Dover football depends on running back duo
Dover running backs Derek Arevalo and Brandon Lawyer have formed quite the 1-2 punch for the Eagles this fall as part of a youth movement going on within the YAIAA Division II program.
The two sophomores have teamed up for over 720 yards this season, which combined would put them among the elite of league running backs.
"We are like brothers," Arevalo said. "We like doing it. It doesn't matter who does what. We just want to help the team."
Arevalo and Lawyer both said they are content to share the backfield for a Dover squad that is 2-4 on the season and won its first YAIAA Division II game on Friday with a 54-14 homecoming win against Kennard-Dale.
"We feel we are getting better every week," Lawyer said. "We just have to keep working."
Arevalo and Lawyer led the way during Friday's win against the Rams. The 5-foot-7, 160-pound Arevalo scored on first-quarter runs of 21, 15 and 20 yards and didn't record a single carry after the opening quarter.
Lawyer, a 5-8, 165-pounder, took over and added 56 yards on seven carries before halftime. He then broke off a 59-yard scoring jaunt on the first play from scrimmage in the second half and had a 9-yard carry on the ensuing series before departing with a game-high 124 yards on the ground.
It was the second time Lawyer has surpassed 100 yards in a game this season. (He ran for 103 yards in a win at Steel-High.) Arevalo rushed for his season-best 147 yards against Red Land.
"We really wanted that Red Land game so bad," said Arevalo of the 38-14 setback to the Patriots, in which Red Land jumped out with three first-quarter touchdowns. "We put our hearts into that one. We came out with a loss, but sometimes that happens. You just have to continue."
The two runners complement each other, almost like Army running backs and Heisman Trophy winners Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis did in the mid 1940s. Blanchard was known as "Mr. Outside" while Davis was "Mr. Inside".
"You've got the pounder (in Lawyer) and then you have the finesse guy (in Arevalo)," Dover head coach Wayne Snelbaker Jr. said.
Snelbaker said Lawyer was originally a guard when he played for the Northeastern Youth Sports Association before moving to running back when he began playing in the Dover system.
"I'd like to take the credit for that, but it happened before I was here," Snelbaker said with a laugh.
