KILGORE’S SHEFFIELD & TATUM’S FOSTER | The Whataburger / ETB Players of the Week!!
For the first time in the history of the presentation of the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week Awards, dating back to the end of 2023, we have an award-winner whose achievements were primarily…on defense.
Every week, especially through football season, we see fantastic numbers. Think about all of the times the last two years that players like Overton’s Bryce Still, Kilgore’s Kayson Brooks, White Oak’s Jaxsen Ludlow, West Rusk’s Cole Jackson and others have put up just ridiculous offensive numbers: four, five, even six-touchdown games for some of those guys, even 350, 400, 410 passing yards, or 250 rushing yards. Many of our players of the week on the boys side have had crazy numbers, and some even combine defensive numbers alongside them.
But we’ve never had a player win this award with only defensive numbers.
Until now.
Kilgore High School defensive back Ja’Kalen Sheffield pulled off what some of our panel thought was impossible. Sheffield had so many tackles in last weekend’s 28-7 win over Chapel Hill that they couldn’t help but vote for him. Sheffield had tackle…after tackle…after tackle…after tackle. You get the idea. He rolled up TWENTY-ONE tackles against the Tyler rival, one after another.
And we’ll mention some of the players who had outstanding numbers later, but what Sheffield did — and remember, it’s not just your own statistics, but also the competition you’re playing — was amazing.
For his resilience, tenacity and stamina, for all of those tackles against Chapel Hill, Ja’Kalen Sheffield is the Whataburger / ETB boys Player of the Week for the Week of October 6 through October 11. Congratulations, Ja’Kalen!
Now, the young lady who won our girls award: well, she’s a familiar name in this column. She’s a previous winner, and her teammates are often here, as well.
She’s Kaysen Foster, of the fourth-ranked Tatum High School Lady Eagles volleyball team.
Quite frankly, Foster, Kamdyn Scott, and Taydem Barker, and a host of the Lady Eagles contend for this award every week. You’ll see some of those names below in the other performances of note section.
She was outstanding again this past week. In a 25-15, 25-19, 25-19 win over West Rusk, Foster had 20 kills, four digs, two assists and two blocks. And in a 25-15, 25-10, 25-18 win over White Oak, 17 kills, 17 digs and three aces.
Foster is consistent, and consistently great, and once again, she is the Whataburger / ETB girls Player of the Week, this time for the week of Oct. 6 through Oct. 11.
And if you’ve been named a player of the week this year and haven’t gotten your T-shirt, there’s a reason for that: we’re back-ordered. It’s the first time since ETBlitz.com was launched that we’ve had this issue. But we’re coming to you, we’re going to bring your shirt and some other special items, and we’ll be there soon.
Our Whataburger / ETBlitz Players of the Week wouldn’t be possible, of course, without Whataburger! There’s hardly a day that goes by that our ETB crew isn’t in a Whataburger booth or drive-thru, and there’s a reason for that, and it’s the most simple reason in the world: because they’re good.
Whataburger has been celebrating their 75th anniversary, but there are way more than 75 items on the menu to enjoy. Check out their website, Whataburger | Order Online with Curbside and Delivery, before you get there. You can go anytime, because they’re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Want breakfast? They serve it longer than anyone else (11 p.m. until 11 a.m.).
And if you’re at Whataburger on a Friday night and our crew is there, please come over and join us, and talk about the game! We do that all the time and we LOVE that!
Congratulations again to Kilgore’s Ja’Kalen Sheffield and Tatum’s Kaysen Foster, the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week!
