Sports360AZ
Every week, Southwest Recruiting Analyst for Scout.com and Sports360az.com recruiting insider Jason Jewell takes us around the state and spotlights the best performances during the high school football season. Here are the stars from Week One of the 2015 season.
Player of the Week
* Unbelievable stats for Maricopa QB Aaron Owens. The senior threw for 524 yards and 6 TDs in a wild win over Agua Fria.
Coach of the Week
* Conrad Hamilton – Chaparral. It’s not easy taking a bus full of teens on a road trip to California to play one of San Diego’s top teams. The Firebirds beat a very good Helix squad in their season opener.
Team of the Week
* Sunnyslope – Everyone, including myself, thought they would be down. The Vikings lost a ton of talent and were not ranked in the preseason polls by anyone despite great success the last two years. They beat a ranked Peoria team 33-3.
QBs
* Matt Mitchell from Joy Christian threw 5 TDs passes against San Tan Foothills.
* Higley junior Mason Crossland threw for 329 yards and 5 TDs against Chavez.
* Tristan Asken from Mt. View threw for 359 yards and 3 TDs.
* Super sophomore Alijah Gammage threw 3 TD passes, ran for another and recorded an INT in a win over Phoenix Christian.
* Coming off the bench, Liberty’s Andrew Magri threw for 307 yards and 3 TDs in a close loss to Desert Ridge.
* Mt. Pointe’s Jack Smith threw for 280 yards and 3 TDs while rushing for 45 yards and a 4th score in win over Bakersfield.
* O’Connor senior Bailin Markridge threw 3 TDs against Boulder Creek.
RBs
* Arcadia’s Ryan Alexandre rushed for 195 yards and 3 TDs against Bradshaw Mountain.
* Agua Fria’s Chris Cofield had 259 yards on the ground, 90 in the air and scored a total of 3 TDs in their loss to Maricopa.
Receivers
* Joy Christian’s Dujuan Lawrence had 2 receiving TDs, 1 rushing and 1 on a return in their win over San Tan Foothills.
* Higley junior Bryce Gilbert caught 8 passes for 222 yards and 3 TDs versus Chavez.
* Maricopa’s Johny Johnson caught 8 passes for 287 yards and 3 TDs versus Agua Fria.
* Mata’ava Ta’ase from Mt. View caught 14 passes for 247 yards and 3 TDs.
* Hamilton’s Kaleb Pitts caught 5 passes for 118 yards and 1 TD while also standing out in the return game.
* Jake Welsheimer from Shadow Mountain had 6 catches for 168 yards and 3 TDs versus Trevor Browne.
* Liberty’s Deyton Jackson caught 12 passes for 165 yards and 2 TDs against Desert Ridge.
* Nate Jones from Perry caught 8 passes for 182 yards and 2 TDs against Mesquite.
* Kellis’ Josiah Bailey caught 5 passes for 158 yards and 2 scores and also had a punt return TD versus Washington.
* O’Connor’s Michael Tytler had 116 yards and 3 TDs.
Special Teams/Defense/Misc.
* Liberty LB Chase Hulbert had 14 tackles and 1 sack in a their loss to Desert Ridge.
* Thunderbird’s Cole Sutter had 2 INTs.
* Agua Fria’s Jaylon Green returned a kick and a punt for scores against Maricopa.
* Sunnyslope’s Kijan Lee had 13 tackles, 4 TFLs and 1 sack against Peoria.
* O’Connor’s Jake Callaway had 7 tackles and 3 sacks versus Boulder Creek.
I am sure I missed a few players, so every week send me your nominations. Send to my Twitter @jason247scout or email me at jason76@24-7football.com.
