The Times' 2022 Football Player of the Year Tiqwai Hayes is not done yet

As a freshman in 2021, Aliquippa running back Tiqwai "Tikey" Hayes burst onto the scene for the Quips, putting up a dominant first season at the varsity level under head coach Mike Warfield as the Quips won a 17th WPIAL title and a PIAA state championship.

In his first season in the WPIAL, Hayes rushed for 1,759 yards on 245 carries and scored 23 touchdowns on the ground for the Quips, earning All-State honors while being named the 2021 Pennsylvania Football Writers' Player of the Year in Class 4A. Hayes also added a High School Football Freshman All-American Team honor from MaxPreps as a freshman.

Entering his sophomore season with the Quips, expectations were high. Unsurprisingly — based on everything he's done on a football field to this point — Hayes exceeded expectations in 2022 for the Quips, finishing his sophomore season with 224 carries for 1,981 yards on the season with 33 rushing touchdowns, giving him 3,727 yards through two seasons in the WPIAL, putting him on a prestigious pace.

His performance in the backfield for the Quips with much of the attention focused on him each and every week earned him the Times' 2022 Football Player of the Year honor, as voted on by the Times' sports staff.

Hayes is the second third straight running back to win the award from the Times, following the footsteps of Beaver Falls' Josh Hough in 2020 and Central Valley's Landon Alexander in 2021.

With all of that attention placed on him coming into the season as a 15-year-old, Hayes did what many struggle to do at a young age in the social media landscape: he ignored the attention and let his game do the talking.

"I really just ignored everything," Hayes said to the Times in late December, days after turning 16. "I just worked out and let my game speak for itself. I didn't really get into the critics or the hype or anything like that.

"We were on a mission this season. We couldn't get distracted, so we just worked out and focused on what we had to do this season."

His game spoke rather loudly for the second straight season. Hayes missed cracking the illustrious 2,000-yard mark by just 19 yards on the season, which would have put him in the same prestigious conversation with the likes of Hopewell's Rushel Shell, Beaver Falls' Hough and Central Valley's Alexander to hit that mark in recent years in the Beaver Valley.

On top of the impressive number of rushing yards as a sophomore, Hayes put himself in rare territory in the WPIAL in 2022 as well, scoring 204 points on the season, becoming one of just six players in the WPIAL to achieve that individual feat.

In true workhorse fashion, Hayes got better and better as the season progression, culminating with a 26-carry, 122-yard, three-touchdown performance at Acrisure Stadium in the Quips' 34-7 win over Central Valley in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game.

Despite the display of dominance week after week, Hayes remained humble, team-oriented and didn't really pay attention to the individual numbers he put up behind the "Trench Dawgz" offensive line featuring Jason McBride, Neco Eberhardt, Naquan Crowder, Braylon Wilcox and Kamari Mathews. Instead, he was just focused on the success of the team, which included snapping Central Valley's 36-game winning streak to claim the WPIAL Class 4A Parkway Conference championship in late October before cruising through the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs with blowout wins over Montour and McKeesport before winning the WPIAL championship over the Warriors in a rematch.

"I didn't really notice, because we were just having a good year overall," Hayes said of his individual success. "I didn't even notice what I was doing by myself, but at the end of the year I was able to look back and realize that wow, I did good. We didn't finish though."

The Quips were unable to finish the undefeated season and achieve school history, falling 41-18 in the PIAA Class 4A championship game against Bishop McDevitt in a rematch from 2021. In that game, Hayes had a pick-6 defensively to pull the Quips back in the game and later added a 1-yard touchdown run, finishing with 71 yards and a score on 14 carries.

After a brilliant sophomore season, the individual accolades started to roll in for Hayes, who was named an All-State player once again by the Pennsylvania Writers, and earned First Team All-Conference accolades in the loaded 4A Parkway Conference. Those accolades include the Times' 2022 Football Player of the Year award as well.

"It's great and all, but I don't think it [the individual accolades] are all that," Hayes said. "I just feel like I can keep going, keep getting better. I'm not done yet; I want to be one of the best players in the country. This is just one step closer to my goal."

Based on his meteoric rise so far in his high school career, there's another level in his game coming for Hayes, which will put him on a trajectory to achieve his individual goal of being one of the best high school players in the country.

Contact Joshua Carney at jcarney@gannett.com or 724-681-9136. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @ByJoshCarney

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: The Times' 2022 Football Player of the Year Tiqwai Hayes is not done yet