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Steadman's 5 TDs pace Tigers in homecoming win
One’s first experience at a Nevada High School homecoming football game is always special.
Avious Steadman’s was five times better.
The junior wingback, who moved to town from Fort Scott before the school year, scored four rushing touchdowns and caught another to lead the Tigers to a 52-35 homecoming victory against Seneca Friday night at Logan Field — not that he needed any extra motivation.
“I just treated it like it was another game. I don’t really worry about the homecoming. I just went out there and worked and did what I did,” said Steadman, who did quite a lot in his five-TD game (the first of his football career), racking up 226 rushing yards along the way. “My linemen had good blocks for me, so I just followed them and ran into the end zone.”
NHS head coach Wes Beachler also credited his experienced offensive line for not drawing any penalties during those big plays, but also gave props to Steadman for never letting the defense bring him down.
“We’ve had some really good wingbacks, and he’s just jumped right in with that group. Just an explosive athlete that, man, once he gets in space, I don’t know if there’s anybody in our conference that can catch him,” said Beachler, whose team improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in Big 8 West play with the win.
Steadman got the scoring started with a 36-yard TD run on Nevada’s opening drive (fellow junior and Fort Scott transplant Jordan Johnson ran in the two-point conversion).
The Indians (3-3, 1-2) answered with a touchdown run on their first possession (point-after was good) — but on the Tigers’ next offensive play, Steadman took a reverse from Johnson 73 yards to pay dirt (junior quarterback Cade Beshore passed to senior tight end Kartman Highley for the two-point conversion).
After Nevada’s defense forced a punt, highlighted by one of junior linebacker Gage Miller’s numerous tackles for loss on the night (he also had a strip sack), Miller got the call at tailback on the goal line for a 5-yard score as well as the two-point conversion.
“He’s only a junior and he has a high football IQ and he’s smart and he understands the game, so you can’t have enough of those guys,” Beachler said of Miller. “Smart. Strong. I don’t know what else to say. He’s a good one.”
Though NHS was able to cash in another score before halftime — when Beshore found Steadman up the right sideline for a 63-yard catch-and-run TD (two-point try unsuccessful) — Seneca kept the game close (30-21 at the break) with a pair of touchdowns of its own.
The Indians then got the ball to start the third quarter, but Miller tackled quarterback Ethan Fritchey for no gain on fourth down — setting up an eight-play scoring drive by the Tigers in which Steadman took a 6-yard sweep into the end zone (and Johnson ran in the two-point conversion).
The defense came up big again at the start of the fourth quarter, when Seneca had the ball on Nevada’s 1-yard line. When the Indians had to call timeout to talk about its fourth-down play, senior linebacker Logan Marquardt noticed that the visiting team was having a hard time hearing its own play calls, and encouraged the bench and home crowd to get louder.
They obliged.
“The crowd was great,” said Miller, who along with the rest of the crimson and gray faithful watched as Seneca committed back-to-back false starts, then blitzed to force a pass that was broken up by sophomore Henry Campbell. “They really got us hyped up. Whenever the other team can’t hear, that gives us more juice.”
Beachler appreciated the help, too.
“I talked about it at the pep rally today, that we needed the crowd to be louder in those situations. Our sideline did great, and our crowd did great,” he said. “That’s a 12th man thing. Our crowd was loud, our sideline was loud, and that helped us out down in that situation.”
The Tigers capitalized with a 97-yard reverse TD by Steadman, then responded to a Seneca TD run with a 50-yarder to the house by Johnson, who broke multiple tackles on his way into the end zone.
“I assumed he was down. I knew he’d gotten a lot of yards, so we were just trying to melt the clock there, and he just kept going,” said Beachler, who had high praise for Johnson filing in for Case Sanderson after the starting tailback was unavailable to play. “We tell kids all the time not to complain and just do your job. And Jordan Johnson has never complained to me or the running backs coach, Jerrod Alexander, about his playing time. And that’s what we want our kids to do. It doesn’t do any good to complain or whine. You just got to be a man, and when you get your chance, you go out there and play like that.”
Though Seneca was able to attack Nevada’s soft cover-3 defense through the air in the second half — something next week’s pass-heavy opponent (East Newton) will no doubt be licking its chops over when it sees the game film — the Tigers were understandably excited about their performance overall after winning their second game in a row.
“We’re confident. We’re going to keep getting better. We’re not going to be satisfied with where we’re at,” said Miller, before sharing his thoughts on Steadman’s big game — and how upset his old team must be now that he’s a Tiger. “We’re glad we got him from Fort Scott. Sorry about that.”