Vote: Who should be SBLive's Tampa Bay Florida high school football defensive player of the week (10/23/2023)?
High school football is back in the Sunshine State and so begins our Player of the Week polls for areas all around the state. Teams started off the regular season with some great individual performances in Week 9.
As such, we have 12 athletes nominated this week for the SBLive’s Tampa Bay Defensive Football Player of the Week award from October 19-20, and we ask you, the fans, to help decide who should indeed be the top athlete selected. Voting will conclude on Saturday, October 28th at 11:59 p.m. The winner will be announced in next week's poll.
Congratulations to last week's winner: Keyari James, LB, Clearwater Academy International.
Here are this week's nominations:
Xavier Porter, DL, Tampa Catholic: The defensive lineman notched seven tackles and two sacks in the Crusaders' 51-48 loss to Fort Myers.
Matthew Surber, LB, Indian Rocks Christian: Surber tallied a team-high 10 tackles in the 22-21 loss to Northside Christian.
Samuel Ehret, LB, Clearwater Academy International: Ehret helped the Knights to the upset win over Lakeland on the road, notching five tackles and two sacks.
Zack Lester, LB, Calvary Christian: Lester totaled a team-high 11 tackles in a 35-7 win over Lakeland Christian.
Alex Tate, LB, Plant: Tate was all over the place for the Panthers in a 27-6 win over Steinbrenner, notching 15 tackles, two for a loss and two quarterback hurries.
Chase Jarrett, LB, Plant: The Panthers' linebacker joined Tate in the defensive fun versus Steinbrenner, totaling a team-high 21 tackles and an interception. Also rushed for 23 yards and a score on offense.
Joseph Dotson, DE, Middleton: The defensive notched two sacks in the Tigers' 15-7 win over Sickles.
Parker Byers, LB, Clearwater: Byers did a little bit of everything in the Tornadoes' 22-14 win over East Lake. The linebacker had 12 tackles, one interception and a sack.
Antonio Henley, DT, Gaither: Henley notched four tackles and three went for a loss in the Cowboys' 35-21 win over Durant.
Roymarr Thomas, DE, Armwood: Thomas only two tackles were both quarterback takedowns in the Hawks' 43-9 win over Plant City.
Landon Johnston, LB, Riverview: In the Sharks' 35-17 rout of Strawberry Crest, Johnston tallied six tackles, three for loss and two sacks.
Dylan Freese, LB, Osceola: The linebacker had 10 tackles and four went for a loss in the Warriors' 42-0 win over DeSoto County.
-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl
