Every week the Omaha World Herald gives out an award to the best player each week in all sports at the high school level. This award is a great one for all athletes around the metro area and this week wide receiver Keynan Cotton was a nominee for this award. Cotton has been putting up stellar numbers to begin his senior season. He leads the team in receptions with 19 and 406 receiving yards. But his game against Omaha Central was the game he got nominated for and Cotton didn’t disappoint.
He hauled in five passes for 115 yards and a touchdown and he also got a big kickoff return to begin the second half for the second game in row returning the kickoff 90 yards to the house to give Westside the first touchdown of a half they dominated in the 48-14 win. “We knew going into the week this team had a lot of talent.” Cotton said “We knew if we just kept playing our style of football we could get the job done.”
One of Cotton’s biggest weapons is his speed. Being a dual sport athlete he trains year round to get his best times on the track. This translates to the football field as with data from Titan Sports Cotton was clocked in at a whopping 21.42 mph on the 90 yard kickoff return. This ranks him second in the midwest and eighth in the nation. This allows Cotton to make something out of nothing and is a huge part of his game which can attract the interest of scouts from around the country.
“We are a brotherhood here.” Cotton said “We play the game and play for each other and that motivates us.”
Cotton has been the wide receiver for this team and has guided new sophomore quarterback Braylen Warren out of the gates hot in his first season as the new quarterback. He has looked Cotton’s way a lot as his security blanket already throwing for over 1,000 yards
“He’s a big advantage against other defenses.” Warren said “With his speed and playmaking abilities he is a big threat and allows us to be more versatile in the rushing game.”
Cotton and the entire offense have been playing better and better football as the season goes on after a week one win where the offense only put up 22 points including a Cotton touchdown. Except for a game against Millard West, they have put up more than 45 points in each game which is keeping them riding along to a 5-0 record to begin this changing season. The last stretch of the season however will be a big challenge for the Warriors. They play a Fremont team at 3-2 and then they play three top ten teams in Elkhorn South, Creighton Prep and Papio. Westside is still the two seed behind Millard South in the standings but, Westside is proving that they should be the number one team as they also set a record last week by defeating Central they set the school record for most wins in a row at 25 and still counting.
“We really emphasize our style of football.” Cotton said “Our games just come down to our effort and toughness to win our games.”
Cotton and the warriors still have many games to go left this season and if they win out with the NSAA points they would be the number one seed in the playoffs no matter the ranking at the end of the season. Cotton is the catalyst in the strong Warrior offense and as long as they can thrive Westside has a great opportunity to return to the state championship for the 6th consecutive time and have the opportunity to make it three state championships in a row.
