By Terry Foster
WHMI.COM
Howell linebacker Alex Adams is a monster.
He played angry and physical while helping turn around a much-maligned defense during a much easier than anticipated 54-14 thumping of Dearborn (2-1) in a showdown that quickly turned into a good old-fashioned beat down.
Adams knows when a blitz is called, he has two jobs. Get home and be destructive.
He got home with ease most of the night. But he was not home alone. If Adams wasn’t there to make a defensive stop junior defensive tackle Frank Kanka was. Adams had eight tackles and two forced fumbles. Kanka threw folks around like rag dolls while recording two quarterback sacks and seven bone crunching stops.
Kanka did not knock ball carriers to the ground. He planted them into the ground. It might take an excavator to unearth them.
“I think the main thing was being aggressive, not hesitating,” Kanka said. “And having good eyes.”
Kanka has a verbal commitment to play for Eastern Michigan but if he keeps playing like this bigger schools are likely to get on board. He comes from an athletic family. Older brother Bobby Kanka is a sophomore defensive tackle at Michigan. Sister Emma is a freshman member of EMU’s track and field team.
Kanka and Adams were important because Howell’s defense showed some holes in victories over Traverse City West (49-35) and Belleville (41-31). Adams led the way early as Howell shut out Dearborn in the first half while storming to a 33-0 lead.
Howell played good defense for much of the night although Dearborn hard-charging running back Ali Saad broke loose for large gains in the second half while scoring two touchdowns against many of the younger Highlanders.
No one was worried about Howell giving up a lot of points to Belleville and Traverse City.
“We knew we were playing really good teams the first two weeks” Adams said. “They had really good quarterbacks.’
Head coach Brian Lewis wasn’t the slightest bit concerned with his defense. Belleville has been a high-scoring team since the invention of football. And Traverse City quarterback Brayden Tillman is a better version of UM quarterback Bryce Underwood.
Plus, Howell only had five starters returning on defense.
“It takes a while to get your feet wet,” Lewis said. “It was not like we had a lot of guys returning. So, it takes a while to get used to the pace.’
Howell’s offense is nearly unstoppable. The Highlanders are averaging 48 points. Here is an interesting stat. WHMI has visited Howell for its game of the week broadcast twice. Howell has had 18 possessions and scored on all 18 drives. At times running back Jack Gondick (201 yards and three touchdowns) is every bit as dangerous as super star Bryce Kish, who slashed for 135 yards and three scores.