MOUNT VERNON, Ill. -- It is almost time to put a bow on another High School football season. Just one week left, and then it is playoff time.聽
The 5-3 Mt. Vernon Rams are currently playoff eligible. It is win and get in this Friday against 1-7 Alton.聽
The Rams have had a season of mixed results, now they are in line to keep their championship dreams alive. A big reason for this, is due to Navontae Nesbit Jr. He is this week's WSIL Athlete of the Week.
The Rams have had a season of mixed results, now they are in line to keep their championship dreams alive. A big reason for this, is due to Navontae Nesbit Jr. He is this week's WSIL Athlete of the Week.
Senior running back, Navontae Nesbit Jr. has been running all over teams this season, and that continued in Mt. Vernon's dominant 70-41 win over Centralia last Friday.
Nesbit ran for 229 yards on 23 attempts and found the endzone five times in the victory, including a long 48-yard score.
Nesbit鈥檚 dominance in the backfield has been turning heads all over the state. He currently leads all Southern Illinois running backs with 1,322 yards this season.
His impressive five-touchdown game on Friday night earns him our week eight WSIL Athlete of the Week award.
"It feels good, but I mean, none of that really matters to me, I just want to make the playoffs and go deep. I want to thank Mylan, Marlin, Quinn, Maddux, Harry, I want to thank everybody," said Nesbit Jr.
Nesbit was very thankful for all of his teammates, but his hard work has paid off this season. The senior is on the verge of breaking some school records, including the Mt. Vernon High School career rushing yard and season touchdown record, among others.
Nesbit added, "I don鈥檛 think I was supposed to be having this many carries, we had some guys go down, and I just had to pick up the workload for those guys that went down. It didn鈥檛 really bother me though; I鈥檓 just out here having fun."
Rams head coach, Dan Mings had nothing but high praises for his running back who has stepped up in a big way for the Rams this season.
"We always talk about the flag-bearers, and we talk about when the guy with the flag goes down, the next guy there, you know, stops what he鈥檚 doing, picks up the flag and goes, and he鈥檚 that guy, and we had a lot of guys go down, a lot of flag bearers go down, and he just picked it up and he took off with it. He deserves everything he鈥檚 going to get and everything he is getting because of the kind of human being he is," said Coach Mings.
Nesbit does not just make an impact on the football field; he is a leader off of the field as well as in the classroom.
Coach Mings added, "If you go through the school and you ask the teachers what kind of person he is, they just say, he鈥檚 an amazing young man. He is conscientious, he takes care of people, he鈥檚 a leader in the school, and it鈥檚 just quiet thought, it鈥檚 just his demeanor commands respect, and that鈥檚 a pretty impressive thing when you talk about an 18-year-old kid."
It is win and get into the postseason for the Rams when they welcome the Alton Redbirds to Ken Hunt Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m.
