BOCA RATON – Trey Rainey has been opening up eyes and turning heads with his play throughout the regular season.
His best run of performances have particularly come in his team’s last four games (all wins), as he had 100+ all-purpose yards in victories over Monarch (38-14 win in Week 8), Santaluces (43-28 win in Week 9, Spanish River (42-14 win in Week 10), and Dwyer (19-12 win in Week 11).
One of Rainey’s best plays of the season at this juncture was his 67-yard run for a touchdown that gave Boca Raton (8-2) a 19-6 lead over Dwyer (3-6) with 8:22 left in the third quarter of last Friday night’s (Nov. 1) game. His scoring play was enough to preserve the Bobcats win, which effectively resulted in a spot in the Class 8A playoffs.
Rainey’s game-sealing touchdown, plus his overall impact on the field, proved to be the key to being our Breakthrough Player of Week 11.
“It feels good,” Rainey said. “I especially couldn’t have done it without my line blocking and making holes, and receivers blocking downfield.”
Hills spoke candidly on Rainey’s breakthrough performance against Dwyer.
“Trey is wonderful,” Hollis said. “He’s probably the best running back I’ve ever seen. His performance was great against Dwyer. He ran fast and smart, and it was only a matter of time until he found the end zone. His 67-yard touchdown run was just amazing, and I knew he had it in him to break for runs like that.”
He is the fourth Boca Raton player to win Breakthrough Player of the Week honors, as he joins 2020 athlete Tra’Nell Hollis (Breakthrough Player of Week 4), 2021 defensive end/tight end Ashton Gillotte (Breakthrough Player of Week 8), and 2020 quarterback Andy Caverly (Breakthrough Player of Week 9) as our Bobcat honorees.
A fifth Boca Raton player was nominated for Breakthrough Player of the Week earlier this season, when 2022 wide receiver Matthew Smiciklas received the nod in Week 7.
Hollis is especially happy for the breakthrough accomplishments that he, Rainey, and others have made throughout the regular season.
“After all those key players leaving and people doubting us, it just shows that there still a great scale of talent still on this team,” Hollis said.
Rainey, Hollis, and the Boca Raton Bobcats (No. 8 seed; Class 8A – Region 3) will get a chance to prove their doubters even more wrong later this week, when they travel north for the first round of the 8A playoffs against No. 1 seed Vero Beach (9-0). The game is set for Friday (Nov. 8) with a kickoff time of 7:30 p.m. at Vero Beach High School.
PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde
