Security Federal Athlete of the Week: Aug. 21-27

Partnering with Security Federal, the Warren County Sports Authority will honor a standout local athlete each week. The WCSA and the Friendliest Bank in Town love seeing great athletic achievement and there are plenty to pick from every week in Warren County. From winter to summer, spring to fall, and on courts, fields, diamonds, dance floors and anywhere else an athlete can succeed, Security Federal and the Sports Authority are going to be on the lookout for the best of the best!

Jaythan Pleasant, Pioneer running back

Jaythan Pleasant is fast. If opposing teams weren’t already aware, then will be now after the talented junior ripped off a pair of 100-yard games to start the 2022 season.

Pleasant hit another great in Sparta Friday, rushing for a career-high 162 yards and three touchdowns as the Pioneers dropped a heartbreaker with the Warriors 22-21. It came on the heels of his 110-yard performance in Smithville a week earlier, what had been his career high until he shattered it in back-to-back weeks.

After busting on the scene as a sophomore, Pleasant has been a game breaker ever since. Fully healthy after dealing with injuries that set him back as an eighth-grader and kept him from the game as a freshman, the speedster is now averaging 9.7 yards per carry in his career. He’s even topping that number in 2022, with his 272 yards coming in just 22 carries through two games.

Blinding speed is what Pleasant showed off in the fourth quarter Friday, when the Pioneers turned to him in the clutch. Just seconds after White County had tied the score at 14-14, Pleasant broke away on a 62-yard TD run, leaving everybody behind as he gave the Pioneers the late lead.

It was the same distance he covered on the team’s lone first-half TD, where he sprinted down the home sideline and was able to coast into the endzone for a score to make it 7-7 by halftime.

Full trust in his skills is evident as Pleasant’s second TD came on a fourth-down call. The Pioneers burned a timeout to set up a play, ultimately deciding to let No. 22 to test the edge and see if he could pick up a crucial two yards in the redzone. Pleasant did more than that, scampering 18 yards and moonwalking into the endzone to push his team up 14-7 in the third quarter.

His long TDs against Sparta, paired with a 61-yard run against DeKalb County, gives Pleasant three runs of over 60 yards this season. He’s also on currently on pace to become the first Pioneer running back to break the 1,000-yard mark since Caleb Northcutt rushed for 1,244 yards in 2010 (CJ Taylor’s breakout season in 2020 came when he played QB).

Pleasant and the Pioneers will be looking to continue to ground and pound opponents this Friday in Memphis. Warren County is slated to take on the Ridgeway Roadrunners at 7 p.m.