LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Heading into week five of the high school football season, Riverdale running back Cole Hayes was the area’s leading rusher with 652 yards in just the first four games. His performance last Friday was electric, leading him to become the week five ABC 7 Player of the Week.

“I’m happy to be recognized finally,” said Hayes. “Happy to finally kinda be on the scene now after this past week.”

“If anybody deserves it, it’s him because he works his butt off,” said Riverdale head coach Kendoll Gibson.

Hayes rushed for 291 yards and scored five touchdowns in the Raiders’ victory over Cypress Lake.

“He’s a smart player, fast, physical,” said Gibson. “The scariest part is I still think he can get better. Our O-line can get better. So I’m excited to see what else we can do for the remainder of the year.”

The Raiders had nearly 450 yards on the ground as they picked up their first win of the season and blew past the Panthers 43-29.

“We just put it together,” said Hayes. “The holes were there, a lot of times I was untouched to the endzone. I mean the O-line played amazing and we just, we’d go on the field and we knew we were going to score every time we touched the field. That’s what we needed.”

Hayes is only 57 yards away from reaching 1,000 rushing yards. That’s the goal for week six, on top of pulling out back-to-back wins.

“Keys to success is just continue to climb,” said Gibson. “I’m looking forward to it and I think our boys are taking that step forward.”

Riverdale plays Charlotte in their first district matchup on Friday, September 29.