Owens carries Gladiators with record performance
Glenelg senior running back Wande Owens has always shied away from the spotlight. He prefers to credit his long touchdown runs and massive yardage totals to his offensive line and coaching staff every chance he can get.
“I couldn’t have done it without the guys up front,” he said to his teammates while holding the game ball following the Gladiators’ 12-0 home victory over rival River Hill on Friday night. “That’s all I’ve got.”
But Owens couldn’t avoid the headlines entering the Week 8 showdown because he was on the verge of making history. The 5-foot-8, 185-pound bruiser entered Friday night’s contest with 5,003 career yards, just 93 yards shy of breaking the Howard County career rushing record held by Wilde Lake’s Raphael Wall, who totaled 5,095 yards from 1987 to 1990.
Owens clearly was ready to get the record behind him. He took his first carry of the game 69 yards for a touchdown to give Glenelg (8-0) an early 6-0 lead after a missed extra point, and six carries later he scampered up the middle for a 23-yard run to break the record late in the first quarter.
His last carry of the game was the biggest of the game, however. Pinned inside its own 6-yard line with 3 minutes, 39 seconds remaining, Owens sealed the Glenelg running back Wande Owens breaks into the clear for a 69-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. victory by going untouched up the middle for a 94-yard touchdown.
“This is the type of game we knew it was going to be,” Glenelg coach Butch Schaffer said. “It only takes one or two, and [Owens] stepped up when he needed to and got us out of a little bit of trouble there.”
He finished with a season-high 273 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries, pushing his career rushing yardage total 5,276. He also has at least two rushing touchdowns in every game and has 25 total on the season, six shy of another record set by Wall in 1990.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment by him, and I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m proud as hell of him,” Schaffer said. “He’s never once talked about his yardage, he’s never once talked about his accomplishments. The only thing he’s ever talked about is his team. That’s a great example to have.”
Between Owens’ first and last carries, the Hawks (5-3) slowed him time and time again, and as a result they kept a Gladiators offense that was averaging 43 points per game out of the end zone in the second and third quarters.