There is no better time than the present to anoint our first ever Independence Bank Player of the Year for 2019. Independence Bank is proud to sponsor weekly articles highlighting players in the areas where Independence Bank flourishes who embody the same type of revolutionary service to their respective football teams which has made Independence Bank unique and special in the banking industry.
Independence Bank has a goal of achieving everyday excellence, and the player winning our player of the year award for 2019 performed at an incredibly high level throughout the 2019 high-school football season. His performance exceeded both the Maroons’ and the Madisonville, Kentucky community expectations. We are focusing on the class of 2020 RB, Jeriah Hightower, from Madisonville North-Hopkins High School located in Madisonville, Kentucky right down the road from Independence Bank branches located on 1776 North Main Street and 629 East Center Street respectively.
Jeriah Hightower is a 6-1, 220-pound powerhouse who is being heavily recruited to play either RB or even LB at the next level. We just can’t imagine a player who was a more substantial portion of his team’s offensive fortunes than was Hightower in 2019. The below is what we submit in support of that proposition.
First of all, Hightower and his mates led Madisonville North-Hopkins to a Regional Championship, an 11-3 overall mark, and its first birth in the semi-finals (Class 4A) in nearly a half-century. A team’s won-lost record is always the most important statistic to demonstrate the value of any player regularly handling the football.
Hightower carried the football 348-times in 2019, gaining 3,001 yards rushing to lead Kentucky. He score 33 TDs, averaged 214.4 yards rushing a night, and scored 204 points on the year. Hightower was 75% of the team’s carries from scrimmage (348 of 465 total), 81% of the team’s yards gained (3,001 of 3,694), 83% of its rushing touchdowns (33 of 40); 81% of its yards gained per contest (214.4 out of 263.9); and 39% of its total points scored (204 out of 524).
There may well have been prior offensive players individually contributing such a significant portion of their team’s total output for an entire season. We don’t know. However, we have never before seen a player so significantly, demonstrably, and individually carry his offense especially playing on a team finishing 11-3, winning its district and region, and among the 4A classification’s last four teams before being eliminated.
The team played 14 games. That is a mighty substantial amount of games to play to maintain the level of production Hightower maintained in 2019. That is why he is our Player of the Year in 2019.
Congratulations to Jeriah Hightower for his Revolutionary Play in 2019 which has earned this season’s singular recognition from the fastest growing bank in the Commonwealth of Kentucky…your friends at Independence Bank.
This is HB Lyon reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron reminding you that WE’RE JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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