Vote: Who should be SBLive's Western North Carolina high school football defensive player of the week (10/16/2023)?

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Western North Carolina high school defensive football player of the week for Oct. 16 as nominated by fans, readers and SBLive’s staff. Read through the nominees and cast your vote in our poll. You may vote as many times as you want. Voting will conclude on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be announced in next week's poll. If you would like to nominate an athlete, tag us on Twitter or Instagram at @sblivenc.

Congratulations to last week's winner, Will Joyner of Murphy.

Editor’s note: Our Players of the Week polls are intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times you can vote during the competition. Our poll in no way is meant to discredit other players not mentioned.

HERE ARE THIS WEEK'S NOMINEES

Evan Caywood, Enka: Caywood had a 98-yard interception return for a touchdown in a 28-20 win against North Buncombe.

Tristian Williams, Hickory: Williams finished with 18 tackles in a 52-27 win over West Iredell.

Jordan Lineberger, Newton-Conover: Lineberger won't give us a reason to exclude him from this list week-after-week after another stellar showing, recording 20 tackles and three sacks in a 34-20 loss to Bandys.

Ben Sain, West Lincoln: Sain finished with five tackles and 2.5 sacks in a 54-14 win over West Caldwell.

A.J. Pardue, Starmount: Pardue had a 79-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Rams' 35-6 win over East Wilkes. It was his second pick-6 in as many weeks.

Bryce Adams, Robbinsville: Adams recorded 12 tackles in a 36-19 win over Andrews.