Blasting off: Dehoet leads way as high-scoring Rockets dominate football scoring leaders
Jefferson-Morgan rang up 434 points this football season in rolling to a 10-1 record, including a perfect 10-0 regular season that led to a Tri-County South championship.
Not surprisingly, the Rockets had three of the highest scoring players among Greene County schools this season led by wide receiver Deakyn Dehoet with 132 points.
Waynesburg Central’s Jake Stephenson and J-M’s Houston Guesman, who both joined the elite double-1,000 club as both rushed and passed for over 1,000 yards, were second and third in scoring with the Rockets’ John Gilbert and Carmichaels’ Will Murray placing fourth and fifth.
Dehoet led the county in touchdowns with 21, most coming through the air on passes from Guesman, but the acrobatic junior also ran back a trio of kickoffs and one punt for scores. He also went over the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards.
Dehoet had two kickoff returns of 99 yards and one of 85 yards while his punt return TD was for 74 yards. He also had two 2-point conversions.
Stephenson finished one touchdown behind Dehoet with 20 in tallying 120 points, and Guesman followed with 14 TDs and four 2-point conversions for 92 points.
Gilbert led the county in 2-point conversions with six while running for nine touchdowns in scoring 92 points. Murray was one of two county players to score three different ways with 10 touchdowns, one extra point kick and one 2-point conversion. The other was West Greene’s Hayden Hamilton who had three TDs, 14 extra points and one 2-pointer.
Rounding out the top 10 in scoring were yet another Rocket, John Woodward in sixth place with 57 points, Waynesburg Central’s Ross Tennant and West Greene’s Colin Whyte tied for seventh place with 36 points apiece, the Raiders’ Dalton Taylor in ninth with 35 points and Hamilton in 10th with 34 points.
The top five in touchdowns were Dehoet (21), Stephenson (20), Guesman (14), Murray (10) and Gilbert (9) and Woodward (9).
Following Gilbert in 2-point conversions were Guesman (4), Dehoet (3), and Carmichaels’ Cannon Bupka (3) and Carson Hillsman (2).
There were only two field goals made by county kickers this season and there were by Taylor of 40 yards and Hamilton of 34 yards.
Taylor was No. 1 in extra-point kicks with 32 and was followed by Jefferson-Morgan’s Logan Yeck (29), Hamilton (14), the Mikes’ Robbie Wilson-Jones (7) and Woodward (3).
The only other kickoff return for a score besides the three by Dehoet was by Mapletown’s Brock Evans for 85 yards.
The only punt return for a TD besides Dehoet was by Waynesburg’s Teagen Crouse who took one back 32 yards.
There were no interception returns for a touchdown in the county and one fumble return for a score, that by the Rockets’ Eli Hills for 29 yards.
The Rockets were the highest scoring team in the county by far at 39.4 points per game with the Raiders second at 24.8. Jefferson-Morgan also allowed the fewest points per game at 16.4, just a shade better than Carmichaels which gave up just 17 points per game.