Vote: Florida Panhandle high school football Player of the Week (9/30/2024)

We’ve selected 10 candidates to choose from this past week’s regular season games

Quarterback Nino Freeman (2) fades back while looking for an open receiver during the Escambia vs Washington football game at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. / Gregg Pachkowski / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Florida high school football is back and so begins our Player of the Week polls for areas all around the state. Teams showcased what they’ve got in Week 6 of the regular season.

As such, we have 10 athletes nominated this week for the SBLive’s Florida Panhandle Football Player of the Week award from September 26-28, and we ask you, the fans, to help decide who should indeed be the top athlete selected.

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Congratulations to last week's winner: Aiden Justice, Holmes County

In the Blue Devils' 34-27 victory over Northview, the senior linebacker collected a team-high 15 tackles.

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SBLive voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams. Unless expressly noted, there are no awards for winning the voting. Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll. You can vote as often as you wish and are encouraged to share our polls with others. The use of voting bots and other forms of automated voting are not allowed. Individuals will be removed from the poll if any form of automated voting can be verified. - SBLive Sports

Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6th. The winner will be announced in the following week's poll. Here are this week's nominees:

Maddox Hayles, Niceville

The Eagles' defender was all over the field in a 41-7 romp over Gulf Breeze, making a team-high 10 tackles and three of them going for a loss.

Jocarian Garrett, Cottondale

Garret had another strong outing for Cottondale, rushing for a game-high 148 yards on 22 carries and scoring two touchdowns in a 28-8 win over Wewahitchka.

Wells Bettenhausen, Walton

Bettenhausen continued his trend of having big passing performances in Walton's 60-38 victory over South Walton, completing 14-of-18 passes for 276 yards and five touchdowns.

JD Brown, South Walton

The sophomore signal caller had arguably his best game yet as a high school quarterback, completing 25-of-43 passes for 255 yards and four touchdowns.

Pious Reed, Sneads

In a 14-12 victory over Liberty County, Reed carried the rock 20 times for 112 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Bryce Wheeler, Navarre

The Raiders' defender was a tackling machine in Navarre's 30-27 victory over Tate, totaling a team-high 15 tackles.

Nino Freeman, Escambia

Freeman had one of his best games of the season so far, with the Gators' quarterback completing 14-of-25 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns.

Gionni Lewis, Pensacola Booker T. Washington

The freshman wide receiver impressed in the Wildcats' loss to Escambia, hauling in four passes for 155 yards and a touchdown.

Ben Tyner, Pace

In the Patriots' 56-28 victory over Crestview, Tyner accounted for 119 all-purpose yards and three total touchdowns.

Jayzion McQueen, Crestview

McQueen piled up the stats in the Bulldogs' 56-28 loss to Pace and totaled 240 all-purpose yards and three total touchdowns.

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Follow SBLive Florida throughout the 2024 high school football season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!

Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news.

SBLIVE SPORTS LAUNCHES HIGH SCHOOL ON SI

High School On SI will serve as the premier destination for high school sports fans, delivering unparalleled coverage of high school athletics nationwide through in-depth stories, recruiting coverage, rankings, highlights and much more. The launch of a dedicated high school experience expands Sports Illustrated’s reach to even more local communities as fans can now truly follow athletes from “preps to the pros” on a single platform, bringing them closer to the action than ever before. For more information, visit si.com/high-school.

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl