Poll: Vote for the Miami Herald High School Athlete of the Week (15)

This week, we continue a feature where we ask you to vote for the best high school varsity performer of the week (in Broward and Miami-Dade counties).

This week includes nominees from high school basketball, cross-country, football, soccer and wrestling.

Take our poll below to cast your vote. The poll will be open until Thursday, Dec. 18 at around 10 p.m. You may vote as often as you like until then.

Here are the candidates:

NOTE: You should see a Miami Herald box underneath this note for you to type Yes and click Submit. That will ignite the actual poll to vote.

Mathieu Blanchard, Coral Gables soccer: the junior scored twice as the Cavaliers defeated American 3-0.

Christopher Coleman, Deerfield Beach wrestling: the senior at 285 pounds won all his matches except one, that to three-time state champ Michael Mocco of Cardinal Gibbons, at the Chief Duals Boys’ Wrestling Tournament.

Sofia Laria, Palmer Trinity basketball: the sophomore scored 13 points with 11 rebounds in a win over SLAM, 11 points in a win over Hebrew Academy and 11 points in a win over North Miami.

Mason Mallory, St. Thomas Aquinas football: the senior QB was named Game MVP as the Raiders shut out Lakeland 29-0 to win the FHSAA Class 5A state championship at FIU’s Pitbull Stadium in Miami. He completed 21-of-32 passes for 261 yards and ran for 103 yards.

Marcelo Mantecon, Belen Jesuit cross-country: receiving an at-large invitation, the junior was fourth at the Nike Cross-Country Nationals in Portland, Oregon. He ran 15 minutes 5.06 seconds, just 4.5 seconds behind the winner.

Jason Martinez, Westwood Christian basketball: the senior had 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists, and 2 blocks to lead the Warriors over Doral Ronald Reagan 75-38.

Leon Strawder, Plantation American Heritage football: the senior QB led the Patriots over Orlando Jones 33-28 to win the FHSAA Class 4A state title at FIU’s Pitbull Stadium in Miami. He completed 12-of-18 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 71 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.

Jim Varsallone

Miami Herald

305-376-3621

Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel). Support my work with a digital subscription