Temperatures dropped this weekend, but the play on the field did not. Games are starting to mean a lot more than they did a few weeks ago and the best players in the state are showing as much when they step on the gridiron.
Finding nominees for the Week 6 Providence Journal Player of the Week wasn’t hard. As always, figuring out who are five nominees should be proved to be a challenge. We knocked the list down and will let our readers decide who should be the Week 6 Player of the Week.
There’s only one way to vote - check out the bios of this week’s five nominees and then make you pick in the ballot at the bottom of the page. Voting opens at 9 a.m. Monday and runs through Saturday night and you can vote as many times as you’d like between then. The winner will be announced in this space next week.
Who was the Week 5 Player of the Week?
The most passionate football schools are usually from the smallest communities and one of the state’s smallest showed up in a huge way for one of their own.
In the race for Week 5 Providence Journal Player of the Week, North Smithfield’s Brady Bouley found himself in a battle with Pilgrim’s Grady Weaver. North Smithfield is the size of some Warwick neighborhoods, but it didn’t matter. Bouley finished with over 50 percent of the vote, besting the 32.5 percent earned by Weaver, making Bouley the Week 5 Providence Journal Player of the Week.
Congratulations to Bouley and the North Smithfield faithful!
What does Player of the Week receive?
The prize for Providence Journal Football Player of the Week is simple – it’s a big bucket of clout.
The award is designed to be an interactive way for the state’s most passionate football communities to show support for their local players. We want the athletes, teams and schools to create social media campaigns to try and earn as many votes as possible. When a player wins, the community does as well – and that shows us which ones are truly passionate about high school football.
How does a player get nominated?
It’s simple – ball out on the field.
The second step is making sure someone from the team is reporting scores and statistics to the Providence Journal. On gamedays – whether its Thursday, Friday or Saturday – coaches from both teams are responsible for sending the Journal all their scoring information from the game. This information helps us put together our football roundup each week and figure out which players should be nominated.
Final score and touchdown information should be emailed to the Providence Journal at PJSports@ProvidenceJournal.com by 11 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and within two hours of the end of the game on Saturdays.
Once we find our candidates, the Journal may reach out to coaches for more complete statistics. Programs that do not report scoring information will not have players considered as nominees. If you think we missed your player, talk to your head coach or athletic director and ask if they are sending results to the Providence Journal.
So who will be the Week 6 Providence Journal Player of the Week? Let’s take a look at the nominees and get ready to start voting now!
Week 6 Player of the Week Nominees
Zach Borges, Barrington
Borges made a statement early, then came up big late to help the Eagles pull out a 35-14 win over South Kingstown. On the first play from scrimmage, Borges went left and made a 63-yard housecall to get Barrington off to the start it was looking for. He added a second-quarter touchdown run and, up 21-14 in the fourth, slammed the door shut on SK with a third score. Borges finished the game with 14 carries for 103 yards and the three touchdown as the Eagles kept their playoff hopes alive.
Rocco Gentilella, Davies
The Patriots had their hands full with Chariho on Friday, but their fabulous freshman came through to help them pull out a dramatic 20-19 win. After an injury to star back Sam Waterman, Gentilella became the focal point of the offense. He finished his night with nine catches for 105 yards and a touchdown, ran for 24 yards and came up big on the game’s final play, popping in the 2-point conversion for the game-winning score.
Owen Lehne, East Greenwich
The undefeated Avengers remained that way on Friday night and showed there’s more than one way to win a football game. Lehne provided points against North Providence without playing offense, sacking the quarterback in the end zone for a safety and later adding touchdown return after a blocked punt. Lehne and the defense quieted the Cougars’ all evening in a 16-6 win that keeps them atop the Division III standings.
Bruce Sampson, Exeter-West Greenwich
An injury has kept Sampson off the field, but the Scarlet Knights were certainly happy to see him back on the field Saturday. The senior took the offense down the field and scored on a short run for the first score against North Smithfield and led a defensive effort that quieted the big-play Northmen down. In overtime, Sampson scored on the first play and then helped the defense get the stop that clinched the 20-14 upset win.
Nick Stafford, North Kingstown
Getting nominated has been an almost weekly occurrence for Stafford, so let’s see if the Skipper fans can actually show him some support this time around. Stafford is the best offensive player in the state and continued to prove as much on Friday, rushing for 192 yards and two touchdowns, adding a fumble recovery score, in North Kingstown’s 23-10 win over St. Raphael, which keeps the Skippers locked into the No. 3 seed in Division I.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Who was RI's best HS football player in Week 6? Vote now to decide.