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
On Friday, Millennium got the W thanks in part to Donovan Delong playing the best football he has all season. 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.
This year, Delong has thrown 9 touchdowns while averaging 92.1 passing yards per game. He's made a big improvement compared to last season: at this point last year, he had four passing touchdowns.
Gamescore: 49.23
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 torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 74 yards.
For the year, Brown has caught 8 touchdowns while averaging 61.4 receiving yards per game.
Gamescore: 36.12
Chase Gieszler Goes Supernova in Verrado Defeat
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).
This year, 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 was the third in a row for Cactus, bringing their record for this year to 5-2. Varga's next match is against Sunrise Mountain on Friday, where he'll look to repeat that solid effort.
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)
- Jerrell Johnson: 1 interception (1TD) and 6 total tackles (1.0 for loss) (Gamescore: 18.50)
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
