ALBANY — Coach Earich Dean has been waiting for the Alexander rushing attack to live up to its potential all season.
Dean has built most of his offensive game plans this season around letting the legs of Logan Neal, Xander Karagosian and others carry the load. For the most part, the offense showed flashes of greatness, having a solid drive or two in a row, but all momentum would be halted due to a negative play or massive penalty. Those plays derailed anything happening offensively, and it was difficult for the Spartans to rebound from that.
On Friday against River Valley, however, the offense finally got the game it was looking for.
Alexander’s (1-3, 1-2 Tri-Valley Conference-Ohio) 30-0 win over River Valley (0-4, 0-4 TVC-Ohio) was a game led by the Spartans’ unrelenting rushing attack, and for Dean, he felt like the offense he’d seen in practice and on certain drives throughout the season finally showed its face consistently.
“We worked real hard all week on our running game,” Dean said. “We wanted to give Xander (Karagosian) a chance to get outside with his rushes, which then also helps (Logan) Neal run it up the middle of the field.”
The duo of Karagosian and Neal led the way for the offense, as Karagosian had three rushing touchdowns against the Raiders while Neal consistently kept his feet moving, dragging piles and grinding his way to tough first down pickups.
Even as he led the offense while it struggled to find any sustainable success, Karagosian felt that they just needed to keep working at it because he also knew what the Spartans could do when everything finally came together.
“It’s amazing to have the offense click,” Karagosian said. “It’s so fun. That’s why we play the game.”
Offense wasn’t the only side of the ball where Alexander stepped up, either.
The defense finally played an entire game where it looked as stifling as it did in the second half of the Athens game. Dean emphasized one main goal for the defense heading into Friday’s game: physicality. River Valley’s offense is similar to the Spartans in that it is built around the running game, and he knew that they had to hit the Raider bodies as hard and as often as possible.
The first drive ended up setting the tone for the defense the rest of the game, as Michael Wells got into the backfield unblocked to take down the River Valley quarterback and force a three-and-out.
The defensive line kept most of the Raider rushing attempts in front of them, never allowing more than one or two runs to get to the linebackers. Stuck in third-and mediums and longs most of the game, River Valley was forced to throw more than it would’ve liked, and the Spartan defense made passing the ball tough on the Raiders.
Dean wants his defense to create pressure and make opposing backfields uncomfortable, so his defensive game plans always start with the front four.
“We preach a lot to our defensive line about staying low and penetrating,” Dean said. “That’s what we did tonight.”
Finally grabbing that first win of the season put a lot of smiles on faces on both the Alexander sideline and the bleachers, but the celebration won’t last long for Dean.
“Honestly, I’m probably going to go home, wait to get the film back and then I’ll start watching,” Dean said. “It’s one of those coaching things. It never ends.”
Sports
