Final 2022 football stats and why NIC-10 truly became a passing league for first time
Jahmani Muhammad fell 112 yards short of Harlem's school record for rushing yards in a season. But he is only a sophomore. Sebastian Bracius — Sea-Bass to his teammates — easily shattered Jefferson's season passing record. And he, too, is only a sophomore. Anthony Purifoy, third in passing yards, also broke Auburn's school record.
Bracius not only elevated Jefferson's offense to new heights, he was part of a league-wide trend: The NIC-10, as a whole, became a passing conference for the first time in history. There were not only a league-record seven 1,000-yard passers, but all seven threw for at least 10 touchdowns. That crushed the league record of four in 2013. And all seven also had more TD passes than interceptions.
Area season leaders were Rochelle's Garrett Gensler in rushing, Boylan's Connor Dennis in passing and Jefferson's Tyler Gaines in receiving. Dennis had virtually identical passing stats to Bracius (throwing three fewer passes for five more yards with the same number of interceptions) except for four more TD passes. Dennis would have had a 107.2 passer rating under the NFL's formula to 103.7 for Bracius.
Here are my final large-school football stats (NIC-10 plus Rochelle) for the 2022 season, with Harlem and Rochelle being the last two area teams to bow out of the playoffs.
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RUSHING
Player | School | Atts | Yds | Avg | TD |
Garrett Gensler | Rochelle | 212 | 1,727 | 8.1 | 29 |
Jahmani Muhammad | Harlem | 248 | 1,586 | 6.4 | 12 |
Trey Taft | Rochelle | 124 | 1,099 | 8.9 | 12 |
Jayvon Jones | Guilford | 159 | 1,037 | 6.5 | 12 |
Mekhi Glover | Boylan | 118 | 936 | 7.9 | 12 |
Erich Metzger | Rochelle | 132 | 837 | 6.3 | 7 |
Darius Fort | North | 138 | 793 | 5.7 | 5 |
Javius Catlin | East | 125 | 760 | 6.1 | 9 |
Rasheed Johnson | Boylan | 63 | 686 | 10.9 | 12 |
Joey Alvarez | Jefferson | 93 | 668 | 7.2 | 9 |
Nico Bertolino | North | 66 | 665 | 10.1 | 10 |
DeAndre Young | Harlem | 82 | 639 | 7.8 | 6 |
Patrick Dubose, Jr. | Auburn | 92 | 607 | 6.6 | 10 |
Estin Fichter | Hononegah | 115 | 562 | 4.9 | 4 |
Denarius Jackson | Freeport | 120 | 546 | 4.6 | 7 |
Deterrace Dotson | East | 82 | 513 | 6.3 | 3 |
Cole Warren | Hononegah | 86 | 452 | 5.3 | 9 |
Luke Poppe | Hononegah | 85 | 427 | 5.0 | 3 |
Jason Dean | Belvidere | 66 | 415 | 6.3 | 2 |
Xzaveon Segner | Freeport | 89 | 414 | 4.7 | 3 |
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PASSING
Player, School | Comp | Atts | Yds | Pct. | TD | Int |
Connor Dennis, Boylan | 110 | 201 | 1,759 | .547 | 24 | 8 |
Sebastian Bracius, Jefferson | 121 | 204 | 1,754 | .593 | 20 | 8 |
Anthony Purifoy, Auburn | 78 | 148 | 1,355 | .527 | 10 | 9 |
Cole Warren, Hononegah | 99 | 191 | 1,301 | .518 | 18 | 7 |
Xzaveon Segner, Freeport | 83 | 168 | 1,179 | .494 | 15 | 12 |
Austin Redmon, Harlem | 75 | 166 | 1,211 | .452 | 12 | 8 |
Skyler Wolf, Guilford | 76 | 142 | 1,063 | .535 | 12 | 3 |
Hayden Inman, Rochelle | 21 | 48 | 419 | .438 | 5 | 6 |
Twaine Phillips, East | 16 | 51 | 237 | .314 | 1 | 5 |
Maddox Gyllenswan, North | 8 | 20 | 216 | .400 | 1 | 3 |
Trey Williams, Belvidere | 27 | 58 | 189 | .466 | 2 | 4 |
Gunnar Vuroenmaa, Belvidere | 11 | 25 | 187 | .440 | 2 | 2 |
RECEIVING
Player | School | Rec. | Yds | Avg | TD |
Tyler Gaines | Jefferson | 50 | 738 | 14.8 | 12 |
Dedric Macon | Freeport | 27 | 529 | 19.6 | 9 |
DeAndre Young | Harlem | 30 | 511 | 17.0 | 5 |
Kelton Busekros | Harlem | 29 | 498 | 17.2 | 9 |
Mark Harris | Boylan | 25 | 491 | 19.6 | 6 |
Nick James | Jefferson | 32 | 463 | 14.5 | 4 |
Bryce Tessendorf | Freeport | 23 | 444 | 19.3 | 3 |
Randy Johnson | Jefferson | 25 | 437 | 17.5 | 4 |
Athavion Coleman | Auburn | 23 | 425 | 18.5 | 1 |
J'Mar Johnson | Boylan | 18 | 374 | 20.8 | 5 |
Ladamion Hoffman | Guilford | 22 | 373 | 17.0 | 6 |
Isaiah Houi | Hononegah | 35 | 370 | 10.6 | 6 |
Leonard Spates | Auburn | 19 | 330 | 19.3 | 4 |
Terry Horton | Auburn | 19 | 307 | 16.2 | 1 |
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Final 2022 football stats show NIC-10 is a passing league for 1st time
