Oxford Hills’ Eli Soehren squirts though a hole in the line during the Class A state championship against Thornton Academy at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland in November. Brewster Burns photo

Oxford Hills junior quarterback Eli Soehren has been named the 2021-22 Maine Gatorade Football Player of the Year. 

Soehren threw for 1,904 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 903 yards and eight scores. He is the second Oxford Hills player to earn the award (Jeremy Tardiff, 1994). Leavitt’s Wyatt Hathaway won last year’s Gatorade Player of the Year.

“It’s an honor to win the award,” Soehren told the Sun Journal. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches. In the beginning of the year, I wasn’t focused on anything but winning and playing with my teammates, and it paid off.”

Oxford Hills finished with an 8-2 record and was state runner-up in Class A, losing to Thornton Academy 42-27 in the state final.

“It was awesome,” Soehren said of making it to the Class A state title game. “Going to the last game, being one of the last teams to play football in the state of Maine, you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Last month, Soehren was named the Class A Player of the Year while also being picked as the first-team quarterback and punter and second-team defensive back.

Soehren also was chosen as the Sun Journal All-Region Football Player of the Year. 

A news release sent Monday said that the Maine Gatorade Football Player of the Year award “recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.” 

Soehren was recognized for his 4.0 GPA.

Sun Journal assistant sports editor Wil Kramlich contributed to this story.