Will’s Week 1 Players of the Week
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It’s good to have high school football back. With its return comes the opportunity to highlight some of the top performances across the state. As always, the more info I get from players, coaches and parents, the easier it is…
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Continue ReadingIt’s good to have high school football back. With its return comes the opportunity to highlight some of the top performances across the state. As always, the more info I get from players, coaches and parents, the easier it is for me to highlight the top performers of the week.
More than just a rundown of the most rushing yards, receiving yards, tackles, etc. I want this to highlight players that made huge impacts the previous Friday and also raised their recruiting stock. So without further delay, here are my players of the week.
Stephan Zayachkowsky Stephan Zayachkowsky 5'10" | 200 lbs | LB Porter Ridge | 2023 State NC , 5’10 185, Hybrid, Porter Ridge
Stats: 12 tackles, blocked punt, 2 fumble recoveries, interception
Zayachkowsky is a guy I’ve been high on for a while, and I very nearly pushed to have him ranked higher than 37th in his class. I think it’s safe to say that with more performances like Friday’s he’s a guy that will continue to fly up our boards. To say he can do it all is an understatement. After playing primarily as a linebacker a year ago, he seems to be embracing the new “rover” or in-box safety role that so many college teams are now looking for. He probably had the single most-impressive defensive performance of the week, from a stat-stuffing perspective.
Connor Drake Connor Drake 6'6" | 315 lbs | OL Providence | 2023 State NC , 6’6 315, OL, Providence
Stats: Six pancakes
It’s obviously harder to quantify the performance of an offensive linemen with stats, but the film doesn’t lie. Drake was dominant in Providence’s first game, both unbeatable in pass protection and as a run blocker. He’s highly-ranked on our 2023 board and shoulds ee some offers trickle in over the next few months.
Will Lenard Will Lenard 6'1" | 195 lbs | QB Northern Guilford | 2021 State NC , 6’1 185, QB, Northern Guilford
Stats: 16-27, 171 yards, 3 touchdowns
Lenard put up those numbers in a 27-0 win over McMichael High School. The kicker is that the game was called at half time due to bad field conditions. So, Lenard put up 11 yards a completion and three touchdowns in one half in bad conditions. After throwing for nearly 3000 yards last year, Lenard is off to another good start.
Wyatt Holland, 6’ 175, QB, Midway
Stats: 19-23, 281 yards, 4 touchdowns
Due to the bad weather across the state, no quarterback put up absolutely insane numbers, but Holland still threw for nearly 300 yards in a 53-13 win over Hobbton. He’s a guy that is quietly putting together a nice high school career and with a few more performances like Friday’s, he’ll begin receiving more attention.
Jre Jackson Jre Jackson 5'8" | 175 lbs | RB Terry Sanford | 2023 State NC , 5’8 180, RB, Sanford
Stats: 21 carries, 232 yards, 4 touchdowns
There were a number of big rushing displays across the state on Friday and we can’t feature them all. However, Jackson’s deserves to be recognized. We heard about Jackson throughout the offseason as a guy that would have a huge junior year after getting 90 carries as a sophomore. He responded with his second-career 100-yard game, doubling his previous single game-high. At this rate, his stock is going to go through the roof.
Chris Perkins, 6’1 175, QB, Overhills
Stats: 14-23, 141 passing yards, 11 carries, 142 rushing yards, 2 total TDs
In a tough defensive battle against Cape Fear, Perkins was the offense, racking up 84 percent of the offense’s total yardage. One of the lesser-known guys on our Preseason All-State team for the 4A class, Perkins proved Friday why we hold him in such high regard.
Ethan Biggs Ethan Biggs 5'9" | 170 lbs | RB Union Pines | 2024 State NC , 5’8 160, WR, Union Pines
Stats: 10 catches, 264 yards, 3 TDs
Union Pines had 10 completions on the night and Biggs had all of them, racking up over 100 more yards last week than any other player in the state. Oh yeah, did we mention he’s a freshman? I’m not quite sure how he can surpass a game like that going forward, but I’ll be watching, nonetheless.
Logan Merritt, WR, Rosewood
Stats: 3 receptions, 177 yards, 3 TDs
Rosewood only completed four passes against North Johnston last week, but three of them were to Merritt and all three went for touchdowns. Merritt averaged a cool 59 yards per catch, which I’d have to think is the top mark for the week if we put the minimum at two catches. He’s a standout baseball player as well.
Kevin Hamilton, Ath., JH Rose
Stats: 4 sacks, 128 all-purpose yards
Hamilton lit up the stat sheet against New Bern, racking up 11 tackles, four sacks and 41 receiving yards against New Bern. He also put up a good number of kick return yards in limited opportunities. To play at that high of a level against 4A competition is impressive, to say the least.
Carter Wyatt Carter Wyatt 6'2" | 215 lbs | LB West Brunswick | 2022 State NC , 6’2 215, LB West Brunswick
Stats: 17 tackles, two QB hurries, pass deflection
Wyatt is one of our top 2022 linebackers and was dominant in a 26-0 shutout of Ashley last week. He was all over the place, and his game film is even better than the tackle numbers suggest. He simply knows where to find the football and makes impact plays all over the field/
Other Big Performances
Levi Matthews, WR, Sanderson- 6 catches, 145 yards, 2 TDs
Christian Nicholson, DL, Hunt- 10 tackles, 4.5 sacks
Noah Rooks, DL, East Burke- 6 tackles, 4 sacks
Tate Carney Tate Carney 5'11" | 200 lbs | RB Davie | 2022 State NC , RB, Mocksville- 21 carries, 189 yards, 4 TDs
Thomas Dobias Thomas Dobias 5'11" | 200 lbs | LB Randleman | 2024 State NC , LB, Randleman- 13 tackles, 4.5 TFL
Ridge Clayton, QB, Person- 17-26, 277 yards, TD
Timothy Davis, QB, Winston Salem Prep- 15-29, 243 yards, 5 TDs
Bryce Friedlander, DB, Green Level- 2 interceptions, fumble recovery
Caden Noonkester, K, Marvin Ridge- 2-2 FG, long 38
Evan Bernard Evan Bernard 6'1" | 185 lbs | QB Cuthbertson | 2021 State NC , QB, Cuthbertson- 17-19 (90%), 133 passing yards, 11 carries, 80 rushing yards, 2 TDs