We took a week off from the Patch MVP voting to honor or Male and Female Patch MVPs of the Fall (Ezekiel Elliott of John Burroughs football and Natalie Gower of St. Joe volleyball).

But it's time to bring back to weekly battle royale, as we ask fans to vote for their favorite local Athlete of the Week.

Once again, we've nominated deserving representatives from all five local high schools, and we've opened up the voting to let the fans tell us, who should get the nod.

Our friends over at Villa Duchesne have made this award all their own this month, by making sure each of our November votes went to the Saints' nominee.

This week's vote marks the last time anybody from Ladue, John Burroughs, St. Joe, or MICDS will get a chance to keep Villa from sweeping the entire month.

Here's hoping this week's vote will be as fun as the others have been this month.

We'll keep the ballots open until 5 p.m. Thursday, and we encourage all fans to make sure they vote in the poll (some have been naming who they want to vote for in the reader comments area, which is nice and fun, but doesn't count in the actual voting).

No matter who wins, we'll announce the winner on Sunday. So please vote, encourage your friends to vote, and then check back on Sunday to find out who won.

Here are this week's nominees:

• Brittany Green, Villa Duchesne tennis. The Saints' junior had a dynamite year on the court, and was recently named Metro League Girls Tennis Player of the Year in a vote conducted amongst the league's coaches.
• Abby Schroeder, MICDS girls golf. The Rams' freshman sensation wass named to the All-Metro League first team, after finishing fifth overall at the MSHSAA Class 1 state championship meet back in October.
• Sydney Stipanovich, St. Joseph's girls basketball. The Angels' senior center was flat-out dominating in her first game of the new hoops season. The recent Penn signee had 23 points and 11 rebounds in St. Joe's season-opening 67-38 win over Troy (MO).
• Jordan McClendon, John Burroughs girls basketball. The JBS sophomore also had a big night in her team's first game of the season, scoring 12 points and adding nine rebounds in the Bombers' 33-15 win over Lift for Life Academy of St. Louis.
• Brent Morrow, Ladue football. The Rams' 6'3, 275-pound behemoth tackle was recently named the Suburban East Conference's Lineman of the Year, after powering a Ladue offense that average 28.0 points and just under 300 yards a game.