WOOD RIVER—One of the keys to success for East Alton-Wood River High School's football team is the ability to run the ball. The Oilers' ground game has developed into one of the best in the St. Louis area.
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Helping to lead the way in senior running back Gabe Grimes, a powerful, hard-nosed rusher who scored the winning touchdown in the third quarter of EAWR's 21-7 win over Civic Memorial Friday night at Memorial Stadium in the Oilers' home opener.
“Oh yeah, it was a great game,” Grimes said in a post game interview. “We came out hard, strong, with a good mindset, and we never gave up on every down.”
Grimes' touchdown climaxed a 13 play, 64-yard drive on the first possession of the second half that took 6:39 to complete. And Grimes, along with backfield mate Zach Womack, made key plays at critical times that helped the Oilers win their first game of the season.
“We're going to have a 1,000-yard back this year,” the confident Grimes said. “And plus me, I have no choice but to run the ball. And we have good backs, just like Womack, and then you have me up the middle, and we have no choice but to run.”
That running game is the Oilers bread-and-butter, and Grimes knows that they'll be hard to stop.
“Without a doubt, we're going to run the ball until they can learn how to stop us.” Grimes said with a laugh.
Grimes' own running style is a throwback to some of the greats of the past.
“Just North and South,” Grimes said. “Get down and lower the shoulder pads. I'm a big guy, weigh 210, and there's no point for me to cut.”
The Oilers have some momentum after their season-opening loss at Breese Central, and will look to keep it going next week when EAWR hosts Madison.
“Without a doubt,” Grimes said. “The first loss, it was tough. We played a very tough team, toughest team we're going to play throughout this whole schedule. So we had a chip on our shoulder for this week, and we're going to be ready for next week.”
As the 2017 season continues, you can expect Gabe Grimes and his backfield mates to continue to play basic running football. And help the Oilers continue to enjoy the success the program has built in a very short time.
