Santa Paula QB Keshaun Mata receives area national spirit award

Keshaun Mata, a senior quarterback at Santa Paula High, has been named the Section 7 recipient of the “National High School Spirit of Sport Award” by the National Federation of State High School Assns.

The award recognizes individuals who “exemplify the ideals of the spirit of sport that represent the core mission education-based athletics.”

Mata has overcome adversity in the form of cancer since he was 5.

While playing quarterback this season, he had to have surgery to remove three cancerous nodules in his right lung. He soon returned to the field.

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