Basic awakens, remains undefeated

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Sometimes a slap in the face can serve as a wake-up call. Other times, it can be a knockout blow.

Unbeaten Basic shrugged off an early hit Thursday night, overcoming a sluggish week of practice and a slow start to earn a 26-13 road victory over Rancho (4-1).

"I’m glad that we got through this game," said Basic coach Cliff Frazier, whose team’s record improved to 5-0. "We didn’t practice well all week long. You start having some success sometimes, and kids … well it, it wasn’t pretty."

Neither was the start of the game for those on the Basic sideline. The Wolves failed to field the opening kickoff, which took a strange bounce inside their 25-yard line. Rancho’s Lance Eliason pounced on the free ball to give the Rams possession at the Basic 21.

Three plays later, James Cammack scored on a 16-yard run, and his extra point put Rancho up 7-0 with 1:18 elapsed in the game.

"When you know that kids aren’t sharp and that happens, you start thinking the door’s going to be open," Frazier said. "Fortunately, we got back on track and we started playing."

But not right away. After turning the ball over on downs on their next possession, the Wolves dropped two would-be touchdown passes on a drive late in the first quarter.

"The drops we didn’t expect, because we catch the ball every day," Frazier said. "And that’s when it gets scary."

Rancho failed to take advantage of the miscues, and Basic began to run the ball from its spread offense.

The Wolves moved the ball down the field with a four-headed rushing monster of running backs Antaeus Martin and Anthony Ireland, quarterback Josh Ross and receiver Greg Henderson, who took several handoffs after going in motion.

Basic put together two second-quarter scoring drives, with Ireland scoring on runs of 1 yard and 5 yards to give the Wolves a 14-7 halftime advantage.

"At first, when we were running trips (three-receiver formations), they thought we were going to pass, so they had only one linebacker in," Henderson said. "They didn’t know that we could run.

"And once everything was out, we just picked them apart."

Things really began to go Basic’s way when the second-half kickoff bounced off Rancho’s Kevin Dupree and was recovered by Basic’s Omar Valenzuela at the Rancho 45-yard line.

That set up a 44-yard TD pass from Ross to Henderson to push the lead to 20-7.

Rancho answered, with Erique Williams scoring on the final play of the third quarter to make it 20-13, but Basic’s rushing attack allowed the Wolves to grind out much of the fourth quarter.

Ireland had a 4-yard run to pick up a first down on fourth-and-inches, which set up his third TD run of the night, a 23-yarder. Henderson went in motion on the play, and Rancho bit on the fake, leaving Ireland little resistance.

Ireland finished with 68 yards and the three touchdowns on 11 carries. Martin rushed for 91 yards on 16 tries as Basic rushed for 232 yards as a team.

"The backs ran hard, and I can’t say enough about the linemen," Frazier said. "They did just a fantastic job. They gave Josh a ton of time today, and our line just rose to the occasion."