Northwest Crossroads Top Player Performances of the Week
Congratulations to this week's top players! We're covering the best performances from Friday's football action (using all statistics entered as of the time of writing). Enjoy!
Verrett Came Up Big in Hanover Central's 48-26 Win
Starting off the list is Hanover Central's Caiden Verrett, who we judged to be the best player in the league this week. Verrett rushed for 134 yards and four touchdowns on only 13 carries, and also picked up 45 receiving yards and a touchdown. His longest rush was for an impressive 61 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Hammond Central's probably not too fond of Verrett given he always seems to get the better of them. Verrett rushed for 62 yards and three touchdowns the last time he and the Wolves duked it out back in October of 2023.
Gamescore: 56.18
Marco Castro Dazzles in Kankakee Valley Victory
Marco Castro continued his hot streak on Friday by dropping his sixth-straight game with at least 105 rushing yards. He rushed for 173 yards and three touchdowns.
Unfortunately for Munster, this isn't the first big game they've seen from Castro. Back in October of 2023 (the last time Castro saw the Mustangs), he rushed for 320 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.7 yards per carry.
Gamescore: 43.35
Tommy Bonner Makes It Two for Hanover Central
The second Hanover Central player making an appearance here is Tommy Bonner, and for good reason. He threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.4 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 36 yards.
For the season, Bonner has thrown 16 touchdowns while averaging 131.2 passing yards per game.
Gamescore: 32.93
Winning always takes teamwork, but on Friday James Finley stepped things up a notch to give Andrean the 'W'. Finley was dynamite, making 12 total tackles and defending a pass.
This year, Finley has averaged 7.2 total tackles per game. That doesn't tell the whole story though: at this point last year, he was only averaging 48.56 receiving yards per game. This year he is averaging 78.78 receiving yards.
Gamescore: 30.47
Willy Shearer Makes Top Five
Rounding off our Top Five is Willy Shearer of Hobart. Shearer rushed for 52 yards and two touchdowns. He is becoming a predictor of Hobart's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 3-1 (and 2-3 when he doesn't).
Shearer is probably looking forward to his next game, a road matchup against Lowell on Friday. Back in September (the last time Shearer saw the Red Devils), he rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.9 yards per carry.
Gamescore: 25.70
Other Notable Players
- Lincoln Schneider: 1 sack and 11 total tackles (2.0 for loss) (Gamescore: 24.50)
- Colton Scott: 128 yards rushing, 1 TD (Gamescore: 24.00)
- Jaelen Williams: 66 yards rushing, 1 TD (Gamescore: 23.05)
- Max Pickett: 110 yards rushing, 1 TD (Gamescore: 22.40)
- Brady Elish: 124 yards passing; 1 TD rushing (Gamescore: 22.07)
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
