Stratford teams up for strong running game

Toward the end of the regular season, O’Showen Williams wanted to share a word or two with his fellow Stratford running backs.

The senior halfback had been the focus of Stratford’s ground game the past two seasons, to the point where other teams were beginning to key on him. But there were two other runners — fullback Kasey Sanders and halfback Tyler Jordan — who could be just as effective.

Williams shared his thoughts with Sanders and Jordan, who bought in to what Williams had to say. The three running backs stepped up their game, playing big roles in the Eagles’ playoff run.

“At the beginning of the season, they knew I was going to get it a bunch of times,” Williams said. “But I had a talk with (Jordan) and just told him that he had to step up, and I told Kasey that, too. That’s what they have done, and that’s opened things up, since they have to key on them.

“Now (opponents) don’t know who is going to get the ball.”

Williams, Sanders and Jordan have combined for just shy of 3,000 rushing yards for the season, rushing for a total of 35 touchdowns. Their contributions helped Stratford gain a spot in the GHSA Class A private school football semifinals, where the Eagles will play Friday at Aquinas.

The role the ground game plays in Stratford’s offense was on display in last week’s 43-15 win at Pinecrest. The Williams-Sanders-Jordan trio combined for 324 yards, with Sanders scoring three touchdowns and Williams accounting for two more.

The yardage totals for the three backs were balanced. Jordan finished with 116 yards, while Sanders had 112 yards and Williams 96 yards. It was Jordan’s third 100-yard game of the season, while Sanders topped 100 yards for the fourth time.

“We just play hard for everybody,” Sanders said. “We couldn’t do it without the linemen. Where the holes are, we just take them.”

Yardage and points aren’t the only measuring sticks for running backs, especially with Stratford’s wing-T and the misdirection that comes from that.

Blocking, both at the line and downfield, is important. So is the ability to sell a fake rushing attempt to set up the pass, especially with Wisconsin commitment Quintez Cephus lining up at split end.

That said, when the ground game is producing, the pass becomes less important. The Eagles completed just one pass last week, an 8-yarder.

“What we love about our offense is the guys that are running the ball are depending on the guys who are not running the ball to help them out by blocking or by faking,” Stratford head coach Mark Farriba said. “You can play in our offense as a good runner, but you’ve got to be able to do some other things, too.

“They’ve all continued to progress and do those little things. Then you have a game like Friday night, where you have three guys who rushed for 100 yards each. That’s unusual, but it was fun to watch.”

Each of Stratford’s running backs brings something different to the Eagles’ offense.

Jordan, a 6-foot, 188-pound sophomore, is in his first season as a varsity starter. His numbers aren’t the biggest at times — he was held to a combined 35 yards in two previous meetings with Aquinas this season — but he does provide a change of pace to Williams and Sanders. For the year, he has 718 yards and seven touchdowns.

“He is just going to run hard,” Sanders said. “He doesn’t care about getting the touchdown. It’s nice to get them, but he said he just wants to run hard to help the team win any way he can.”

Sanders, a 5-9, 165-pound junior, is perhaps the hardest hitter of the three. He’s a straight-ahead runner who also isn’t shy about making contact with opposing players, yet he also has the potential to break free for a long scoring run, like he did last week when his 47-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter put Stratford ahead of Pinecrest for good.

For the season, Sanders has 912 yards and 13 touchdowns.

“He’s quiet around the locker room, but on the field, he does his job and lays the wood every time,” Williams said. “He’s hard to bring down. He’s not a juker, but he will run through you and break off tackles. He’s not easy to bring down.”

Williams, a 5-11, 170-pound senior, has name recognition through a pair of 1,000-yard seasons and his role on Stratford’s basketball team, where he teamed with Cephus to lead the Eagles to an appearance in the Class A private school quarterfinals last winter.

He leads the Eagles’ ground game with 1,315 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.

“There’s no doubt, he really has stepped up from a leader’s standpoint and taken charge of that group,” Farriba said. “Running-wise, he ran for 1,000 yards last year, and he bettered that this year, even missing a game. He’s a good an open-field runner as I’ve seen. I’m really proud of his leadership among the running backs.

“He’s got a really nice yards-per-carry average. He’s an explosive player. That’s kind of what he is. He’s an explosive guy.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Stratford teams up for strong running game ."