How Michigan commits performed in week 15 of high school action

The field of Michigan commits still playing keeps narrowing, but the games only get more important. In fact, three guys competed for state championships this weekend, while a couple of others fought to reach the title game. Let’s see how everyone did in their quests for a ring.

Gaige Garcia

Southern Columbia faced off against another undefeated team in the Pennsylvania state playoffs this week and once again easily dispatched of them, winning 49-27 over Richland. The score is actually pretty misleading, with Southern Columbia up 49-7 at halftime.

Garcia played his usual role on the ground, rushing 13 times for 153 yards and three touchdowns. He is now just 96 yards shy from cracking 2,000 yards on the season. The team moves on to their 18th state title game in school history next week against fellow 14-0 squad Avonworth.

Eamonn Dennis

While St. John’s lost in their title game last week, they still participated in their annual Thanksgiving rivalry game against St. Peter-Marian, one of the longest-running high school games in the country. St. John’s ended their season on a high note with the 35-12 win.

In the win, Dennis caught two passes for 86 yards, many of which came on a 65-yard touchdown on a swing pass. From what I could find this season, that gave him over 500 yards through the air to go along with 300 yards on the ground and three kickoff return touchdowns.

AJ Henning

Henning capped off an outstanding high school career on Saturday by leading Lincoln-Way East to an undefeated season and their second state championship in three years with their 12-0 win over Warren Township.

Wet and miserable conditions turned this game into a defensive slog, but Henning was still able to break free for a 56-yard run down the sideline that helped keep his team ahead. He carried the ball 29 times for 125 yards in total as his team tried to stick to the ground game in the rain.

Watch Henning’s touchdown here:

Roman Wilson

St. Louis kept a couple of impressive streaks alive with their big 45-6 win over Kahuku in the Hawaii state championship game. This was the team’s fourth straight state title and seventh overall, as well as their 38th consecutive win.

Roman Wilson has played a large role in keeping those streaks alive. He had eight catches for 171 yards and a touchdown in the game, nudging him over 1,000 yards on the season. His first catch of the day was an 88-yard touchdown that proved to be the only score that his team needed all day.

Matthew Hibner

Hibner and his Lake Braddock team were still marching towards the state title game, but were stopped short by South County in a 31-15 loss.

That loss was not because of Hibner though, who had an insane day. On offense Hibner caught six balls for 108 yards and a touchdown. On defense, he racked up 18 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, a sack, and a pass deflection.

While following everyone’s games this season, no one has gotten me more excited about their future at Michigan because of their performance than Hibner, who I predict will do big things in college.

JJ McCarthy

Finally, we have McCarthy, who unfortunately was the one player to lose his state championship game this past weekend. Nazareth Academy couldn’t keep up with powerhouse Mt. Carmel, who won 37-13.

Mt. Carmel gave a lot of respect to McCarthy in their preparation, bringing in their head coach and former Heisman finalist Jordan Lynch to replicate him while running the scout team offense. It clearly worked, as their defense stifled McCarthy into only completing eight of 25 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown.

Luckily, McCarthy and his favorite receivers, Tyler and Landon Morris, are still underclassmen so they will have a chance to redeem themselves next year.

That wraps up the updates from participating players this week. Aaron Lewis and William Mohan still have postseason games to play, along with Gaige Garcia’s state championship game next week. You’ll get those updates in next week’s Wednesday Recruiting Roundup.

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