“I was waiting for a game like that to be honest,” said Coleman, who carried the ball 18 times and scored on runs of 65, 67, 6, 15 and 62 yards. “I guess tonight was one of those nights. I’m blessed and just ready to move on to next week.”
All five of his touchdowns came in the first half as the Knights took a 35-20 advantage into halftime. He had 15 carries for 285 yards through two stanzas.
“I was talking to my dad (Trey) Wednesday night and asking him about his best nights in high school,” Coleman said. “He said he had 315 yards and five touchdowns, but he kicked an extra point. So he beat me by a point.
“In one sentence, it was my best offensive game and one of my worst defensive games. I gave up a touchdown, and that’s the only thing I’m thinking about.”
He was part of an Alter secondary that got torched for 299 yards and two touchdowns by Rams quarterback Zach Larkin. The junior was 22 of 32 and hit Philip Dozier (eight catches, 125 yards) twice for scores, and Cody Boxrucker chipped in a TD run.
Badin got blanked in the second half, though, and fell to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the GCLC Central Division. The Knights are 7-0, 4-0 GCLC North, after their homecoming triumph.
“Obviously tonight was a big difference from last year,” said Larkin, referring to the 49-3 beating the Rams took. “We learned from last year. I think it’s really the first time we came together as brothers and gave it our all out on the field. They’re just a better team than us right now.”
Alter racked up 522 rushing yards, aided by quarterback Dusty Hayes (15 carries, 148 yards, one TD) and Thomas Alig (12 carries, 70 yards, two TDs).
“The bottom line is Alter has a very good football team,” Badin coach Bill Tenore said. “They are going to compete for the state championship no doubt in Division IV. They don’t have any weak points.
“I’m very proud of our football team because we competed. We had some guys that really stepped up and brought it offensively. We just couldn’t match up with them at times.”
The Rams gained just 41 yards on the ground. Knights coach Ed Domsitz said he wasn’t surprised that Badin came out throwing the ball.
“People are going to throw because we’re proficient against the run,” Domsitz said. “We’ve got to get a little better at some of this stuff. If you really watch it, you’ll see a lot of missed tackles. That’s a two-way street. We’ve got to wrap up better, but Badin’s kids were running hard. If they’re not running hard, they’re not breaking our tackles because we’re pretty strong.
“I was impressed with the way Badin hung in there. There was an eight- or nine-minute stretch in that second quarter where they pretty much dominated us. We’ve got to look at this as a learning experience.”
Tenore felt a strong aerial game was the best plan to use against Alter. It was very effective in the first half.
“You try to exploit what you can,” Tenore said. “Zach seemed to be on, and our receivers were catching the ball, so we stuck with that. If it wasn’t working, we would’ve tried something else.”
Boxrucker and Jack VanSteenkiste both had four receptions for 66 yards. Dominic Valentino added four catches for 31 yards.
“When it’s man to man, I have faith in every receiver, no matter who it is,” Larkin said. “Our receivers are fast. They made some great plays and ran with the ball.”
Larkin was on the sideline for the Rams’ last series as Ross Mulcare finished out the contest at quarterback. Larkin said he aggravated a previous foot injury, but he doesn’t believe it’s serious.
“I could’ve gone back out, but it’s OK. I understand why I didn’t,” said Larkin, whose 299-yard performance ranks fifth in Badin history — Zach Toerner threw for 300-plus yards four times in 2007-08, including a school-record 335 yards against Roger Bacon in 2007.
As usual, Alter didn’t have to do much throwing. Hayes was 1 of 3 for 34 yards.
Coleman took a backseat to Hayes and Alig in the Knights’ second-half running attack.
“Nick is an amazing athlete,” Domsitz said. “(The Rams) were doing some things that we thought we could take advantage of on the other side with Alig. Dusty had a lot more success in the second half as well.”
Badin’s 340 yards and 20 points represented the best offensive showing against Alter this season. The Knights hadn’t given up a point in the last two weeks.
The last time the Rams put up 20 points against Alter was during a 44-20 win in 1998. Badin also won 14-7 in 1999, but the Knights are now on a 17-game winning streak in the series.
Both teams will return to action next Saturday. The Rams will host Chaminade Julienne, while Alter visits McNicholas.
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