Poll results: Here’s the high school football player of the week in southwest Illinois
Travis Porter of Highland High School is the winner of the season opening Belleville News-Democrat Football Player of the Week high school poll, as selected by readers of bnd.com.
Travis Porter, a senior running back/linebacker, posted four touchdowns during a 54-10 season opening road win against Washington. Porter notched rushing touchdowns of 2 yards and 3 yards while hauling in an 8-yard touchdown pass and a 7-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Brent Wuebbles.
Porter — who secured 42% of the votes — notched a 2-point conversion as well while finishing with 94 yards rushing on 12 carries for a 7.8 yards per carry average.
Here were the other Week 1 candidates:
Moisey Trimble, Belleville East High School, senior, running back. Trimble rushed for 118 yards — including a 70-yard touchdown — on 9 carries in a season opening 20-12 road win against Collinsville.
Darrion Millender Jr., Belleville East High School, junior, quarterback. Millender Jr. rushed for 1 touchdown and also threw a touchdown pass in the 20-12 win against Collinsville.
Jayden Howard, Belleville East High School, senior, linebacker. Howard recorded 18 tackles, 1 sack and 3 tackles for loss in the 20-12 win against Collinsville.
Jaedon Coleman, Belleville East High School, senior, linebacker. Coleman recorded 8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 1 interception in the 20-12 victory against Collinsville. Coleman’s interception with 1:40 left sealed the win.
The Belleville East defense. The Lancers defense posted a critical goalline stand late in the 4th quarter and secured a late interception to preserve the 20-12 victory against the Kahoks.
Ethan Bagwell, Collinsville High school, junior, quarterback. Bagwell threw for 1 touchdown in the 20-12 loss to Belleville East.
Quincy Hall, Mascoutah High School, senior, wide receiver/safety. Hall returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown, caught a 44-yard touchdown pass and ran for a 4-yard touchdown in a season opening 49-26 win against Columbia. Hall also recorded 5 tackles, grabbed 4 passes overall, ran for 37 yards on 3 carries and also caught a pass for a 2-point conversion. while recording 5 tackles.
- Malik Nave, Althoff Catholic High School, senior, running back. Nave rushed for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns on 22 carries in leading the Crusaders to a 28-10 home win against John Burroughs. Nave also had 1 catch for 10 yards to finish with 130 all-purpose yards.
Christopher Caldwell, O’Fallon High School, senior, running back. Caldwell rushed for 195 yards and 2 touchdowns on 31 carries in helping the Panthers to a 23-17 home victory against Normal Community.
Zay Norton, Collinsville High School, junior, middle linebacker. Norton recorded 2 solo tackles and assisted on 7 other tackes for a total of 9 in the 20-12 loss to Belleville East. Norton also recorded 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss and 1 fumble recovery.
Jahkori Adams, Belleville West High School, junior, running back. Adams rushed for 120 yards and 1 touchdown on 20 carries in a 21-12 loss at Danville.
The poll ended at 11:59 p.m. Thursday
To be clear, this poll is not scientific. In fact, we invite you to vote as many times as you want. It’s all for fun, BND readers.
Due to the Labor Day holiday, the next athlete of the week poll will appear on the BND’s website — www.bnd.com — at 5 a.m. Wednesday and remain open until 10 a.m. Friday. The normal Tuesday-Thursday schedule will resume the following week. Please email nominations to gvartanian@bnd.com.
