Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the 1971 creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month – the honors enter their 62nd year in 2018. To be eligible, an athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region. Each of the monthly award winners are honored in the summer at the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Justin Ibieta, a junior quarterback for Country Day, was selected as the September Amateur Athlete of the Month. He led the Cajuns to a perfect 4-0 month of September (they are currently 6-0 overall). Ibieta completed 73-of-110 (66.4%) of his passes for 994 yards and 12 touchdowns with two interceptions. He also ran 56 times for 408 yards (7.2 yards per carry) and four touchdowns. Ibieta helped the Cajuns to a pair of upset wins – one over top-ranked Amite and one over highly-regarded St. Charles Catholic. Country Day finished the month ranked second in the state in the CrescentCitySports.com Class 2A rankings.

Ibieta was selected from an outstanding group of candidates, including two other high school football standouts, a pair of college football players, two volleyball stars and a golfer.

Martin Butcher from Newman and T.J Finley from Ponchatoula were the other prep football nominees. Butcher threw for 1,088 yards and 18 touchdowns with just one interception for a Newman squad which went 4-0 while Finley led the metro area with 1,626 passing yards to go with 17 touchdown tosses.

The college football stars were Chase Fourcade from Nicholls and Anthony “Pooka” Williams from Kansas. Fourcade led the Colonels to a 3-2 record and the No. 12 national ranking in the FCS. He now ranks second all-time in passing yards at Nicholls. Williams, a Hahnville High graduate, missed the season-opener, a loss to Nicholls, but made his collegiate debut with 125 yards in a win over Central Michigan. He was the Big 12’s leading rusher for the first month of the season.

On the volleyball court, Maddie Huekels recorded four triple-doubles (kills, assists and digs) for the Loyola women’s volleyball team and was among the national leaders in service aces while Ellie Holzman keyed Mount Carmel Academy’s 21-1 record in September by recording 264 kills with a .476 hitting percentage.

Finally, UNO men’s golfer Grayson Gilbert, a freshman from Monroe, La., won the individual championship in his first collegiate competition on September 10.