5StarPreps writer Matthew Lutey gives the breakdown of Alcoa’s Friday win over West.
You could call it a trickle-down effect.
Lessons get passed down from grade to grade, and when you’ve won nine straight 3A state championships like Alcoa, class is usually in session.
The Tornadoes had standout performances from experienced and younger players alike, earning a 28-10 home victory over West on Friday in a non-region matchup pitting two area heavyweights against one another.
Alcoa doesn’t have many seniors, but sometimes it’s the quality over the quantity.
“Our leadership and really the four seniors. You got Isaiah Emert, Eli Graf, Eli Owens and big JT (Turner), they’re just all good kids. They’re all hard-working kids, they’re all tough kids,” Alcoa coach Brian Nix said.
“And Eli (Owens) doesn’t try to big-time you, he wants to be coached. He knows that in five months he’s going to be at spring ball in Michigan, but he wants to see this team win and he wants to see the young guys be successful.”
One of the young guys that was successful Friday was running back Micah Jones. The sophomore starter rushed for 77 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns.
Jones’ first score was a 4-yard run that put the Tornadoes ahead 14-10 with 2:01 left in the first half on the drive after the Rebels took their first and only lead of the night.
His second touchdown gave Alcoa a 21-10 advantage with 1:35 remaining in the third quarter.
Graf is already a known running threat at quarterback, evidenced by 91 yards on 11 carries himself Friday. But Jones’ emergence only makes it tougher for opposing defenses to know who to key in on.
Jones also plays an important role for Alcoa (4-1) in the secondary.
“I don’t know how much he left the field tonight,” Nix said about Jones.
“We play a three-safety defense, he is like the lynchpin guy of that defense. He cleans up everything, he orchestrates the coverage.
“Some hard yards in there (running the ball). They gave us nothing on the edge. All the running was up inside. … It’s nice to see a sophomore, when he was young was just the best player and running around, now he’s having to dig deep and find that toughness.”
Alcoa’s most youthful unit is probably its secondary. And that was exactly the unit that stepped up when West was on a got-to-have-points drive down 21-10 in the fourth.
Alcoa sophomore defensive back Elijah Sadler was tight in coverage and drew an offensive pass interference call on a pass that a West receiver caught for what would’ve been a 30-plus yard gain.
Instead, the back-to-back 5A state champion Rebels (4-3) were backed up to 2-and-24 on their own 22-yard line. Two plays later Jamir Dean, another Alcoa sophomore, intercepted a deep pass by Parker Dubon with 6:55 to play.
“I think Elijah Sadler has grown up a ton,” Nix said.
“To his credit, he’s played Sam-backer, he’s played the middle of the field safety and the weak side safety all since July. And so we’ve been trying to find the best fit for him where we can utilize him the most. He was in great position.
“And Jamir Dean, he is scratching the surface when you talk about a great player who is only going to skyrocket. He’s learning how to play football. He’s always been a basketball-first guy because he’s a great basketball player.
That pick, you can’t teach that stuff. The length and the ball, you watch his body and he’s always manipulating his hands to the football. He’s a rare talent for sure.”
Dean earned a seat on the throne postgame.
“If you do something good on defense, you get to sit in that chair,” Dean said.
Graf sealed Alcoa’s third win in its past four meetings with West since the schools renewed their rivalry in 2021 with a 42-yard touchdown run on the ensuing possession.
Graf did throw an interception that was returned about 20 yards by West linebacker Jack Keith for the Rebels’ only touchdown of the game. Keith’s sixth interception in seven games this season tied the score at 7 late in the first quarter.
The veteran quarterback made up for his mistake in every way possible the rest of the evening. In addition to his running total, Graf passed for 103 yards, returned a kickoff over 50 yards and at times took on the assignment of stopping West’s leading receiver Antwain Burdine on defense.
If that weren’t enough, he caught a pass from himself on a tipped ball and ran for a 15-yard gain.
“I told our young guys two weeks ago if you will work like him, if you will live your life like him – because there’s a lot of younger guys that have more ability than he has,” Nix said about Graf.
“But when I talk to the guys about don’t be staying up until 1 in the morning … take care of yourself, eat, do all the things right, that’s what Eli Graf does.
“And that’s why I said we’ve had other more talented guys, but I don’t know that we’ve had a guy in a long time affect the game the way he does. So it’s a great testament to our young guys, if you want to be like this, you know how he lives his life.”
Both teams have next week off for fall break. West hosts Anderson County on October 18th for another non-region test. Alcoa travels to Scott for a region game on the 18th.
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