Jayden Machado

SportStar Of The Week | Elk Grove | Football | Senior • The senior quarterback came up big in the Thundering Herd’s biggest game of the season thus far. He tossed three touchdown passes — two to Gavin Reinwald and one to Jonas McMillan — to lead a 24-17 Delta League victory over Grant-Sacramento. The victory kept the Herd’s league title hopes alive after it suffered a last-second loss to…

   The senior quarterback came up big in the Thundering Herd’s biggest game of the season thus far. He tossed three touchdown passes — two to Gavin Reinwald and one to Jonas McMillan — to lead a 24-17 Delta League victory over Grant-Sacramento. The victory kept the Herd’s league title hopes alive after it suffered a last-second loss to Davis one week earlier. The three scoring strikes gave Machado 13 TD passes against just two interceptions this season as Elk Grove has started 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Delta League. Since winning the quarterback job as a junior, Machado has been efficient and effective in helping the Thundering Herd to a 17-2 record. He connected on 23 TD passes with just 3 INTs in 14 games as Elk Grove advanced to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title game in 2015. The Machado-Reinwald connection has accounted for six scores this season, including at least one touchdown pass in four out of five games, and 19 TD passes in 19 career games together.

Honorable Mention:

   Skyler Jones: The San Ramon Valley-Danville freshman posted 10 goals, five assists and five steals over four games to lead the Wolves to the Capital Challenge tournament title at Woodcreek-Roseville on Sept. 23-24.  

   Tyriq Mack: The Heritage-Brentwood senior WR/DB helped the Patriots stay undefeated in a 54-21 win at Liberty on Sept. 30. He caught four passes for 76 yards and a touchdown on offense, and logged a pair of interceptions on defense. He returned his second interception 76 yards for a score.