Dudinski's Record Setting Season Incredible
Group AA All-Gameday Player of the Year
2006 - Deric Dudinski - Park View High School
5-foot-9, 185 pounds - Senior
It has been four long years of headaches for football coaches trying to figure out a game plan to stop Park View's Deric Dudinski. Truth is, there still isn't enough Advil to go around for those that have tried. Dudinski is a three-time All-Gameday player, having made the team in 2004, 2005, and now in 2006 as a running back. His 2006 performance, however, was his best yet, and proved to be the perfect way to end a storied career.
Dudinski put it all together this season for the Patriots, as they claimed their second consecutive Dulles District Championship. His 2,159 rushing yards was the second-most in school history, falling short of Tony Conway's single-season mark of 2,329 yards set when Park View won its long Group AA Division 4 state championship in 1988. However, in Week 8 against Potomac Falls, Dudinski did surpassed Conway as the Sterling Park school's all-time leading rusher in grand fashion, rushing for 319 yards against the Panthers' defense.
He would finish his four-year varsity with 5,692 rushing yards, the second-most in Northern Virginia history behind only former Westfield standout and current Penn State tailback Evan Royster's 6,384.
Dudinski's run to becoming the most productive running back in All-Gameday history started as a freshman. Only 5-feet-6-inches and 155 pounds, his father, Tom Sedeski, was a little nervous about him playing at the varsity level so early in his high school career.
"Our former coach Charlie Pierce called Deric and told him that he should expect to play in the second game of the season his freshman year," Sedeski said. "And I thought he would only see a few carries. Turns out, he carried the ball over 30 times in the game. I was a little worried about whether or not he could hold up being as small as he was."
Dudinski has always been one of the best on every level of football he has ever played, winning a championship on every level. Well, except for one.
"To this day, Deric is still mad at me for holding him out of the C-League Championship game when he was 11-years-old," Sedeski said. "He had a collarbone injury, but still wanted to play. It's the only time in his football career he didn't win a championship."
That may have been the last time Dudinski was held back by anyone. During his amazing senior season, Dudinski averaged 9.5 yards per carry and ran for 29 touchdowns in 11 games. His record-setting year is the 10h best in the history of Northern Virginia public high school running backs.
Even with all the hype, Dudinski is as modest as they come. After the game in which he broke the school's career rushing record, Dudinski was asked what he would do with the game ball, and his answer wasn't typical for an 18-year-old in today's era of athletes.
He said, "I'm going to have my teammates sign it and then I'm going to give it to the school to put in the trophy case. It will mean more to me to let the school have it."
After four years of terrorizing area defenses, Dudinski is finally finished playing in the Dulles District, and that is music to the ears of the opposing coaches who have never quite figured out how to stop him.
