​MENDON — The football voting polls have been a big hit for our local community. It’s apparent that you all really enjoy being able to vote for our local football student-athletes and I am a firm believer they deserve all of the credit and attention they have been getting with the polls.This week, I chose to take a different path. Instead of putting up a poll for Footballer of the Week, I simply decided to use my own opinion and name one based on last week’s performances.Mendon’s Xavior Zinsmaster has been named the Footballer of the Week, presented by Glen Oaks Community College. Zinsmaster has helped the Mendon Hornets open the season ranked second overall in the 8-player, Division 2 football polls. He also had a monster week against Concord last Friday.Zinsmaster found the end zone several times, six to be exact. He also led the team in tackles with five as the Hornets moved to 3-0 on the season. Zinsmaster carried the football 24 times for 172 yards.The senior scored three times on the ground in the first half — finding the end zone on runs of 10, nine and seven yards. He also caught a 52-yard TD pass from QB Owen Klinger in the second quarter. During action in the second half, Zinsmaster scored on a 1-yard TD plunge in the fourth quarter to help seal a 50-22 victory for the Hornets on the road.The Footballer of the Week returns this weekend based off Friday’s games. We will once again have local student-athletes up for the honor. That is, unless we have another incredible performance from a local footballer that transcends my thoughts.Zinsmaster joins Marcellus’ Martelle Enright, who won the honor the first week, and Blake McWilliams, last week’s winner, on the list of Footballer of the Week winners for 2026.Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Mendon’s Zinsmaster named Footballer of the Week, presented by Glen Oaks