Riverside’s Gage Larvadain earns October Greater New Orleans Athlete of the Month honor

NEW ORLEANS – Gage Larvadain, a star all-purpose player for the Riverside football team, has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for October. Monthly award-winners are selected by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month

Larvadain established himself as one of the most versatile high school stars in the region with five memorable October performances. During the month, he accounted for 132 points (22 TDs) and 1,188 total yards. The senior completed 20-of-34 passes for 294 yards and two TDs, ran 69 times for 891 yards and 15 TDs, and he caught nine passes for 249 yards and five TDs. He also was solid on defense (24 tackles, one INT, one forced fumble) and returned two punts (for 48 yards).

The versatile athlete turned in a dominating all-around performance in a 49-19 win over Caldwell Parish in the season-opener on Oct. 2. Larvadain threw for 64 yards, had six carries for 187 yards and four TDs, caught two passes for 47 yds and a TD, returned two punts for 48 yards; and had five tackles and forced fumble.

On Oct. 8, Larvadain had another huge game, running for 291 yards on 15 carries and scoring five touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with five seconds to go in a 61-57 over Catholic-PC. He tallied 342 all-purpose yards (212 rushing, 130 receiving) in an Oct. 16 win over Sophie B. Wright, another 207 in a win over Southern Lab on Oct. 23 and 205 in a hard-fought loss to undefeated Newman on Oct. 30.

Larvadain was selected for the honor over three other nominees.

– Xavier University Women’s Tennis star Lailaa Bashir, a sophomore from Jackson, Miss., won three major titles in four attempts and was runner-up in the bracket she did not win. She and Angela Charles-Alfred — last season’s NOLA Female Athlete of the Year — repeated as ITA Cup NAIA national doubles champions. The unseeded Bashir then upset the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the ITA Cup national singles bracket to reach the championship match before falling to the top seed. She had qualified for both national tournaments after winning the ITA NAIA Gulf Regional singles and doubles titles earlier in the month. She posted a 14-1 record for the month (7-0 doubles, 7-1 singles) and is now 60-5 (combined singles and doubles) as a collegiate player.

– Tyler Grubbs, a true freshman linebacker for Louisiana Tech, led the country in tackles through October with 72 stops. His season-high was 12 tackles against UTSA on October 24th. On three other occasions in the month of October, the 6-1, 221-pound tackling machine posted nine stops in the game (10/10 vs. UTEP, 10/17 vs. Marshall, 10/31 vs. UAB). During his days at Holy Cross High School, he finished his career with 469 tackles, nine sacks and nine interceptions. He is the heart and soul of the Bulldog defense and has become a leader as a true freshman.

– TCU star linebacker Garrett Wallow, who prepped at John Curtis, continued to lead the Horned Frog defense in October, tallying 32 tackles in four games. In a thrilling 33-31 upset of Texas on Oct. 3, the senior linebacker collected six tackles, but none bigger than a goal-line hit on first down which forced a fumble recovered by the Frogs with 2:32 to go to clinch the victory. He followed that with a 10-tackle effort, including two tackles for loss, in a 21-14 loss to Kansas State on Oct. 10 and then hit double digits again with a team-high 11 tackles in TCU’s 33-14 loss to Oklahoma on Oct. 24. He notched five more tackles in an Oct. 31 win over Baylor.

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has been selecting an Amateur Athlete of the Month each month since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region in order to be eligible.

Recent Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month:
2020
October — Gage Larvadain — Football — Riverside Academy
September — Cameron Carroll — Football — Tulane University
August — Jacob and Evan Frost — Wrestling — Bayou Elite Wrestling Club
July — Brayden Caskey — Baseball — Gauthier Amedee Legion
June — Ron Franklin — Baseball — Gibbs Construction Legion
May — NOT AWARDED – COVID-19
April — NOT AWARDED – COVID-19
March — William Loyd — Basketball — Xavier University
February — Braden Olthoff — Baseball — Tulane University
January — Jared Butler — Basketball — Baylor University

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 96 Hall of Fame players, 50 Hall of Fame coaches and 18 Heisman Trophy winners in its 86-year history. The 87th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2021. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1.6 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.7 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit www.AllstateSugarBowl.org.