WPIAL A Big 7 Top Player Performances of the Week
Congratulations to this week's top players! We're covering the best performances across Friday and Saturday's football action (using all statistics entered as of the time of writing). Enjoy!
Anthony Hopkins Drops League-Best Effort on Saturday
Starting off the list is Northgate's Anthony Hopkins, who we judged to be the best player in the league this week. Hopkins picked up 37 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Northgate is 2-1 when Hopkins posts two or more receiving touchdowns, but 1-4 otherwise.
With the win, Northgate broke their four-game losing streak and moved their record to 3-5. Hopkins and Northgate will look to defend their home field on Friday against Rochester at 7:00 p.m.
Gamescore: 33.62
Laurel Wins Fourth-Straight Thanks to Kolton Carlson
Laurel picked up their fourth consecutive win on Friday thanks in part to Kolton Carlson. Carlson was unstoppable, picking up 83 receiving yards, while also punching in a rushing score.
Shenango had to have seen this coming; the last time they saw Carlson it was a similar story. Carlson picked up 99 receiving yards and a touchdown, and also rushed for 52 yards on only five carries the last time he and the Wildcats duked it out back in October of 2023.
Gamescore: 30.73
Layne Came Up Big in Northgate's 49-12 Victory
Another Northgate player making an appearance on this list is Sonteon Layne. He threw for 150 yards and three touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes, and also rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown.
Summit Academy had to have seen this coming; the last time they saw Layne it was a similar story. Back in September of 2023 (the last time Layne saw the Knights), he rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 87 yards and two touchdowns on only seven passes.
Gamescore: 30.65
Jino Mozzocio's big game helped extend Neshannock's winning streak to five on Friday. Nobody could stop Mozzocio as he rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 115 yards while completing 75% of his passes.
Neshannock's victory was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-1. They and Summit Academy are set to duel on Friday.
Gamescore: 28.67
Luca Santini Makes It Two for Laurel
The second Laurel player making an appearance here is Luca Santini, and for good reason. He rushed for 35 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 169 yards on nine of 17 attempts.
For the year, Santini has thrown 11 touchdowns while averaging 169.5 passing yards per game. He's made a big improvement compared to last season: at this point last year, he was only averaging 70.25 passing yards per game.
Gamescore: 26.57
Other Notable Players
- Zion Ward: 65 yards rushing, 1 TD (Gamescore: 15.40)
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
