PCS coach Joey Hawkins said after Thursday night’s 38-18 win over West Marion that he missed the memo on the spread offense. Traps and counter runs are what he and the PCS Bobcats do on offense.
But, there were questions to be answered after they lost Mississippi’s all-time career leader in rushing, Isaiah Woulllard, and senior running back Sheldon James and junior Alden Rhian think those questions were answered after a 425-yard performance from seven different backs on offense.
(RELATED: PCS runs past West Marion Thursday)
James carried the ball 21 times for 235 rushing yard and three touchdowns, while Rhian added 148 yards and a touchdown on nine attempts.
Hawkins and PCS are used to having one running back carry the ball 30-plus times, so having two guys split the bulk, and up to seven players receive carries, was a good sight to see for the coaches.
When one running back isn’t getting all of the carries, the group is in good shape in the third and fourth quarters. Hawkins said after the game that his team was just trying to stay in the ballgame in the second half, then be more conditioned than West Marion.
“(Alden and I) have both when working really hard on conditioning, but it gives us a lot of balance on the offense,” James said of the two splitting carries.
The evidence was there of the plan working. James already had 97 yards by halftime, white Rhian collecting 50 yards, but the two nearly doubled their totals in the second half.
Rhian had a 42-yard rush on his first carry of the game, but was held to just 6 and 2-yard gains on his final two carries of the first half. In the second half, he had two separate 38-yard runs, and also an 11-yard touchdown.
“We’re just trying to replace Isaiah, and having two fresh running backs kind of makes it easy,” Rhian said. “It makes the second half a lot easier when we have two (running backs).”
James had a 52-yard touchdown and a 25-yard run in the first half, but every other attempt was for less than seven yards. In the final two quarters, he ripped off gains of 14, 10 and 75 yards, as the latter was for a touchdown. He also had a 5-yard touchdown run to bring his scoring total to three.
“The line just opened it up, and it was perfect,” James said. “So, I have to give all of the credit to them. All I had to do was just run.”
James also received the game ball from Hawkins after the game.
“It’s amazing to see all your hard work come to fruition,” he said. “I have to credit the offensive line. They were incredible tonight. A great group of guys.”
The two insisted there’s not really a competition between them on who gets the most carries or yards, but they definitely want to get in on the action as much as they can.
“I mean, I kind of wanted to get in sometimes, and he’ll tell you he does, too,” Rhian said with a laugh.
“We’re just going to get ours,” James said. “We don’t really think about it that way. We’re just trying to win the games, and having two of us is the best way to do it.”
