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| Clark Payne threw five touchdowns for Centre in the team's season opener against Hanover. Centre athletics photo |
By Adam Turer
D3sports.com
The first week of the season brings a lot of nervous energy, excitement, sometimes even anxiety. Game preparation can keep coaches up at night.
It’s a safe bet that no coach slept less last week than Centre offensive coordinator Ben Fox.
The good news is that he wasn’t staying up at night worrying about his offense. In fact, he could have slept well after the Colonels’ performance on Saturday.
But Bowen Fox, born on Wednesday, Sept. 4, just three days before the season opener, made sure that no matter how well his dad’s team played in their 2019 debut, the third-year coordinator would have plenty of time to stay awake and think about how his unit can play even better in Week 2.
“He’s got a tough mama. She’s hanging in there. We’ve got a lot of support. The college community here has been awesome,” said Fox, who came to Centre in 2017 after coordinating an up-tempo attack at Huntingdon. “We feel overwhelmed with how many people are supporting us. Not one gift has come with a wink that says ‘you better win.’”
As confident as he was in his unit heading into the opener, even Fox could not have expected the Colonels would score touchdowns on five of their six drives in the first half. Putting up points in the opener against Hanover was a priority, but not a given. In 2018, the Colonels managed just 28 points in a win. They would not score fewer than 35 points in any game the rest of the year. In 2017, they scored just 27 in their win over the Panthers, and were only held below that mark in a loss to Berry.
“It was extremely important for us to start very fast this year,” said junior receiver Jordan Gunter. “The last two years, even though we won the game, afterward our offense had a chip on our shoulder. We felt that we weren’t the strongest unit on our team.”
Fox echoed that sentiment: “The last two years we played them, we’d be really frustrated even though we won. Then we’d go look at the film and see that we weren’t that far off.”
As the seasons progressed, the offense grew stronger. But heading into 2019, there were question marks. SAA Offensive Player of the Year Tanner Young needed to be replaced at quarterback. Gunter needed to step up and fill the void left by Jaylon Hibbs, who finished 2018 with 1,238 receiving yards, third-most in the nation. Top running back Colin Burnam and his 1,038 yards and 16 touchdowns also graduated.
“Every year I’ve been doing this, I always say ‘How are we going to replace those seniors?’ At the end of this season, I’m sure I’ll say the same thing,” said head coach Andy Frye. “We had 10 first time starters. As any head coach, your concern is how they’re going to respond and react. I hope it’s our culture. We try to develop that and we do a lot of leadership training.”
Clark Payne passed for five touchdowns in his first career start. Patric Edwards rushed for 110 yards on just 15 carries. Gunter caught four passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. The Colonels raced out to a 35-10 halftime lead.
“It’s a terrific feeling. There’s no feeling in the world like getting out there with guys you’ve sweat and bled with in the offseason and giving it everything you’ve got and seeing it come together,” said Payne. “Pat ran that first TD in and everybody’s jumping up and down. It doesn’t matter who scores or how we score. A lot of that credit goes to our offensive line.”
A lot of credit goes to Payne, as well. He had to take the fall semester off of school last year to go help his father with the family business. Being away from his team and teammates was tough, especially watching them succeed from a distance.
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life,” said the junior quarterback. Hard to walk away from teammates who you’ve made a commitment to. But it’s family first, they’ve always been there for me. I knew that I would be welcomed back by this team.”
There was a wide-open three-man competition for the starting quarterback job in camp. John Walton, a senior, filled in admirably in the 2018 playoffs after Young was injured in the first round win over Washington and Jefferson. He passed for two touchdowns in relief, then threw three more against Mount Union. He was also intercepted six times, then spent the spring semester studying abroad. The first team reps in the spring gave Payne a leg up, but it was still anybody’s job to win in August.
“It’s been very important for [Payne] to mesh back in with his teammates. Guys are in different roles than when he was here last. In the competitive game situations, he played really, really well and was consistent. We have a pretty deep room. That depth allowed us to be aggressive in our install and see what our guys could do,” said Fox. “John Walton has been an awesome kid and really one of the most improved kids I’ve coached. He’s handled it like an adult, which is good. Playing quarterback can be really lonely, but he’s handled it really well and still continues to work to improve.”
This is the third year of Fox’s offense at Centre, but with the third different starting quarterback. Still, that experience allowed for a thicker playbook this season. Players like Gunter, who has caught a pass in every single game since he arrived on campus, and senior center Drew Yeager, a preseason All-American, provide reliable leadership for their younger teammates.
“Our playbook has definitely grown since I’ve gotten here. The freshmen had to work even harder this year. We put a lot more stuff in this year because the majority of us have experience,” said Gunter. “Everyone below is extremely talented. To see them get their first taste of how we do it and how much fun we can have was an incredible feeling.”
The first half onslaught exceeded expectations. But the Colonels coasted a bit too much in the second half and had to fight off a Hanover rally to hold on for a 45-31 win. There were plenty of bright spots, and plenty of lessons to be learned.
“It’s an interesting dynamic — we had four, five, maybe six guys who we knew what we were going to get out of them. They’ve played in big games. We had 10 more who still have a wide range of what they can do to be successful,” said Fox. “Success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success. With being such a young team, we had to be real specific about what we called early in order to breed that confidence and success. The plays don’t care who makes them. Our kids went out and made plays in the first half.”
What Frye noticed in facing programs like Mount Union in the playoffs is that the difference between Stagg Bowl contenders and second-tier challengers starts with the interior. There are three new starters on the offensive line flanking Yeager, and they proved to be a cohesive unit quickly. Joining Yeager up front are senior guards George Groh and Zack Edgar, left tackle James Meckey, right tackle and Western Kentucky University transfer Chase Farris, and tight end Breece Hayes.
“This year, I feel like our offensive line is really good. I think they can be the best we’ve ever had,” said Frye. “I think because of that, we’re ahead of where we’ve been the last 15 or 20 years.”
Going up against a defense led by senior All-American cornerback Cal Lewellyn helps the Colonels offense prepare for big games. While some programs shy away from physical practices, Centre’s practice routine thrives on competition. After the players challenge one another physically on the field, the coaches challenge their players mentally in the meeting room.
“We pride ourselves on being very physical. There aren’t a lot of programs who get after it the way we get after it. We put our players in critical one-on-one situations where they’ve got to compete. When you’re going against Cal, you better bring it or you won’t catch a pass. And he’ll let you know about it after practice,” said Fox. “We’ve got really intellectual kids and they want to learn and to be challenged. That’s the beauty of Division III football is they want to be pushed and get that experience. It’s really important to them to learn. That makes it a lot of fun.”
“Ben is a very good teacher. Our job is to teach and demand. The players’ job is to prepare and perform,” said Frye. “Ben does a really good job of teaching and demanding, especially the details. I’m fortunate to have two good coordinators.”
The Colonels face another 2018 playoff team in Week 2, as they host Maryville. Then, SAA play begins. Centre has not won an outright conference title since 2014. The offense has finished each of the past two seasons in the top 25 in the nation, averaging 37.8 points in 2017 and 41.9 points in 2018. Those seasons both began with slow starts against Hanover.
But young Bowen Fox only knows a world in which Centre averages 45 points per game and scores touchdowns on 83 percent of its first half possessions. His father hopes to keep that trend rolling.
“That’s the next step for us is to continue to bring that same intensity to the next play. We need to flush those good drives and come out with the same intensity the next drive. Championship teams continue to be focused on the next play and doing our job,” said Fox. “If we get all 11 consistently doing our job, we as coaches can live with the result. We’ve got to finish. These first four games are a huge challenge for us.”
