1A Region 8 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!
Braden Gilliland Crosses Big Stat Threshold
Appalachian was led to victory by Braden Gilliland, who turned in his biggest game of the season on Friday. Gilliland rushed for 366 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 13.1 yards per carry. Thanks to that strong showing, he's now averaging 2.1 rushing touchdowns per game. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
If history really does repeat itself, Gilliland might just drop another big game when he faces off against Woodville on Friday. Back in September of 2023 (the last time Gilliland saw the Panthers), he rushed for 211 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.6 yards per carry.
Gamescore: 89.88
A'ron Lee's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Ragland over Appalachian
A'Ron Lee's rushing tear continued on Friday as he dropped his fourth-straight game with 169+ rushing yards dating back to last season. He rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.4 yards per carry. He really tore up the turf during one magnificent 70-yard run.
This season, Lee has run in 14 touchdowns while averaging 153.7 rushing yards per game. He is looking even better than he did last year: after seven games last season, he had six rushing touchdowns.
Gamescore: 52.73
Mcelrath Posts Huge Game in 53-0 Victory
Winning always takes teamwork, but on Friday Cayson McElrath stepped things up a notch to give Valley Head the 'W'. Nobody could stop McElrath as he rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 53 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Valley Head's victory bumped their record up to 6-2. McElrath and Valley Head will get to enjoy the win for a while: their next game is against Appalachian at 7:00 p.m. on October 25th.
Gamescore: 52.03
Tytan Blevins Turns in Season-Best Performance
Tytan Blevins produced his most outstanding game to date while leading Valley Head to the win on Friday. Blevins rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries, and also threw for 60 yards and a touchdown on only five passes. He didn't just play on offense: he also forced a fumble and made four total tackles.
Blevins is probably looking forward to his next game, a home matchup against Appalachian on Friday. Back in October of 2023 (the last time Blevins saw the Eagles), he rushed for 205 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 9.8 yards per carry.
Gamescore: 48.20
Layne Hawkins Makes It Three for Valley Head
Another Valley Head player making an appearance on this list is Layne Hawkins. He picked up seven receiving yards.
For the season, Hawkins has averaged 10.9 total tackles per game.
Gamescore: 43.53
Other Notable Players
- Ben Johnson: 80 yards rushing, 1 TD (Gamescore: 42.45)
- Luke Brewer: 16 total tackles (2.0 for loss) (Gamescore: 24.25)
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
