Graham Steers find form heading into the playoffs
GRAHAM, Texas — The Graham High School Steers football team is headed back to the playoffs with another district championship under their belt. While that sounds great and most players and fans should be excited, they did not do it the easy way. After starting their season with a 36-35 win over Alvarado High School, the Steers struggled to keep the momentum going. In September, the Steers lost all three of their next games, leaving them with a 1-3 record. Disappointed, the team did not give up as it went into district play, and has now won six straight games as they prepare to take that momentum into the playoffs.
One of the reasons for the slow start may have been the inexperience Graham had at the quarterback position. Graham head coach, Kenny Davidson, spoke on this issue before the season even started. At the quarterback position for the Steers this season is transfer quarterback Ty Thompson.
“His family moved to Graham, and he’s really come into a good situation to earn the job,” Davidson said. “No one other than Hunter Lanham has really taken a snap for us in the past three years. There’s not a lot of varsity experience at the position in our program. He’s got the maturity and the ability to be our starting quarterback. The talent is there. He is a freshman so we expect there to be some growing pains, but we think he’s got a lot of potential.”
The growing pains were on display early in the season during that three-game skid the Steers went on. Their offense failed to really get going, only scoring more than 20 points in one of those losses. However, since the September skid they have looked much better, breaking the 20-point barrier in four of their six wins.
Another reason the offense has been finding success has been the play of running back Noah Jilek. In the Steers’ most recent win over Sanger High School, Jilek accounted for 195 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries. Here is what he had to say after his dominant performance.
“Our o-line is a very physical group,” he said. “Over time, we had to develop the mentality that we had just to mash people because if we can get the run game going, then the passing game opens up, which allows guys like Tre Alveraz to make plays. I can’t do what I do without those guys. I love it when they (the offensive line) get attention because I’m able to gain yards because of those guys.”
The early season skid seems to be a thing of the past and Graham will hope that this new found momentum can carry them to a state title. It seems like at this point in the season the players are all playing for each other, and if they continue to do that, they will be a scary opponent for whoever lines up across from them.
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