Kody Rashed stood on the sidelines wondering if he was going to go back into the game.
Only a wonder because the last four weeks the senior running back and linebacker has been on the field until the very end.
But there was no need for Rashed or any of the starters as Concord handled visiting Manchester Central in a 35-12 rout Friday night at Memorial Field.
The last four weeks have been tough for the Crimson Tide. They’ve featured blown halftime leads, costly penalties and unfortunate turnovers.
Fortunately, for the Tide’s sake, none of those three events came close to happening against the Little Green.
Entering the second half with a 14-6 lead, the Crimson Tide defense recovered a fumble on Central’s 41 yard line. It only took three plays and a 30-yard run from Rashed to put Concord up by two touchdowns.
On the ensuing kickoff, Concord dipped its hand into the bag of tricks and caught the Little Green off guard with an onside kick. The Crimson Tide’s recovery set up another drive close to plus-territory.
Runs from Jamari Arzu and Kaevryel Madison set Concord up with a first-and-goal on the 8-yard-line where Arzu scored.
With a 28-6 lead and 5:12 left in the third quarter, the Crimson Tide didn’t allow themselves to get comfortable. In one defensive series of eight plays, they had two sacks, two pass breakups and forced two incomplete passes resulting in Central to turnover the ball on downs.
They’re stout defense gave the offense the ball near the redzone where Rashed and Arzu bullied their way with carries of 13 and eight yards, respectively. Arzu’s touchdown was the figurative nail in Central’s coffin putting the game in need of divine intervention for a comeback.
“I’m so excited that we were able to finish a game,” Rashed said after his two touchdown performance. “We’ve been struggling to play in that second half and it just feels good to play a whole game tonight.”
Rashed, who ended up with over 100 yards rushing, made the most of his opportunities against the Little Green. Whether it was modest gains of three or four yards or a gashing of 48 yards on a simple sweep, the senior made his mark in the game.
It started in the first half when he was given the ball early and often. He found himself in the end zone along with quarterback Zack Doward for the Tide’s first half touchdowns.
Now that Concord has completed a game, its’ next challenge is to consistently complete games, and with Manchester Memorial on the schedule next there’s a good challenge ahead.
Aside from the outcomes of the last four weeks, according to coach Jim Corkum, he and his coaching staff have ramped up the conditioning periods at practice in order to have them focus on playing while tired.
“We’ve been making a much more concerted effort in our conditioning and how we do it,” he said. “We’ve been doing some hard conditioning at the beginning of practice, we’re hoping that it’s starting to pay off.”
It’s certainly paid off at least this week as Corkum and Co. not only won, but had some of their best practices of the season heading into Friday.
Concord (2-4) still has three games left on the schedule and a shot at a winning record. The chase for win number three starts Monday at practice when it prepares for a road trip to Manchester Memorial.