Record-Breaking Season Puts Leeper In Class By Himself

We had a clue it was going to be one of those special seasons in Jamestown’s opening games at Niagara Falls on Sept. 2.

Aaron Leeper had a modest rushing total of 96 yards on 18 carries, but he also scored four touchdowns.

The last time a Red Raider had such impressive opening game touchdown totals was in 1994 when David Hinson scored five. The difference was Hinson was a bit of an unknown in 1994. Leeper came into the 2000 season with a lot expected of him, particularly after he was listed in Street and Smith’s College Football Yearbook as one of the top high school players in the nation. He was cited for his prowess as a defensive back after being named the Division 1 Defensive Player of the Year.

However, it was on offense where Leeper would shine in 2000.

In the second game of the season, Jamestown struggled for a 17-7 win over Lancaster behind Leeper’s 37 rushes for 179 yards for one touchdown.

That would be the last time he would score fewer than four touchdowns in a game for the remainder of the regular season.

He gained more than 200 yards in the next four games and finished out the regular season with four four-touchdown games and three five-touchdown games. And as those figures piled up, so did the comparisons with Hinson, who set a state record for touchdowns in 1994 with 35 and a Western New York record in yardage with 2,260. He also won the Connolly Cup as the top high school player in WNY and was named the state’s Class A Co-player of the year.

Jamestown finished the regular season undefeated at 8-0 and in the final game against Frontier, Leeper scored five touchdowns again while gaining 108 yards on only six carries.

Then Jamestown entered the playoffs, where Hinson’s numbers slacked off a bit in 1994. That wasn’t the case for Leeper who continued to explode.

In Section 6 Class AA win over Clarence, Leeper had his fourth five-touchdown game of the season and 275 yards on 20 carries. With the five touchdowns, his total reached 37 to break Hinson’s record, which was now a WNY record.

In a Section 6 Class AA title over Lancaster, Hinson’s numbers were three touchdowns and 142 yards.

Then came a showdown with defending state champion Webster, which was ranked No. 1. Jamestown became No. 1 after a 16-14 win in which Leeper rushed 31 times for 169 yards and a touchdown.

The state. record for touchdowns (42) fell in the state semi-finals when Leeper scored two, the second was his 43rd, and rushed 33 times for 118 yards in a win over Henninger.

In the spotlight of the state title game at the Carrier Dome, Leeper matched his most rushes of the season, 37, and gained 152 yards while scoring four touchdowns in a 33-7 victory over New Rochelle to give the Red Raiders their third state title in six years.

Not only did Leeper, who matched Hinson by winning the Connolly Cup, have the new state record for touchdowns with 47, but also for rushing with 2,276 yards and points in a season with 282.

We might as well throw in his defensive stats – 38 tackles and five interceptions with two returned for touchdowns. He also punted 30 times for an average of 37.2 yards.

We thank Aaron Leeper for making our decision about the Post-Journal Player of the Year a very easy one.