Northwestern’s Burns Brazzell is The Herald’s latest Player of the Week (March 8)

Burns Brazzell of the Northwestern girls’ soccer team is The Herald’s latest Player of the Week.

The Trojans’ senior scored four goals and had one assist to lead Northwestern to a 7-3, season-opening win over South Pointe on March 2.

There were 29,126 votes cast in this week’s ballot. Brazzell earned 36.7% of the vote; Madilynn Robertson earned 35.5% of the vote; and Quan Peterson of South Pointe basketball earned 11.9% of the vote.

See full voting results and read about the selected finalists below.

(Information published below includes statistics updated through March 6. Voting opened on Monday, March 8.)

Meet this week’s finalists

Burns Brazzell, Northwestern soccer.

George Coffey, Nation Ford lacrosse: The Falcons’ senior defender notched five ground balls and one takeaway to help Nation Ford defeat previously unbeaten Boilings Springs, 14-4, on March 4. Nation Ford is 2-1 this season.

Auri French, Fort Mill lacrosse: The Yellow Jackets’ junior had 10 goals and six assists in three games this week: French had five goals and two assists in a 15-10 win over Lake Norman on March 1. She also had three goals and three assists in a 17-7 win at Clover on March 4. And then the next day, French had two more goals and one assist in a 13-7 loss to Charlotte Catholic. French has 14 goals and eight assists for Fort Mill (3-1) this season.

JG Garon, Legion Collegiate soccer: The Lancers’ senior had a goal and an assist to help Legion Collegiate to a 6-1 win over Gray Collegiate on March 5. Legion Collegiate also lost 4-0 at Indian Land on March 3. The Lancers are 1-1 this season.

Laila Hankerson, Rock Hill basketball: The 5-foot-6 sophomore scored 16 points in Rock Hill’s 55-38 loss to Clover in the 5A Upper State championship against Clover at Northwestern on March 1. Rock Hill finished the season with 20-3 record.

Kaleem Heard, Northwestern wrestling: The Trojans’ senior finished a perfect 13-0 season by winning a 5A state wrestling championship at 132 pounds at Dreher High on March 6. Heard has won an individual state title in each of his four years in high school.

Quan Peterson, South Pointe basketball: The 6-foot junior scored 16 points and had five steals to lead the Stallions to their first ever state boys’ basketball state championship with a 52-50 win over Hilton Head at USC Aiken on March 6. Peterson scored seven points in the last minute of the state title game. Peterson also had 19 points in an 82-74 victory over Greenville at Dorman in the 4A Upper State Championship game on March 1. South Pointe finished 15-5 this season.

Madilynn Robertson, Andrew Jackson soccer: The Volunteers’ freshman had five goals in two games this past week: Robertson had one goal as Andrew Jackson lost on penalty kicks (4-2) after tying at two in regulation and overtime on March 1. Robertson also had four goals in a 5-2 win over Lewisville on March 4. Andrew Jackson also lost to York, 3-0, last week.

Emma Sexton, Catawba Ridge soccer: The Copperheads’ senior accounted for seven goals, scoring five times to go with two assists in a season-opening, 11-0 victory at Greer on March 2. Sexton is a Lander University commit.

Aylesha Wade, Clover basketball: The 5-foot-6 senior scored 23 points and notched six rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block to lead Clover to a 55-38, 5A Upper State championship win over Rock Hill at Northwestern on March 1. Clover and Sumter’s 5A state championship game was postponed because of COVID related issues, The Herald reported last week. The game will be played at a later date no later than March 20. Wade, a Charlotte 49ers’ commit, is averaging 24.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.7 steals per game for Clover (17-1) this season.

Vote and view running results

If you can’t view this poll on your mobile device, click here to refresh the page.

How to nominate

Player of the week awards highlight high school players with outstanding performances. The goal is to recognize all athletes — both the most accomplished and the underrated or underappreciated players. If you want to suggest someone to be included in the ballot in future weeks, send an email to Jay Edwards at edwardswork23@gmail.com. Please include the athlete’s name, school, class and applicable game performance statistics. Coaches must be willing to verify information.

Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Northwestern girls’ soccer defeated Clover earlier this week. This has since been corrected.

This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 6:38 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.