A Blue Wave washed over The Vicksburg Post’s Athlete of the Week contest.

Port Gibson High School football player Raphael Neal received 4,482 of the 8,932 votes cast in an online poll of The Post’s readers to win this week’s award.

Warren Central volleyball player Kamryn “KK” Kelly finished second, with 2,479 votes. Porter’s Chapel Academy football player Chad Fuson was third, with 1,454 votes, and St. Aloysius swimmer Olivia Busby was fourth with 672.

The 8,932 combined votes cast for the four athletes was the highest total in the contest’s three-year history.

Neal, a junior quarterback, accounted for five touchdowns — three passing and two rushing — in Port Gibson’s 54-41 victory over Crystal Springs on Sept. 27. He threw touchdown passes of 15 and 20 yards to Kejaylen Edwards and a 30-yarder to Carome Carroll, and his rushing TDs covered 2 and 5 yards.

Port Gibson improved its record to 3-2, which has already bettered last season’s win total. The Blue Waves will play at rival Jefferson County Friday at 7 p.m.

Congratulations to Raphael and the other nominees, and thank you to our readers for voting.

The nominees for the Athlete of the Week award are announced each Sunday, and voting is open until midnight Tuesday. Links to the poll will be posted on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X pages, as well as vicksburgpost.com.