His time. His team.
Dardan Nreci was the starting quarterback last year for Reavis. But he was only a junior so he felt it was the seniors who should provide the bulk of the leadership.
But now as a senior and two-year starter, Nreci welcomes being in the spotlight.
In helping the Rams earn a 53-34 home victory over De La Salle on Aug. 21, Nreci carried eight times for 40 yards and three TDs. He also threw a TD pass. But it was his guiding the Reavis rushing attack to 384 yards on 44 attempts (8.7 yards per carry) and seven scores that was most impressive.
“I can say that I learned a lot from my junior year,” Nreci said. “I’ve learned how to be calm and poised out on the field now instead of worrying and rushing.
“It’s my experience. I remember my first drive at home against Richards last year. We were back here on the 5(-yard line) and I remember just looking into the stands and there was fear. But today when we went out on the first drive, I remember telling our huddle to stay calm and let’s go down and score. And we went out and I ran in for the first touchdown. That year makes a big difference honestly.”
It was the first victory at Reavis for coach Josh O’Shea, who took over when Tim Zasada stepped down.
“It’s really special to do it on our home field and on opening night like this,” O’Shea said. “I thought we had a great crowd with the new stadium going on. I felt a little pressure to make sure we got that first win.
“De La Salle showed up and had a lot of athletic guys. They were tough to tackle at times, but we put in a lot of work all offseason in the weight room and running through plays. So I was really hopeful but felt confident about tonight.”
After Nreci scored on a 7-yard run, the Meteors responded as Semaj Sirleaf (5 of 8, 69 yards) connected with Chaz McKinney on a 22-yard TD.
A 12-yard pass from Nreci to Caeser Arevalo, a 9-yard run by Christian DelBosque and a 23-yard run by Ahmad Everette put Reavis up 26-6 at halftime.
After Nreci’s 2-yard run made it 33-6, De La Salle drew to within 33-14 on a 95-yard touchdown run by Kameron Mosley (9 carries, 150 yards).
Following Arevalo’s 8-yard TD run, Coleman Jr. returned the kickoff 99 yards to make it 40-20.
Fourth-quarter touchdowns by Nreci (6-yard run) and Everette (53-yard run) for Reavis and Mosley (14-yard reception, 32-yard run) for De La Salle accounted for the final points.
“It took them a little while to get going, but once they got going, they gained a little bit of confidence,” De La Salle coach Harold Blackmon said of his running backs. “Hopefully, they can build off of that for next week. But there’s still a lot of stuff that we have to clean up not only with the running backs, but with everybody.”