C.C. Thomas
Sports Scene
Earlier this year, Bennett Lewis tied a national record in the shuttle-run drill at a national combine in Tallahassee, Florida.
It’s a drill that tests a player’s lateral quickness, speed, and explosion, and Lewis did the drill in 3.92 seconds.
That quickness and speed has definitely transferred onto the football field for the Nouvel Catholic Central football team.
Through the the first three games on the Panthers’ schedule, all wins against formidable opponents, the 5’9″, 182-pound running back has rushed for 603 yards and had 120 receiving yards.
“His strength is his change of direction, and his vision is very good,” Nouvel coach Mike Boyd said. “His patience is also good. I told him this past Friday that his patience was good when he got into the hole and let the play develop. Then he makes a decision and makes a burst. He’s always been quick and had great agility, but he is also so much stronger this year.”
Like all good running backs, Lewis, who runs a 4.42 40-yard dash, credits his success to the big guys up front.
“We have a lot bigger line this year, and they do a really good job at the first level keeping the defensive line off me,” Lewis said. “Once me and [fellow running back Gabe Augustin and quarterback Joe Buchalski] get to the second level, we can make moves. So it’s our linemen that are doing a great job.”
Lewis also didn’t want to forget about his offensive teammates outside that are taking pressure off the Panthers running game.
“Another thing, our wide receivers have great speed,” Lewis said. “We have so many threats on offense, so if they [opponents’ defenses] pay attention to our running game, we can throw it outside. We have so many weapons, and that takes pressure off me.”
All these weapons have Lewis, Boyd, and Nouvel fans thinking of the great 2006 state championship team that cruised through that season.
“He [Lewis] is at the top [of the list of former great Panthers running backs],” Boyd said. “We have had a couple of good ones here. Nick Birndaum was our running back on our 2006 state championship team, and they are similar with their quickness and vision.”
Lewis has always had the quickness, but he says his vision has improved in his three years of starting at the position for the Panthers.
“As you get more and more carries and experience, you know which way the defense is going to break,” Lewis said. “It gets a lot easier with experience to set up blocks. I feel I do a good job setting up my blocks.”
Boyd just loves having Lewis and all his weapons at his disposal.
“This year he is surrounded with other guys like him,” Boyd said. “Last year he was our dominant weapon, and people could focus on him. This year we can throw the football.
“At this point in the season, I couldn’t ask for us to play any better than we are playing,” he added. “We started out with two very tough opponents and played very well. But can we avoid injuries, I don’t know.
Lewis doesn’t want to worry about that; he just wants to keep winning and to bring another state title home to Saginaw.
“We probably got our toughest two games out of the way,” Lewis said. “Our main goal is to keep improving and maintaining our focus. We just need to keep getting better.”
That could be a problem for the teams left on Nouvel Catholic Central’s schedule.