Will’s Week 1 Players of the Week

It’s good to have high school football back. With its return comes the opportunity to highlight some of the top performances across the state. As always, the more info I get from players, coaches and parents, the easier it is for me to highlight the top performers of the week. More than just a rundown of the most rushing yards, receiving yards, tackles, etc. I want this to highlight players that made huge impacts the previous Friday and also raised their recruiting stock. So without further delay, here are my players of the week. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="45008" first="Stephan" last="Zayachkowsky"], 5’10 185, Hybrid, Porter Ridge</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>12 tackles, blocked punt, 2 fumble recoveries, interception Zayachkowsky is a guy I’ve been high on for a while, and I very nearly pushed to have him ranked higher than 37th in his class. I think it’s safe to say that with more performances like Friday’s he’s a guy that will continue to fly up our boards. To say he can do it all is an understatement. After playing primarily as a linebacker a year ago, he seems to be embracing the new "rover" or in-box safety role that so many college teams are now looking for. He probably had the single most-impressive defensive performance of the week, from a stat-stuffing perspective. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="44985" first="Connor" last="Drake"], 6’6 315, OL, Providence</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>Six pancakes It’s obviously harder to quantify the performance of an offensive linemen with stats, but the film doesn’t lie. Drake was dominant in Providence’s first game, both unbeatable in pass protection and as a run blocker. He’s highly-ranked on our 2023 board and shoulds ee some offers trickle in over the next few months. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="28615" first="Will" last="Lenard"], 6’1 185, QB, Northern Guilford</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>16-27, 171 yards, 3 touchdowns Lenard put up those numbers in a 27-0 win over McMichael High School. The kicker is that the game was called at half time due to bad field conditions. So, Lenard put up 11 yards a completion and three touchdowns in one half in bad conditions. After throwing for nearly 3000 yards last year, Lenard is off to another good start. <strong>Wyatt Holland, 6’ 175, QB, Midway</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>19-23, 281 yards, 4 touchdowns Due to the bad weather across the state, no quarterback put up absolutely insane numbers, but Holland still threw for nearly 300 yards in a 53-13 win over Hobbton. He’s a guy that is quietly putting together a nice high school career and with a few more performances like Friday’s, he’ll begin receiving more attention. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="44989" first="Jre" last="Jackson"], 5’8 180, RB, Sanford</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>21 carries, 232 yards, 4 touchdowns There were a number of big rushing displays across the state on Friday and we can’t feature them all. However, Jackson’s deserves to be recognized. We heard about Jackson throughout the offseason as a guy that would have a huge junior year after getting 90 carries as a sophomore. He responded with his second-career 100-yard game, doubling his previous single game-high. At this rate, his stock is going to go through the roof. <strong>Chris Perkins, 6’1 175, QB, Overhills</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>14-23, 141 passing yards, 11 carries, 142 rushing yards, 2 total TDs In a tough defensive battle against Cape Fear, Perkins was the offense, racking up 84 percent of the offense’s total yardage. One of the lesser-known guys on our Preseason All-State team for the 4A class, Perkins proved Friday why we hold him in such high regard. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="115714" first="Ethan" last="Biggs"], 5’8 160, WR, Union Pines</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>10 catches, 264 yards, 3 TDs Union Pines had 10 completions on the night and Biggs had all of them, racking up over 100 more yards last week than any other player in the state. Oh yeah, did we mention he’s a freshman? I’m not quite sure how he can surpass a game like that going forward, but I’ll be watching, nonetheless. <strong>Logan Merritt, WR, Rosewood</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>3 receptions, 177 yards, 3 TDs Rosewood only completed four passes against North Johnston last week, but three of them were to Merritt and all three went for touchdowns. Merritt averaged a cool 59 yards per catch, which I’d have to think is the top mark for the week if we put the minimum at two catches. He’s a standout baseball player as well. <strong>Kevin Hamilton, Ath., JH Rose</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>4 sacks, 128 all-purpose yards Hamilton lit up the stat sheet against New Bern, racking up 11 tackles, four sacks and 41 receiving yards against New Bern. He also put up a good number of kick return yards in limited opportunities. To play at that high of a level against 4A competition is impressive, to say the least. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="28677" first="Carter" last="Wyatt"], 6’2 215, LB West Brunswick</strong> <strong>Stats: </strong>17 tackles, two QB hurries, pass deflection Wyatt is one of our top 2022 linebackers and was dominant in a 26-0 shutout of Ashley last week. He was all over the place, and his game film is even better than the tackle numbers suggest. He simply knows where to find the football and makes impact plays all over the field/ <strong>Other Big Performances</strong> <strong>Levi Matthews, WR, Sanderson- </strong>6 catches, 145 yards, 2 TDs <strong>Christian Nicholson, DL, Hunt- </strong>10 tackles, 4.5 sacks <strong>Noah Rooks, DL, East  Burke- </strong>6 tackles, 4 sacks <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="107429" first="Tate" last="Carney"], RB, Mocksville- </strong>21 carries, 189 yards, 4 TDs <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="115726" first="Thomas" last="Dobias"], LB, Randleman- </strong>13 tackles, 4.5 TFL <strong>Ridge Clayton, QB, Person- </strong>17-26, 277 yards, TD <strong>Timothy Davis, QB, Winston Salem Prep- </strong>15-29, 243 yards, 5 TDs <strong>Bryce Friedlander, DB, Green Level- </strong>2 interceptions, fumble recovery <strong>Caden Noonkester, K, Marvin Ridge- </strong>2-2 FG, long 38 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="28608" first="Evan" last="Bernard"], QB, Cuthbertson- </strong>17-19 (90%), 133 passing yards, 11 carries, 80 rushing yards, 2 TDs &nbsp;