11/04/08
By LAWRENCE CONNEFF
 

Field General …Smith looks to lead the Irish deep into the state playoffs once again

He took care of that on the very first play of the Fighting Irish’s 33-0 win over Southeast Bulloch last Friday, sprinting 82 yards for the team’s first kickoff return for a touchdown this year.

“I don’t know if they were trying to kick it away from me or what, but it stayed in bounds and I was happy to be able to pick it up,” Smith said. “My teammates got good blocks and we finally broke a kickoff return this year.”

The senior quarterback scored again on a 66-yard run on Dublin’s first play from scrimmage and set up two other first-half touchdowns with runs ending inside the Yellow Jackets’ 10-yard line.

He ended up with 327 total yards, all in the first half, on his way to being named the Heart of Georgia Player of the Week for the fourth time this season.

It was Smith’s first dominant statistical performance in several weeks, though he still leads the Irish in rushing, passing, return yards and interceptions.

“A lot of teams started keying in on me, but that didn’t bother me,” he said. “I was happy to see other teammates step up.”

But that only proved to make the Irish offense even more dangerous and opened things back up for him against Southeast Bulloch.

“Our other running backs have put together two solid nights in a row and he hasn’t necessarily been as big a factor,” Dublin coach Roger Holmes said.

“Now you’ve got more people to worry about and all of a sudden he comes out and has a big night.”

And the Irish will likely need him to have a few more nights like that one in the coming weeks, as Dublin plays Jefferson County for the Region 3-AA title in Louisville Friday night and hopes to make another deep run in the state playoffs.

Smith led the team to the semifinals as a first-year signal caller last season after starting in the secondary during a run to the state title in 2006.

He’s been versed in Holmes’ Wing-T offense since middle school and said he’s feeling more comfortable than ever in running it.

“I feel like I came a long way because in ninth grade I didn’t play much varsity,” Smith said. “I’ve been around coach Holmes since sixth grade and ever since then he’s been teaching the offense to me.”

He’s also dreamt about being in this position, leading the Irish to a fourth straight region title and possibly more, since those days as a preteen, he said.

“When I was young I set goals early,” he said. “And my teammates, we’ve been together since we were eight and nine years old.

“If we win this Friday, we’ll be region champions all four years of high school and then we want to be state champions.”

Holmes said just about everybody else envisioned big things for Smith as early as the ninth grade.

“A lot of college coaches that would come by to see some of the older kids would look over and say, ‘What grade’s that kid in?’ because he’s got that athletic build and athletic body,” Holmes said.

“You’ve kind of known for a while that he’s a heck of a player.”