BluegrassPreps.com Mr. Football Watchlist (10/17)

[DevilMayCare]

Catholic, Christian Academy Quarterbacks Post Mixed Results

Last week was bereft of any major headline makers, but four of the top quarterbacks in the state went to work with success coming in varying degrees. All led their teams to victory, but one in particular had to sweat out perhaps the most challenging game of his career.

We'll start with the performance most likely to move the needle in a positive direction, Jackson Wasik's night in Erlanger. 

Wasik took Lexington Catholic on the road to meet an undefeated, top five opponent that could be classified as the mystery team of 3A.

Wasik helped solve the mystery with all the cunning of Sherlock Holmes.

Lloyd Memorial fell before the Knights with Wasik swinging the sword and the LexCath defense holding an impenetrable shield. He tallied 287 total yards and four touchdowns to solidify LexCath's place near the top of the class.

The team that sits at the head of 3A table had its hands full, fending off Central's stinging defensive assault. Cole Hodge's talents were smothered by a swarm of Yellow Jackets, leading to the second lowest yardage total (113) of his career and the first time he's ever thrown more interceptions (2) than touchdown passes (1). CAL survived, but this was not Hodge's finest hour.

Preseason favorite Cutter Boley and rising sleeper Evan Pitzer were met with substantially less resistance in games that amounted to stat padding exhibitions. 

Boley's season has slowed to a crawl for multiple reasons: LCA's district does him no favors and most of the heavy lifting this season has been done by his backfield mate - we'll briefly touch on him further down the page. He threw for 144 yards and a pair of scores against WEB DuBois. The second touchdown toss was the 50th of his career in an LCA uniform. 

Pitzer was sharp to the point of perfection, completing all eight pass attempts for 228 yards and three touchdowns to help CovCath pour it on Harrison County. He's thrown more touchdown passes (8) than incompletions (5) during district play.

 

Noteworthy Performances From Week 9

- The latest bloomer amongst the quarterback contingent is Male's Kolter Smith. He makes his watchlist debut on the strength of seven touchdown passes against Fern Creek. One game won't earn him GOAT status, but his performance last week brought him to the brink of company like Chris Redman and Gerry Ahrens, Male legends and the only two Bulldog quarterbacks to throw more touchdown passes in a single game. With huge games coming up against Bullitt East, Manual, and a daunting 'big school' playoff gauntlet to run, Smith could hang around the watchlist a while.

 

- Tyleeq Williams threw his first career touchdown pass against Nelson County to accompany 173 yards and a touchdown running, plus an 80 yard touchdown reception. For his next trick, Williams is going to throw a touchdown pass to himself. I'm only half joking, he might do it. 

-  Joining Boley in the drubbing of WEB DuBois was Brady Hensley, who ran for 139 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries. From a numbers perspective, he's fallen off the torrid pace set by Daniel Thomas - who was idle last week - but in the fifteen games since returning from injury last year, Hensley has run for 2,740 yards and scored 40 touchdowns. 

- An early season injury put Steve Partin behind the eight ball, but he's made great strides, both literally and figuratively, in the weeks since his return. He ran for 221 yards and two touchdowns to put Knox Central over Clay County. 

- After being absent from the watchlist since the pre-season edition, it's time to take a snapshot of Simon Kenton's Aba Selm. The two-way lineman has provided airtight protection for his quarterback, opened holes for his running backs, and closed them from his defensive tackle position. The Pioneers rank #1 in 6A in total offense and Selm leads the team with twelve tackles for loss. The lack of recent marquee games has pushed him into the background, but upcoming dates with Ryle and Ashland should nudge the light back in his direction.

 

Players Featured This Week

Jackson Wasik (QB, Lexington Catholic)

Season to date: 125/193 for 1,847 yards and 20 touchdowns with 2 interceptions | 151 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns

 

Cole Hodge (QB, Christian Academy of Louisville)

Season to date: 158/224 for 2,055 yards and 29 touchdowns with 6 interceptions | 368 rushing yards and 1 touchdown

 

Cutter Boley (QB, Lexington Christian Academy)

Season to date: 111/177 for 1,595 yards and 14 touchdowns with 4 interceptions | 5 rushing touchdowns 

 

Evan Pitzer (QB, Covington Catholic)

Season to date: 98/137 for 1,656 yards and 19 touchdowns with 3 interceptions | 344 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns 

Highlights: vs. Harrison County

 

Kolter Smith (QB, Male)

Season to date: 78/118 for 1,530 yards and 21 touchdowns with 4 interceptions 

 

Tyleeq "TyTy" Williams (ATH, Bardstown)

Season to date: 137 carries for 1,273 yards and 15 touchdowns | 352 yards and 3 touchdowns | 1 touchdown pass | 1 scoop and score | 28 tackles | 1 sack | 1 interception | 2 kick return touchdowns

Highlights: Season so far

 

Brady Hensley (RB, Lexington Christian Academy)

Season to date: 163 carries for 1,420 yards and 26 touchdowns | 198 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns

 

Steve Partin (RB/LB, Knox Central)

Season to date: 153 carries for 1,487 yards and 20 touchdowns | 55 tackles | 11 TFL | 5 sacks

 

Aba Selm (OL/DL, Simon Kenton)

Season to date: The Pioneers lead 6A in total offense | 41 tackles | 12 tackles for loss | 3 sacks

[MaddenCurse44]

Aba Selm has been paving the way for 6A leading rusher Durrell Turner.

[BLUEHOUND]

I think Brody Benke's body of work is still out in front of these quality players. If I had a vote,  that's my choice. 

[BlueRaider]

If Bullitt East finds a way to win on Friday against Male, Jack Zwernemann needs to be in the conversation. 

[DevilMayCare]

On 10/18/2023 at 1:04 PM, BlueRaider said:

If Bullitt East finds a way to win on Friday against Male, Jack Zwernemann needs to be in the conversation. 

Winning alone may not be enough. He's had a really good year, but someone coming from as far back as he is needs an attention grabber. This is his opportunity. He doesn't necessarily need a seven touchdown game like Kolter Smith had last week, but Zwernemann needs to be the driving force behind Bullitt East beating Male, if it happens.

[Bluebird]

Brody Benke has 1362 passing yards and 19 touchdowns to go with 810 rushing yards to go with 15 touchdowns.  That stacks up pretty fine!

[MaddenCurse44]

Ryle Senior Logan Verax should be mention 1886 yards 13 tds 3 ints and 276 yards rushing 6 tds.

Edited October 19, 2023 by theguru

[FirstTimeLongTime]

17 hours ago, Bluebird said:

Brody Benke has 1362 passing yards and 19 touchdowns to go with 810 rushing yards to go with 15 touchdowns.  That stacks up pretty fine!

After last night's 6 TD game, Brody now has 2500 Total yards (1447 Passing, 870 Rushing and 183 Receiving) with 43 Total TDs (21 Passing, 17 Rushing and 5 Receiving).  He also snaps for field goals and has 5 Receiving 2 Point conversions. Birds finish regular season at 9-1.