Western 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!
Big Game from Barnett As Dodge City Won 40-14
Starting off the list is Dodge City's Cade Barnett, who we judged to be the best player in the league this week. Barnett rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. Dodge City is undefeated when Barnett posts two or more rushing touchdowns, but 1-3 otherwise.
This season, Barnett has run in 5 touchdowns while averaging 44.1 rushing yards per game. He's made a big improvement compared to last season: at this point last year, he was only averaging 10.14 rushing yards per game.
Gamescore: 60.75
Liberal found a leader in Xavier Tafoya as the squad took down Ulysses on Friday. Nobody could stop Tafoya as he made eight total tackles (1.0 for loss).
Tafoya and Liberal will head out on the road to challenge Hays at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The Redskins had to take a loss when they last met the Indians, but Tafoya had little to do with the loss: he forced a fumble and made nine total tackles (1.0 for loss). Can he match (or beat) that performance?
Gamescore: 54.20
Ayden Juarez Turns in Season-Best Performance
Ayden Juarez produced his most outstanding game to date while leading Liberal to the win on Friday. Juarez rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
On the year, Juarez has run in those 1 touchdown while averaging 25.6 rushing yards per game.
Gamescore: 37.80
Daxton Minton Delivers Electric Effort Vs Hays
Great Bend picked up their seventh consecutive win on Friday thanks in part to Daxton Minton. Hays had no answer to Minton as he rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries, and also threw for 100 yards and a touchdown. That's the most rushing yards Minton has posted since back in November of 2023.
Minton must have Hays' number; he was a force to be reckoned with the last time he faced them too. Minton threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns while completing 75.9% of his passes, and also rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries the last time he and the Indians duked it out back in September of 2023.
Gamescore: 31.77
A Season-Best Effort from James Fieser Leads Liberal over Ulysses
James Fieser produced his most outstanding game to date while leading Liberal to the win on Friday. Fieser picked up 96 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He showed off some serious burst, connecting on a big catch for 67 yards.
Unfortunately for Ulysses, this isn't the first big game they've seen from Fieser. When Fieser last faced the Tigers back in October of 2023, he picked up 90 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Gamescore: 27.93
Other Notable Players
- Ian Premer: 85 yards rushing, 1 TD (Gamescore: 26.27)
- Ryan Gonzalez: 104 yards rushing, 2 TDs (Gamescore: 22.80)
- Giovani Duran: 1 sack and 8 total tackles (2.0 for loss) (Gamescore: 20.00)
- Landon Martinez: 8 total tackles (2.0 for loss) (Gamescore: 17.50)
- Tevin Cotter: 119 yards passing (Gamescore: 16.93)
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
