ROXANA - The Roxana High School football team had a turnaround season in 2022. After last season's 2-7 campaign, the Shells managed to make the playoffs, win their first playoff game since 2014, and then leave everything on the field against an undefeated team that went on to knock them out in the second round.
The main key to success for the program is running the football.
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No one loves to run the football more than junior running back Terrell Graves.
He was one of the teams' go-to RBs alongside junior Evan Wells and senior Nik Ward.
Graves, a junior, rushed 111 times for 1,062 yards on the season, an average of 9.6 a carry. He scored 10 touchdowns with a long TD run of 87 yards. Graves is a Midwest Members Credit Union Roxana Male Athlete of the Month for his efforts on the football field.
Roxana's head coach Wade DeVries said Terrell was one of the better players on the team and arguably the fastest.
"Terrell's success is a testament to his consistency in weight room and training," Coach Devries said. "When he came into high school, he had never played football and his first experience was the COVID year, which barely counts. He stayed consistent over the last two and a half years and was in the weight room and he transformed his body as a junior. He was also one of our better defensive backs. He was one of our better players this season and one of the keys to our success."
In the Shells' regular season finale win over Marquette Catholic, Terrell ran for 182 yards and had two touchdown runs of eight and 87 yards.
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