Inside. Outside. Up and over.
When it comes to the Auburn High football team’s rushing game, pick your poison. The Trojans have been successful — and then some — with all three options since returning to the South Puget Sound League North Division two years ago. In fact, since returning to the North, the Trojans have run the league ragged, winning the past two league championships without a loss.
Auburn’s secret?
Its double wing jet offense, a specialty of coach Gordon Elliott, which relies on precision, deception and, of course, quality running backs. Elliott and the Trojans will be putting that high-powered offense on display at 7 p.m. Friday at French Field, when second-ranked Auburn (4-0 in league, 4-0 overall) travels to ninth-ranked Kentwood (3-0, 4-0) in one of the most anticipated games of the season. The showdown pits the SPSL North’s two most successful programs during the past decade. Auburn enters the night on a 27-game SPSL North winning streak, a run that dates back to 2005. The last North Division team to beat Auburn is Kentwood, which did so in the season opener five years ago, 14-7. In addition, Kentwood and Auburn have combined for five of the last 10 SPSL North titles, and 16 Class 4A playoff berths during the last decade.
The key for the Trojans is — and has been — an unstoppable running game.
“I haven’t seen anybody slow it down in years,” said Kentwood coach Rex Norris said. “I don’t know that that’s even the right word for it. More like, hang on. They’ve perfected that running game.”
That running game features first-team all-leaguers Alphonse Wade and Austin Embody, who have the benefit of running behind first-team all-leaguers Danny Shelton and Nick Conlan. Of Auburn’s 23 touchdowns this season, 21 have come on the ground (six by Wade and five by Embody).
“It’s going to be a night of countering, and hoping you don’t get run over,” Norris said.
Auburn is coming off a 31-27 victory over Tahoma, a game in which the Trojans trailed 27-24 with less than a minute left. Embody rushed for 173 yards and two scores in the win while Wade added 80 yards and a touchdown.
“I don’t think we were necessarily looking past (Tahoma),” Elliott said. “I think our guys just didn’t give Tahoma the respect they deserve. (Tahoma) is a lot better team than people give them credit for.”
Kentwood knocked off Tahoma 49-3 two weeks ago and stopped Puyallup last week, 35-21. In its win over Puyallup, running back Mikell Everette, who has quickly blossomed into one of the North’s top running backs, rushed for 211 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. While Everette has been a key to Kentwood’s offense in the early season, an offense that averages more than 50 points per game, he is hardly the only horse in the Conk stable. In fact, eight different Conquerors have rushed for at least one touchdown this season, and three (Shane Green, Adam Bese and Dane Manio) have thrown for scores.
“I think part of the hype (of this game) is that it’s later in the year,” Elliott said. “It makes it more interesting when it’s in the middle of the season.”
Indeed. Since 2000, Kentwood and Auburn have met eight times. Of those eight matchups, six have come during the season’s first two weeks. That being the case, there’s a little more riding on Friday night’s game than in past years. The winner will immediately move into the driver’s seat for the SPSL North crown. However, it must be noted that both still have Kentlake (4-0, 4-0) on the horizon. Kentlake will play at Tahoma on Friday.
“It’s a big game, but all of them are big,” Norris said.
Auburn and Kentwood have split the last eight games. Last year, the Trojans erased a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Conquerors, 35-28.
“Every game is important if you want to be there at the end of the year,” Elliott said. “Obviously Kentwood is a really good team. We’re going to have to step up our level to win.”
