5A Desert West Top Player Performances of the Week
Congratulations to this week's top players! We're covering the best performances in games played on Thursday and Friday (using all statistics entered as of the time of writing). Enjoy!
Donovan Delong Turns in Season-Best Performance
Millennium was led to victory by Donovan Delong, who turned in his biggest game of the season on Friday. Delong rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.1 yards per carry, and also threw for 122 yards and a touchdown, good enough to set a new career-high in rushing yards in the process.
For the season, Delong has thrown 9 touchdowns while averaging 92.1 passing yards per game. He is looking even better than he did last year: after seven games last season, he had four passing touchdowns.
Gamescore: 49.23
Jack Isidore Has Career Rushing Day
Verrado came up short on Thursday despite Jack Isidore delivering his best game to date. Isidore rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries, and also picked up 54 receiving yards and a touchdown, good enough to set a new career-high in rushing yards in the process. His longest rush was for an incredible 72 yards.
Verrado moved to 5-2 with that loss, which also ended their five-game winning streak. Isidore and Verrado will be playing in front of their home fans against Millennium at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Gamescore: 44.77
Deriece Brown Delivers Best Effort of Season
On Thursday, Verrado had to settle for second even though Deriece Brown put up the best numbers he has all season. Brown picked up 137 receiving yards and a touchdown. He got the majority of those receiving yards when he pulled down a pass and took off for a gain of 74 yards.
On the season, Brown has caught 8 touchdowns while averaging 61.4 receiving yards per game.
Gamescore: 36.12
Gieszler Posts Huge Game in 50-41 Loss
Another Verrado player making an appearance on this list is Chase Gieszler. He threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns on only 17 passes, and also rushed for 34 yards and two touchdowns. He is becoming a predictor of Verrado's success: when he posts at least 250 passing yards the team is undefeated (and 1-2 when he doesn't).
For the season, Gieszler has thrown 18 touchdowns while averaging 206.9 passing yards per game. It gets even more impressive: after seven games last season, he was only averaging 92.33 passer rating per game. This year he is averaging 139.3 passer rating.
Gamescore: 35.30
Tristan Varga Rounds Out Top Five
Rounding off our Top Five is Tristan Varga of Cactus. Varga made two total tackles. He also punched in two rushing touchdowns, which is notable because Cactus is undefeated when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns, but 1-2 otherwise.
The win (which was Cactus' third in a row) raised their record to 5-2. Varga and Cactus will be playing in front of their home fans against Sunrise Mountain at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Gamescore: 34.70
Other Notable Players
- Robert Bell Jr: 1 TD ; 80 yards receiving, 1 TD (Gamescore: 28.18)
- Tayejion Player: 115 yards rushing, 2 TDs (Gamescore: 27.78)
- Joshua Hopphaus: 17 total tackles (Gamescore: 24.75)
- Antonio Casias: 317 yards passing; 83 yards rushing (Gamescore: 22.43)
- Gavin Levin: 13 total tackles (3.0 for loss) (Gamescore: 20.25)
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
