Vote for the News & Observer high school football player of the week
Meet this week’s nominees for the News & Observer high school football player of the week.
Readers can vote as often as they like until Friday, around noon, when the poll will close.
Brock Biestek, Cardinal Gibbons Football: The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior running back/wide receiver rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries to lead Cardinal Gibbons to a 49-7 win over Pine Forest in a first round playoff victory April 16.
Biestek also had two catches for 37 yards in the same game.
Biestek has 510 yards and six touchdowns rushing to go with 20 catches for 275 yards and three more scores for Cardinal Gibbons (7-0) this season.
Wesley Grimes, Millbrook Football: The Wildcats’ junior wide receiver had seven catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-27 loss to Wake Forest in the opening round of the playoff, April 16.
Millbrook finished the season 5-3 overall.
Chad Hillman, Wake Forest Football: The 6-foot-4, 180-pound senior quarterback went 13-for-18 for 270 yards and a touchdown pass to lead Wake Forest to a 30-27 win at Millbrook in the first round of the playoffs April 16.
Hillman is 43-for-66 for 666 yards and four touchdown passes for Wake Forest (6-1) this season.
Deshawn Hinton, Clayton Football: The 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior running back had 239 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 18 carries to lead the Comets to a 31-27 win at Southeast Guilford in the first round of the playoffs, April 16.
Clayton is 7-1 overall this season.
Chad Kearns, Middle Creek Football: The 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior quarterback went 26-for-51 for 434 yards passing and four touchdowns in a 51-27 loss at Richmond Senior in the first round of the playoffs, April 16.
Kearns went 113 of 185 for 1,824 yards passing and 17 touchdowns for Middle Creek (6-2) this season.
Hunter Morris, Cleveland Football: The 6-foot-2, 207-pound senior linebacker/fullback had five tackles, including four tackles for loss, two sacks and two pancake blocks (on offense) as Cleveland rolled to a 49-0, first round playoff win over Southern Durham, April 16.
Morris led the Cleveland defense to their third straight shutout and 4th overall this season.
Morris has 61 tackles, including 16 tackles for loss and three sacks for Cleveland (8-0) this season.
Caden O’Brien, Rolesville Football: The 6-foot-1, 240-pound linebacker had 10 tackles, including four tackles for loss and two sacks to help Rolesville to a 41-0 win over Holly Springs in the opening round of the state playoffs, April 16.
O’Brien has 64 tackles, including 11 tackles for loss and five sacks for Rolesville (7-0) this season.
Amari Odom, Panther Creek Football: The 6-foot-3, 170-pound sophomore quarterback had two, second-half touchdown passes to bring the Catamounts back from a 14-7 deficit to beat Olympic 21-14 in the opening round of the state playoffs, April 16.
Odom found teammate, Khilen Holliman on a 28-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14.
With 4:47 left in the game, Odom hit Zay Jones on a 30-yard touchdown pass, which turned out to be the game-winner.
Panther Creek remains a perfect 8-0 this season with the victory.
Syvian Taylor, Green Hope Football: The 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior had a standout, special teams’ effort for Green Hope as the Falcons lost at Hough, 43-15 in the opening round of the state playoffs, April 16.
Taylor scored on a 99-yard kickoff return for a score, while also take blocked kick back 73 yards for a touchdown in the same game.
Green Hope finishes the season with a 4-2 record.
** Information published today includes statistics through April 17.
Want to nominate an athlete?: Athletes of the week highlights high school players with outstanding performances. The goal is to recognize all athletes in all sports, both the most accomplished and the underrated or underappreciated players. If you want to suggest someone to be included in the Athletes of the week column, send email to Jay Edwards at edwardsraleighnewsobserver@gmail.com.
