Jason Jewell’s Friday Night Phenoms: Week 0, 2016 Season

Arizona Sports News online

Every week, 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 2016 season.
Player of the Week

* Westview RB Tyler Vasko picked up where he left off last year. He rushed for 314 yards and 49 receiving yards and scored 4 times in a win over Basha.

Coach of the Week

New head coach Jose Lucero, in his first game as a head coach, helped North Canyon snap a 20 game home losing streak with a win over Goldwater.

I also wanted to give a special mention to Paradise Valley head coach Greg Davis. PV and Davis had huge success last year and it didn’t look good on the scoreboard on Friday against Verrado. PV dressed under 20 player in that game after a hectic off-season in which multiple players were kicked off the team. I just want to commend Davis for doing the right thing. There are people in this world that would have tried to shove things under the rug or handled this “internally”, to try and salvage their season. Davis didn’t.

Team of the Week

Saguaro represented Arizona well in their big win over Gardena Serra.

QBs

* Desert Edge’s Tehran Thomas rushed for 103 yards and 2 TDs against Centennial.

* Scottsdale Christian freshman Jack Miller threw 5 TDs against Glendale Prep.

* Queen Creek’s Devin Larsen had 270 yards and 2 TDs against Chavez.

* Bagdad’s Israel Loveall threw 5 TDs against Valley Union.

RBs

* Sabino’s Drew Dixon rushed for 280 yards and 4 TDs against Sahuaro.

* Mt. Pointe’s Gary Bragg had 202 yards and 3 TDs against O’Connor.

* Centennial’s Zidane Thomas rushed for 167 yards and a score against Desert Edge.

* Brophy’s Noah Pittenger rushed for 107 yards and 2 TDs against Pinnacle.

* How about this average? Josh Hatfield from Williams Field had 3 carries for 150+ yards and scored 3 TDs against Arcadia.

* Saguaro junior Josiah Bradley had 3 TDs and 1 INT against Gardena Serra.

* Jace Koester from Queen Creek scored 4 TDs versus Chavez.

Receivers

* Queen Creek’s Armon McGuire caught 7 passes for 147 yards versus Chavez.

Defense/Special Teams/Return

* North Canyon DL Austin Jackson had 13 tackles, 7 TFLs and 2 sacks against Goldwater.

* St. Mary’s DE Odua Isibor had 11 tackles, 2 TFLs and recovered a muffed punt.

* Chavez’s Tavion Allen had 12 tackles and 100+ receiving yards versus Queen Creek.

* Skyline’s Tait Brown had 3 INTs versus Westwood.

* Mesquite’s Preston Smith had 2 INTs versus Mesa.

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