Lexington has been a dominant team all season, but the Minutemen had yet to see a team the caliber of Richmond or a player as good as Trevon Alexander before Friday night.
Alexander and the Spartans took advantage of that.
The junior wideout led the Spartans to a perfect 9-0 regular season with five touchdowns Friday night, as they rolled to a 46-21 victory over the previously undefeated Minutemen.
“This is by far my best game of the season,” Alexander said.
He and the rest of the Spartans certainly impressed Lexington head coach Kyle Barkley.
“We’ll have to go deep into the playoffs before we see another team of that caliber,” he said.
The Minutemen did the best they could in the first half to keep things close. Just before halftime they put together an impressive drive that covered 76 yards over 15 plays and nearly eight minutes that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Trey Kaullen. With just 31 seconds left it was 18-14 Richmond.
But instead of going into the half with some momentum, Richmond swung it back its way. Thanks to a 42-yard run from Dom Nobile on their first play on the ensuing drive, the Spartans were back in business. Two plays later, Dominic Williams found Alexander near the corner of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown with just 8.5 seconds remaining for a 25-14 lead.
“That touchdown before the half was huge,” Richmond head coach Rob Bowers said. “They just scored, so they would have felt good going into the half. For us to score in 30 seconds there was a huge momentum swing.”
That momentum seemed to carry into the second half, as the defense forced a three-and-out right away, blocked the Lexington punt and Diaz Elliot recovered the ball in the end zone for another touchdown. All of a sudden it was 32-14.
“The momentum changed. They knew we were on a roll,” Alexander said.
Added Barkley, “It just felt like that took the air out of us.”
Whatever air might have been left Alexander would go ahead and extinguish with two more scores in the second half, one on a 1-yard run and another that showcased his ability to miss tackles and his speed, as he took a simple pass out in the flat and went 37 yards for the score. That made it 46-14 before Hunter Leach tacked on a late score for Lexington.
“We knew from watching film that they’d play 10 yards off of me, so I knew I’d be open on outs,” Alexander said. “In the slot we used the smoke screen. When we went trips I had one-on-one and that’s where we had the most success.
“When I’m having success I tell the coaches to keep giving me the ball until they do something about it.”
The first half was an even more impressive display from Alexander. After Lexington took a 7-0 lead on a long fumble return for a score, Williams found Alexander for an 80-yard touchdown to make it 7-6. That was just the beginning.
He had three catches and 71 yards on Richmond’s next scoring drive, which he finished with a 10-yard score. Add those two scores to the one before halftime and a handful of other catches in the first half and it was seven catches for 223 yards in the first 24 minutes alone.
For the game he hauled in nine balls for 272 yards.
“He’s a great athlete, player and kid,” Bowers said. “He puts pressure on the defense. We just tried to take what they gave us. Early on they gave us some opportunities to get the ball to him.”
While the offense was doing its part, so was the defense, making the Minutemen’s run-heavy offense fight for every yard.
“The plan was to contain them all and not let them break the big play,” Bowers said. “We talked about field position and making them go long fields. It’s hard to pound the ball the length of the field against a good defense.”
Richmond held Lexington standout Warren Sheppard in check for the most part thanks to a strong game up front.
“Our No. 1 goal is to run the ball and we had to do some things running-wise to give ourselves a chance,” Barkley said. “They have a helluva defensive line. It’s probably the best we’ll see all year.”
Both teams will now look to the playoffs in their respective classes starting next Friday.
“Right now we’re 0-0,” Alexander said. “It’s like a new season. This is in the past. We have to take it one game at a time.”
