Xander Karagosian didn’t play one snap of football during his sophomore year.
After transferring from Athens to Alexander, Karagosian, now a junior, took the 2019 season off to get acclimated with his new school and focus on his studies.
He started preparing for the season this past spring, but his football hopes took a backseat as the COVID-19 pandemic halted short any long term plans.
As spring transitioned into summer, Karagosian — along with most high school athletes around the country — was unsure if he would get to play the sport that he loved when school came back around. When the Ohio High School Athletic Association suspended scrimmages in July, it seemed like football in the fall was just a pipe dream.
Then, in August, Gov. Mike DeWine allowed the OHSAA to sanction football, along with all contact fall sports.
When Karagosian got the news that he could play football for the first time in almost two years, it made him recognize that it was a piece of his life he could not replace.
“You realize how much you miss football when you come back into it,” Karagosian said. “Especially after missing a year and questioning if there’s even going to be a season. Not playing and even not being sure if you’re going to have a season just makes you work harder, not even just for me, for everyone.”
With limited practices and only one scrimmage allowed before the season started, Karagosian didn’t get a lot of time to get comfortable with a Spartan team that desperately needed his talent.
Alexander graduated a number of seniors on both sides of the ball in 2020, so Karagosian was expected to produce right away on offense and defense. That’s a lot of expectations for someone who had not played football since 2018, but Coach Earich Dean knew that Karagosian was more than capable of living up to his expectations.
With the Spartans now four games into their shortened six-game season, Dean knows he made the right choice to rely on Karagosian so heavily.
“He’s kind of like the quarterback on both sides of the field,” Dean said. “He’s been able to fill two roles. He’s a smart kid, he runs our offense really well, and he puts people in the right position on defense.”
Karagosian’s impact on both sides of the ball is critical to Alexander’s success. On offense, the Spartans run a rush-heavy attack and it starts with Karagosian under center. Running the option with him and running back Logan Neal is how the Spartans move the ball on offense, so his abilities to read opposing defenses and make the right call is crucial to the offense’s success.
Sometimes it works, like in Alexander’s 30-0 win over River Valley on Friday, and sometimes the offense struggles, like when the Spartans fell 40-0 to Wellston. Even when the team struggles, however, Karagosian will still flash his ability and give Dean reason to stick with him under center.
On the other side of the ball, his defensive back duties allow him to watch what opposing offenses are doing and shout out adjustments to his teammates; all while being relied on to make big plays in coverage.
Stepping in as a leader on both sides of the ball could be a lot of pressure for anyone, especially for someone in his first season with a new team. But for Karagosian, it feels natural.
“Every time the ball snaps, I’m trying to do the best thing for my team,” Karagosian said. “If that means me running for a first down or me breaking up a pass, it’s my job, it’s my responsibility.”
Karagosian has many responsibilities at Alexander, but after two years off from the game and a spring and summer of worrying about whether or not he’d get to play football, he’s glad to have those responsibilities once again.
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