Saint Louis receiver-turned-emergency running back Koali Nishigaya has been nominated for the USA Today’s Super25 player of the week.
The good thing for Nishigaya is that the award is up to a popular vote each week and Hawaii seems to rule the internet. Remember American Idol?
Fans can vote here
Nishigaya is up for a vote against 14 other ballers. On Wednesday he sits fourth with 6,092 votes behind Matthew Rueve of St. Xavier (12,785), Good Counsel’s Sy’Veon Wilkerson (11,861) and Allen’s Celdon Manning (7,061).
Voting ends Friday. Only players on teams in the newspaper’s top 25 national rankings are eligible, so it is rare for a Hawaii player to be nominated.
Nishigaya’s two second-half TDs in the Crusaders’ win over Punahou trails Rueve’s four TDs against Cathedral and Wilkerson’s 121 yards and a TD against Archbishop Spalding.
Josh Alford of St. John Bosco is also up for the award after his two interceptions against Mililani, but he has received only 987 votes so far.
Previous winners include Jimmy Holiday of Madison Central (Miss.) in week four, D.J. Ralph of Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, Calif.) in week three and Kaedric Cobbs of Guyer (Texas) in week two.
Hawaii had quite a showdown in week two, with Saint Louis quarterback Jayden de Laura finishing fourth with 2,012 votes for his performance against Bishop Gorman. He lost by 25,000 votes but did beat former Kahuku quarterback Sol-Jay Maiva‘s 294 votes after his performance for St. John’s (Washington, D.C.) against Deerfield Beach (Fla.).
Korvin Feagins of Saint Louis finished second in a vote last year, but has set the mark for Hawaii with 48,830 votes.
nishigaya for poly bowl
Awesome!!
RRFL!!
Although StL may not be on the top of my list to cheer for, but Nishigaya is definitely a play maker for this team.
Runs great routes and is tough. Good to see him get some recognition for his play.