only six seniors, this won’t be the last you hear of the Miners — or their talented linebacker.

“The future is exciting because we have a lot of young kids,” Sawyers said. “To know you have (Spates) for a few more years, that will put a smile on your face.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.