Players of the Week: Vecchio and Allen among Pueblo's top performers

The 2023 fall prep season is underway, and even though it’s just the second week of the season, there were plenty of top performers from all around Pueblo prep sports.

This week's Players of the Week include some elite performances, such as a complete game on the mound in softball, an impressive volleyball performance, a plethora of touchdowns, some first-place finishes in golf and cross country, and goals scored on the soccer pitch.

Each week, the Chieftain recognizes the top student-athletes from area schools to highlight those who have performed at a high level. The Chieftain sports staff selects them. Coaches can nominate players by emailing cabdelmalek@gannett.com prior to Thursday night.

Football

Gavin Lockett, Pueblo West football

Lockett once again led the Cyclones to an early season victory with an impressive performance against Dakota Ridge. He passed for 174 yards and a touchdown and also ran the ball 18 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns. He now has a total of eight touchdowns this year.

Johnathan Gonzales, Pueblo County football 

Gonzales had a stellar start to his season as he helped the Hornets defeat the Pueblo South Colts last week 35-14. He had three total touchdowns last week accumulating six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the air and had two rushes for 82 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Amari Brown, Pueblo Central football 

Brown has been on a roll since the start of the season. Last week he put up 181 rushing yards and four touchdowns against Alamosa, and this past week he had over 150 yards rushing and another three touchdowns, two on the ground and one in the air, against Pueblo East.

Volleyball

Jordan Holgerson-Rahl, Rye High School volleyball 

Holgerson-Rahl has been a major player for the Thunderbolts this season. The senior helped the team to a perfect week, going 4-0 overall and getting the team back on track after dropping the season opener. In her past four games, Holgerson-Rahl has put up 23 kills, two blocks, three aces and 50 digs.

More: Central football team beats East 20-14 for first win over Eagles in over a decade

Softball

Nykeysha Stringfellow, Dolores Huerta Prep softball 

Stringfellow had herself a game this past week against Fountain Ft-Carson as she helped the Scorpions to a 17-11 victory. She went 3-3 at the plate, drove in four runs including a triple, and scored three times as well. It's still early in the season, but she is leading the team in batting average with a .778 overall with 10 RBIs and has helped the Scorpions to a perfect 4-0 record to start the season.

Olivia Nesbit, Pueblo County softball 

Nesbit pitched a complete game this past week giving up only two hits, allowing one walk, and striking out six in an 8-0 victory against the Liberty Lancers. She also helped herself out at the plate going 2-4, including a double, and driving in a run as well.

Bradie Poteet-Herrera, Pueblo West softball 

Poteet-Herrera was an offensive machine this past week as she helped the Cyclones earn their fourth straight victory on the season as they defeated Doherty 17-2. She went perfect from the plate, 3-3, including a double and a home run. She had six RBIs and also scored three times as well. She is leading the team in RBIs this year with 17 on the season.

Boys Soccer

Michael Ceyrolles, Pueblo Centennial soccer 

Ceyrolles has been “on a roll” for the Bulldogs this seasont, scoring for them in their 1-0 victory over Canon City and once again in their 2-0 victory over Pueblo West this past week. Ceryolles is currently second on the team in goals scored and has helped Centennial start off with a 4-0 record this season.

Kade Fisher, Pueblo County soccer 

Fisher scored a goal and also earned an assist in a 2-0 victory over Pueblo Central this past week. Fisher is currently leading the Hornets in goals scored with three on the season and has helped County to a 2-0 record to start the year.

More: The people have spoken: Meet Pueblo's 2023 preseason player of the year as decided by fans

Boys Golf

Preston Allen, Pueblo West golf 

Allen scored a 73 this past week at the Pueblo South Invitational held at Elmwood Golf Course in Pueblo. Allen’s score helped the Pueblo West team take first place overall in the invite. It’s Allen’s seventh top-ten finish of the season so far.

Nick Cozzetto, Pueblo County golf 

Cozzetto finished second in the Pueblo South Invitational this past week with a score of 74 overall. His score helped lock in a second-place finish for the Hornets team as a whole and was Cozzetto’s third top-five finish of the season.

Cross-Country

Andres Cura, Pueblo South cross-country 

Cura finished third overall at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede Pre-State Meet this past week. He finished with a time of 16:56 which was seven seconds behind second place and roughly ten seconds behind first-place.

Emma Vecchio, Pueblo West cross-country 

Vecchio finished in first place this past week at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede Pre-State Meet. Her time of 20:10.90 was almost a full 12 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. She also helped the Pueblo West team finish second overall in the event with a score of 107.

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or on Twitter: @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Players of the Week: Vecchio and Allen among Pueblo's top performers