Florida high school football turned in a Week 2 full of fireworks, from a school-record boot in Lake Mary to a last-play miracle at Pahokee.
Those kinds of nights helped fill the field for High School On SI Florida Football Player of the Week, with 15 nominees up for fan voting after a slate packed with big plays, overtime finishes and statement wins across the state.
Lake Mary’s Lucas Parker delivered one of the cleanest pressure moments of the week, drilling a school-record 51-yard field goal with time running out to push the Rams past Oviedo, 24-23, in a Seminole County showdown.
Pahokee’s Corian Davis produced the kind of finish that sticks with a team for a long time, hauling in a 75-yard Hail Mary double-pass and powering through multiple defenders for the winning touchdown in a wild 16-14 victory against Royal Palm Beach.
The Week 2 list also features a freshman who came through in a huge Orange County game, intercepting a pass on the final play to help the Royals hold off Edgewater, 21-14, while also scoring a first-quarter touchdown.
Elsewhere, a star senior piled up touchdowns through the air and on the ground, rushing for scores of 19, 12 and 45 yards and adding another passing touchdown to lead the Mustangs past Melbourne, 35-7.
A junior was just as explosive, scoring four touchdowns to push the Bears past rival Palm Bay, 42-25, and secure the program’s first win over that opponent in six years.
In the Panhandle, another standout carried the load, rushing 24 times for 171 yards and four touchdowns as the Crusaders beat Pace, 51-33, in a showdown.
The Broward County Showcase produced several headline-worthy performances. A senior flipped the field with a 65-yard punt return touchdown during a 38-0 first-half surge, and the Raiders never looked back in a 38-14 win over DeSoto (TX) between nationally ranked powers.
A junior transfer from Miami Northwestern helped get the South Florida power moving again, completing 28 of 43 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns in an overtime win over East St. Louis (Ill.), 35-28.
One quarterback-heavy performance turned into a scoring avalanche, with a junior rushing for five touchdowns to carry the Chiefs past McArthur, 47-41, in a triple-overtime South Florida thriller.
The vote also includes a Miami commit who stayed hot by catching two touchdown passes and making three interceptions in a 33-28 upset of nationally ranked Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), a junior who caught four touchdowns from junior Rozzi Sperry in a 45-28 win over Fleming Island, and a star senior who passed for 90 yards and three touchdowns while rushing seven times for 121 yards and two more scores in a 55-8 win over Elberta (AL).
Two more nominees made their case with special teams and volume on the ground. One player went 7-for-7 on extra-point kicks in a 45-27 win over Navarre, while another rushed 48 times for 220 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-17 victory over Charlotte.
Rounding out the list, a senior caught two touchdown passes and returned a kickoff 80 yards for a score to help the Tigers beat North Fort Myers, 50-13.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 6, PT, and the winner will be announced the following week. The previous poll winner was Fort Myers Gateway WR Jayden Hart, who earned Florida High School Football Player of the Week honors in the Aug. 24 vote.
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Floridas First Depth Chart Leaves Several Key Week 1 Battles Open
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Even so, plenty of the roster remains unsettled, which is the more interesting part of the exercise this early in September. Florida listed ongoing competitions at defensive line, running back and offensive line, and it also used co-starters at the H tight end, defensive end and second outside cornerback positions, a sign that several jobs are still being sorted out even as the opener approaches. [Read more 🡒]