GILMER’S WILSON, KILGORE’S GRAVES | The Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week!

Kilgore’s Lakeyleon Graves (4) on the move against Vidor. Graves had three catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ 66-6 win, and also had seven tackles on defense. Graves, a junior, joins Gilmer’s Lacey Wilson as the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week! (Photo by DENNIS JACOBS – ETBLITZ.COM)

You can’t win ‘em all.

Nobody does. Not LeBron James. Not Dak Prescott (amen to that). Not Serena Williams. Not even Troy Aikman, Muhammed Ali, Dale Earnhardt, or Derek Jeter.

And one of our honorees lost a playoff game, something that doesn’t happen in this space normally.

But both of these young student athletes are so good, it’s almost a surprise that they’re just now taking home this honor. That’s a testament to how good the previous award-winners have been in this 2024-25 school year.

Gilmer High School exited the volleyball playoffs in the second round last week, but got one heck of a night from senior Lacey Wilson.

And Kilgore High School football blasted Vidor, and KHS junior Lakeyleon Graves was all over the place.

For their performances in those games, Gilmer’s Lacey Wilson and Kilgore’s Lakeyleon Graves are the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week, for the week of Nov. 11-16.

Now, for Gilmer readers: this is a different award than your Whataburger presents; they have their own, special Whataburger Gilmer Buckeye Athlete of the Week awards, and that won’t change. It just so happens that Whataburger sponsors the ETBlitz.com Players of the Week Awards for the entire ETBlitz.com coverage area, and that’s what Lacey Wilson has won. We certainly congratulate the Gilmer Whataburger award-winners, as well!

Gilmer High School senior volleyball standout Lacey Wilson (center, holding trophy) was fantastic in the Lady Buckeyes’ final two games of the season, including the game the Lady Buckeyes ultimately exited the playoffs with, a loss to Caddo Mills. Wilson and Kilgore’s Lakeyleon Graves are the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week. (Photo courtesy of the GILMER BUCKEYE VOLLEYBALL Facebook page)

First up, Ms. Wilson, one of three seniors (Alexis Kemp and Alex Werbeck are also seniors) for the Lady Buckeyes, who played in ultra-tough District 16-4A . Get this: the district (with state-ranked Spring Hill and Henderson included) was so hard that Gilmer went 10-5, a very good record, and still finished fourth!

Wilson, who recorded career kill No. 1,500 back in October, stepped up big for the Lady Buckeyes all the way until the end, to a 19-25, 24-26, 25-12, 7-25 loss to Caddo Mills in Sulphur Springs.

Wilson had 21 kills, 10 digs, three aces and a block in the loss.

This is a player-of-the-week award, not a season achievement award, but just FYI: Wilson on the season has 568 kills (led the team), 63 aces (second to Werbeck), 79 total blocks (led the team, and 44 of them were solo), and 244 digs (third on the team to Brie Jones and Kemp).

So while we hate Gilmer’s playoff run has ended, we love that Lacey Wilson was great until the end. Lacey Wilson, the Whataburger / ETBlitz girls Player of the Week, and the very first athlete from Gilmer to win this award! Congratulations, Lacey!

And there’s more of the same for Graves, who plays wide receiver and linebacker for 4A-DI playoff favorite Kilgore (9-2), who will take on Needville (7-4) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Sheldon ISD Panther Stadium in Houston, a second-round game.

Graves, like Wilson, is talented enough and has had big numbers week after week after week.

This past week, in the Bulldogs’ 66-6 win at home over Vidor in the first round, Graves absolutely BLISTERED the Pirates: three catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns, and then had seven tackles on defense, to boot.

Again, not a season award, but check out Graves’ numbers on the season: 21 catches for 619 yards and 10 touchdowns, and on defense, 87 total tackles, three for loss, three sacks, three interceptions, five pass break-ups and a defensive touchdown.

And Vidor and Mabank are still waking up in cold sweats seeing that Kilgore No. 4 jersey running around.

Mr. Graves, for his performance last week against Vidor, is the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com boys Player of the Week! Congratulations, Key!

Now, we’ve had 12 weeks of winners (counting Graves and Wilson) and a few of them have been repeat winners. But we’re proud of all of them, and their performances. If you’d like to look back and read about them all, here are the previous winners:

So, have you seen what’s up at Whataburger lately?

They still have all of the things you love – the original Whataburger, the Whataburger Patty Melt, the Whatachick’n Sandwich, all of those great breakfast items – and they’re just adding to it:

The new Bacon Blaze Jalapeno Double: A great Whataburger patty, with aged cheddar cheese, a bit of Jalapeño Cream Cheese with a bite (!), not one, or two, but three slices of bacon, jalapenos, and the thing that kicks it to the next level: Whataburger’s Blaze Sauce.
The Whatawings: Nine bites of real, tender chicken, fantastic just plain, or have them sauced special with five different sauces: Buffalo, honey butter, honey barbecue, sweet & spicy or Nashville hot!
The new shake flavors. And there’s not one, but two of them: a white chocolate peppermint shake, or the Dr. Pepper shake!

Check out the whole menu – maybe when you’ve got time, it’s big – at Whataburger | Order Online with Curbside and Delivery, and don’t forget that Whataburger is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and serves breakfast every day from 11 p.m. until 11 a.m.

And congratulations again to our Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week, Lakeyleon Graves and Lacey Wilson!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply