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Subscribe to our NewsletterLeavitt's Noah Carpenter named Gatorade Maine Football Player of the Year
January 4, 2024
CHICAGO (January 3, 2023) — In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Noah Carpenter of Leavitt Area High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Maine Football Player of the Year. Carpenter is the second Gatorade Maine Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Leavitt Area High School.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Carpenter as Maine’s best high school football player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Emmitt Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fla.), Peyton Manning (1993-94, Isidore Newman School, La.) and Jackson Arnold (2022-23, John H. Guyer High School, Texas).
The 6-foot, 205-pound senior quarterback and defensive back passed for 1,801 yards and 21 touchdowns this past season, completing 63.4 percent of his throws for 12.7 yards per attempt and leading the Hornets (11-0) to their second consecutive Class C state championship. Carpenter rushed for 1,351 yards and 23 touchdowns, averaging 11.2 yards per carry, and also recorded 110 tackles and five interceptions on defense. Maine’s 2022-23 Football Gatorade Player of the Year, he finished his high school career with a 29-1 record, 7,515 yards of total offense and 108 career touchdowns.
Carpenter volunteers his time locally as a youth football camp instructor, has served on the Leavitt Student Council and is a member of the National Honor Society. “Noah was the best football player that we played against,” said Matt Nelson, York High School head coach. “His speed, strength and decision-making ability was like second to none. He has the ability to beat you with both his legs and his arm.”
Carpenter has maintained a 3.7 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play football on scholarship at the University of Maine next fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Two-time winner Carpenter joins recent Gatorade Maine Football Players of the Year Eli Soehren (2021-22, Oxford Hills High School), Wyatt Hathaway (2020-21, Leavitt Area High School), and Zach Maturo (2019-20, Bonny Eagle High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $4.9 million across more than 1,600 organizations.
