3A Region 1 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!
Juan Mejia Turns in Season-Best Performance
Juan Mejia produced his most outstanding game to date while leading Johnson County to the win on Friday. Mejia wasn't messing around, rushing for 205 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 12.8 yards per carry. The matchup was his seventh straight with two or more rushing touchdowns.
Mejia must have Chuckey-Doak's number; he was a force to be reckoned with the last time he faced them too. When Mejia last faced the Black Knights back in October of 2023, he rushed for 160 yards.
Gamescore: 67.47
Kolby Jones Has Career-Day on Friday
Unicoi County was led to victory by Kolby Jones, who turned in his biggest game of the season on Friday. Jones rushed for 110 yards and four touchdowns on only ten carries, and also threw for 123 yards and a touchdown, good enough to set a new career-high in rushing yards in the process.
If the past is any indication, Jones could be in store for another big game when he takes on Claiborne on Friday. Back in October of 2023 (the last time Jones saw the Bulldogs), he threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73% of his passes.
Gamescore: 49.30
Gatlinburg-Pittman found a leader in Brayden Maples as the team took down Claiborne on Friday. Nobody could stop Maples as he made a tackle.
Gatlinburg-Pittman has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. Maples will try to repeat (or improve) on that dominant effort when he faces off against Johnson County on Friday.
Gamescore: 40.73
Bransan Salts Sets Career High in Rushing Yards
Bransan Salts posted a new career-high in rushing yards on Friday. He rushed for 184 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.8 yards per carry.
This year, Salts has run in 5 touchdowns while averaging 118.5 rushing yards per game. He's made a big improvement compared to last season: at this point last year, he was only averaging 14.83 rushing yards per game.
Gamescore: 36.28
Howard Posts Huge Game in 15-14 Victory
Rounding off our Top Five is Wyatt Howard of Pigeon Forge. Howard rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 131 rushing yards.
For the year, Howard has run in 11 touchdowns while averaging 150.6 rushing yards per game. He's made a big improvement compared to last season: at this point last year, he was only averaging 7.86 rushing yards per game.
Gamescore: 29.20
Other Notable Players
- Brady Simmons: 1 sack and 12 total tackles (2.0 for loss) (Gamescore: 20.73)
- John Keohane: 152 yards passing (Gamescore: 20.73)
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
