New Hampshire Football Report

Macomber named Gatorade POY

CHICAGO — In its 32nd  year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, has announced Garrett Macomber of Plymouth Regional High School as its 2016-17 Gatorade New Hampshire Football Player of the Year. Macomber is the second Gatorade New Hampshire Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Plymouth Regional High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Macomber as New Hampshire’s best high school football player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced in December, Macomber joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Anquan Boldin (1998-99, Pahokee HS, Fla.), Greg Olsen (2002-03, Wayne Hills HS, N.J.), Matthew Stafford (2005-06 Highland Park HS, Texas), Harrison Smith (2006-07 Knoxville Catholic High School, Tenn.), Latavius Murray (2007-08, Onondaga HS, N.Y.), Brock Osweiler (2008-09, Flathead High School, Mont.) and Leonard Fournette (2012-13, 2014-15, St. Augustine HS, La.)

The 5-foot-11, 220-pound junior running back and defensive end led the Bobcats to a 10-2 record and the Division II state championship this past season. Macomber scored the game-winning touchdown in the state final with 16 seconds left, and in the state semifinals he blocked a 27-yard field goal on the game’s final play to preserve a 20-18 win over previously unbeaten Windham. Macomber rushed for a school-record 2,373 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2016. He also recorded 55 tackles and eight sacks on defense.

Macomber has maintained an A-minus average in the classroom and represents one of the state’s top academic candidates in meeting the Gatorade award’s broad criteria. A winner of academic achievement awards in algebra, geometry and French, he owns his own landscaping company and helped care for his mother after she broke her neck in a car accident in 2015.

“Without Macomber, Plymouth does not make the state championship game,” Kingswood coach Justin Leonard said. “You know he’s getting the ball, you know what play it is and you just can’t stop him.”

Macomber will begin his senior year of high school next fall

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Macomber joins recent Gatorade New Hampshire Football Players of the Year Connor Bourque (2015-16, Goffstown High School), Eric Fairweather (2014-15, Londonderry High School), Trevor Knight (2013-14, Nashua High School South), Tyler Grant (2012-13, Exeter High School), Jake Kiley (2011–12, New Hampton School), and Max Jacques (2010-11 & 2009-10, Salem High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Macomber will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. 12 spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.

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