OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR Woodley, Miller feel the best is yet to come for Wolves
PEARCY — With an unfailing sense of self-confidence, Lake Hamilton’s powerful duo of junior running backs Tevin Woodley and Owen Miller led the Wolves to the team’s first state title appearance since 2011.
The Wolves ( 11-2, 5-1 6A-West) fell only to Greenwood, 38-28 for the conference title and then 49-24 in the Class 6A state championship on Dec. 5, but the pair combined for over
3,600 yards rushing this season in their relentless ground attack. Woodley and Miller have been named the
2020 All-Garland County Co-Offensive Players of the Year.
Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran said the one-two punch of Woodley and Miller were absolutely vital to the offense and overall success of the team this season.
“Both of them, what they brought to the table with the physical running style, but also the blocking that they did and then the receiving part, you know, they were vital,” he said. “And the thing about it is, Tevin can catch, too; we just didn’t throw it to him a lot. But they bring a lot to the table, and they bring a lot to the offense. And because of their mentality and the physical build that they have, that’s the reason we’re in the finals, is because of those kids and how they ran and how they did things.”
Woodley finished the season with
250 carries for 1,925 rushing yards and
22 touchdowns this season while Miller tallied 1,769 yards off 239 carries for
21 touchdowns as well as 12 receptions for 311 yards and an additional four touchdowns.
“It sucks that we fell short at the end, but it showed everyone around us what we can be — our potential,” Miller said of the season. “And coming from a junior-heavy class, we’ll be back there. There’s no doubt about it, and we’ll work every day. There’s no shy day where we’re not going to be working this off-season.”
Woodley agreed, noting that playing in the state title game felt right from the start.
“I felt like we should automatically be there just because, like, we’ve been working all summer,” he said. “And to come to this, it felt different for other people that have been there but, I don’t know, it felt pretty normal. I was pretty calm throughout the game even though we fell short; we’ll have them next year.”
Gilleran, who just finished his eighth season coaching at his alma mater in his 22nd year as a head coach, said that the size of the duo sets them apart from any other running backs he has coached.
“You know, physically they’re two of the bigger backs that we’ve had,” he said. “Both of them are close to 200 pounds, and I’ve never had backs quite that size. And so, the size of them physically and how they run through tackles and make people miss is probably the biggest thing. They’re so big and physical that, you know, you have to be ready to tackle those two because they’re so physically big but also strong and they run physical. They don’t just avoid people, they try to run through you.”
Woodley said that as the season progressed it became even clearer to him that success and winning stems, not only from full-team effort, but from every player treating each down as important as the next.
“To get all the wins, everything’s a team effort,” he said. “Everybody has to fly around and make an effort on each play. And if one person is messing up on effort, then the play’s already screwed where there’s a loss of yards.”
Despite the pair of losses to Greenwood, Miller said that the Wolves played them closer than any other team this season.
“Well the bright side was, Greenwood had came and whooped everybody,” he said. “Had blowed them out by 30-plus and stuff, and when we lost that first game, we fell short by 3. I mean, the late-game touchdown — I don’t even count that. We fell short by 3. And that’s what led us to think that we could beat any team in our conference, and we came with
motivation and confidence to the state game to play against them.”
He went on to point out that the 2020 season was the longest season Lake Hamilton has had in several years, and the players have all grown a lot.
“There’s no doubt that everybody on this team has grown a lot mentally and physically and learned from every single game,” Miller said. “And I think that anybody, it’ll help us out. It’ll help all the younger guys out to see what it’s like to be. I mean, because it was our first time there, but it felt like that we were going to be there regardless. We’re, our class — we’re winners. We’ve never had a losing season ever. And when we came up as sophomores, we brought them up, and there’s no doubt that we’re going to be back there.”
Woodley said that the loss to the Bulldogs at War Memorial Stadium was almost surreal.
“The game kind of opened my eyes to how we can make a season change in the flick of the wrist,” he said. “And, I don’t know, it felt like a long time but it really happened pretty fast. The season ended just like that. I’m glad that we got our seniors to the conference championship and state-bound. … I’m kind of sad that we didn’t get them a ring, but we tried.”
Both athletes said that from the start of this unprecedented season that they realized they could reach the title game.
“Well, I mean, we knew we were going to have a big season,” Miller said. “We had problems. We didn’t know (at first) because we had a senior line our sophomore year. And we didn’t know how the line was going to go, but everybody on our offense, we dwelled together. We were close together, and I know the guy in front of me would hit somebody as hard as I would for them and (work) to get their job right. That’s what helped our offense spike so much and go so far.”
With the different roles that the two play on the team, it creates the intimidatingly-lethal “one- two punch” that helped propel the team to a new level.
“It gives us different options and different looks for running the ball,” Woodley said. “It opens up the field for us and gives the (defense) difficulties. It’s hard to read. Other than that, it wins us games.”
Miller said that it comes down to defenses keying in on one player at a time.
“The thing about high school sports is that a coach can teach a defense to cover one person,” he said. “To cover one person, and let’s say I come off with a 50-yard gain. Well, after that, Tevin’s running 250 yards that game. They cover that. Right up the middle, it’s green grass for them. And let’s say they cover up the middle — well, I’m off the edge. I’m running for 200, 150, and we’re winning. And that’s what’s hard about it that defenses can’t cover, is that there’s always another option who has the ball.”
Both athletes realize that while their natural athleticism is important, without the hard work and mental preparation, it is not enough to rise above the competition. A winning culture, Miller says, is the key to their overall success.
“I don’t think there’s a person on this team who doesn’t want to work, who doesn’t want to work every day,” he said. “There’s definitely a winning culture, being around our coach, and he wants to win. That what keeps everyone striving, to want to get in the weight room. Our strength coach is a heavy crossfitter, and he teaches us different ways to lift, and it’s not just the boring lifts. And in the off-season, people are working to get better. They want to feel the soreness. They want to know that, ‘ Hey I hit that PR this week; I got better.’ And I think that’s what leads to everybody wanting to win and wanting to make it pay off in the season.”
“And I think it paid off,” added Woodley. “We got up to state and everybody was like, ‘Man, I can’t believe we’re here.’ And I’m just like, ‘You worked for it dude; you’re here.’”
The community support also helps and makes “you work harder,” Miller said.
“I mean, you get these people, you get these little kids running up to you saying, ‘Hey, you’re this,’” he said. “And you remember when you were a little kid and you looked up to people as your role model. Well, you have little kids looking up to you, and it feels good. It just feels good to go out there and play knowing there’s little eyes looking at you. And there’s parents that are screaming your name, hoping that you can win for Lake Hamilton. And I ultimately think that Lake Hamilton’s one of the best, it has one of the best fan bases, and they love our athletes.”
No matter how sad or upset Wolf Nation was after the title game defeat, the silver lining is that much of the team will be back, including Woodley and Miller.
“We’re 100 percent confident,” Miller said. “There’s no doubt in our mind our senior season’s going to be our best year. I mean, I really don’t think that there won’t be 2,000 yards from the both of us. Our offense is going to be — it’s going to be electric. That’s all I got to say.”
“It’s pretty promising,” said Woodley of next year’s potential. “We’re just going to have to fix up the line because I know that some of the seniors are gone and some of our wide receivers are gone. We’ll just have to make some of the sophomores step up, grow a pair and hit the field and take a couple of hits. I see us going to state next year.”