Leonard leads Elkhart past Adams
SOUTH BEND — Eight days earlier, and only after being asked, Aalias Leonard admitted to wondering how many yards he might have rushed for if he had played the whole game against St. Joseph rather than just the opening half.
After all, the Elkhart junior running back had just cranked for 191 and four touchdowns on 21 carries in the win over the Indians, but because the Lions were up 37-0 by the break, he sat the rest of the way.
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On Saturday at School Field, the fast-emerging and hard-surging Leonard got that chance to go virtually the distance, and this time he darted and fought for 271 yards and four TDs on 38 carries as Elkhart knocked off Adams 35-13.
Not bad for a player who began the season as primarily a third-string cornerback, and “maybe our third or fourth running back,” according to coach Josh Shattuck.
Not bad for anybody.
“Aalias Leonard was phenomenal,” Shattuck said of the 5-11, 150-pound back. “Our offensive line was great and Aalias ran hard. We ran two (running) plays — I mean two plays — at them the whole night. We did mix up some motions, got some window dressing and stuff, but he ran hard and the line blocked and the receivers blocked.”
The Lions improved to 4-3 overall and stayed in the Northern Indiana Conference East-West Division hunt at 2-1. The Eagles dropped to 3-4 and 1-3.
“We were doing a lot of shoulder bumping,” Adams coach Antwon Jones said of his team’s inability to stop Leonard. “All year we’ve been good against the run because we’ve wrapped up and run through people, but for whatever reason tonight, we were shoulder tackling. We weren’t wrapping up, and as you saw, he was very determined and there was a lot of pile pushing. To their credit, they took advantage of our shoulder tackling.”
Elkhart, continuing a season-long trend of having players sidelined, mostly by injuries, was without six defensive regulars, the latest two subtracted this past week, one due to illness, another for discipline.
“I mean, there are dominoes falling,” Shattuck said as he mentioned several players who have lately changed positions.
Among them, junior TreVonn Brown, normally a JV receiver, “did well” at safety and cornerback Saturday, according to the coach, after just being introduced to those positions on Wednesday.
“This is varsity football, it’s really hard to do, so proud of our guys,” Shattuck said. “With how battered our roster is, it’s not about how we look, it’s about finding a way to win, and not only did we find a way to win, but we also dealt with some early adversity, and then the rest of the way it was 35-6.”
Indeed, the Lions fumbled the opening kickoff at their own 25, and seven plays later, junior Jeremiah Love scored from a yard out to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead.
Elkhart bit right back with a 72-yard drive, all those yards coming from 11 Leonard carries, to deadlock the score.
The Lions then went ahead for good early in the second quarter on a play-action 27-yard pass from quarterback Brady Krueper to fellow junior Rodney Gates, and stretched their lead to 21-7 before halftime on a 60-yard burst by Leonard.
Just as Elkhart fumbled away the opening kickoff return, the Eagles did likewise with the third-quarter kick.
The Lions, though, played copycat with an 11-play, 75-yard drive of their own to complete the scoring.
Shattuck cited center Luke Davis and offensive tackles Brayden Jellison and RaeKwon Lemons — all juniors — as consistent forces for an Elkhart offense that netted 311 ground yards.
For the Eagles, junior QB Adreon Petty came on in relief in the second half, saw his most extensive throwing duty of the season on his way to 4-of-10 to go with a pair of pass interference calls on the Lions, and “gave us our best opportunity,” according to Jones. “I thought he did a good job.”
Jones called the contest “a rough night, but our boys didn’t quit fighting. I think that’s the biggest positive.”