Corey Ayers won’t be the one to tell you, but he may have single-handedly sparked Legacy football’s quick start this season.
Ayers and Legacy were trailing Chaminade Madonna (Fla.), 23-6, late in the first half of a game at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando on Sept. 2. The stands there were decidedly in favor of Chaminade. “And it was loud,” Ayers said this week.
Then Ayers, a linebacker, stepped in front of a pass just before halftime and returned it 50 yards for a score. Suddenly, it was 23-12 going into the break.
“That helped a lot,” said Ayers, a senior. “So we weren’t feeling bad at halftime, even though the score showed that we were kind of getting beat pretty bad.”
Legacy would cut it to 23-18 in the third quarter, then win on Christian Parks’ 3-yard reception from Steven Yoshihara with six seconds left in the fourth.
“People were doubting,” said Ayers, who would add a second interception later in the game, “but then when you come back and win against a great team, everyone’s confidence shot up and we were ready to go in, week-in, week-out and fight. I think that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Even with a 16-0 loss to Cherokee Trail last week, the Lightning are 3-1. And Ayers has been a major part of it all — his 25 tackles lead the defense.
He had been getting looks from Division I schools, but that’s died down of late: “Size-wise,” said the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Ayers, “I fell off their radar because I’m a little undersized to be playing linebacker.”
Ayers’ recruitment has since shifted to FCS and Division II schools around the state, and on the East Coast. He’s heard from Ivy League schools like Cornell, Princeton and Brown, among others.
“I know that football’s not going to last forever, so if I can go out there and get a great education while playing football, I don’t think you can beat that,” Ayers said.
Colorado State is still interested, but it’s for a possible walk-on spot, and as a safety.
“Safety’s definitely a consideration, I’d even be down to play some tight end,” Ayers said. “Linebacker’s what I’ve played my entire life, (but) I would love to play another position. I just want to play football.”
Legacy’s defense is giving up just 15 points per game this season.
“Most of us are seniors,” Ayers said. “We know that it’s one of our last 10 games of high school football, so we don’t like to quit. We just keep battling.”
It’s a defense that’s gotten an extra touch of Ayers this season. Corey’s younger brother, Conner, made the team as a sophomore – just as Corey did two years earlier.
This season marks the first time they’ve ever played together on the same team.
“When I’m playing next to him in practices and scrimmages and games, it’s fun just to be there and actually see him as a teammate, instead of a sibling. I enjoy it,” Corey said. “I wish — he’s a little younger, if he was one more year (older), we could start together.”
Legacy hosts Fairview at 7 p.m. tonight at Adams 12 North Stadium. The Knights feature junior running back Ben Meyer, who has 11 touchdowns this season — and run an offense Ayers sees as similar to Mountain Range. The Lightning beat Mountain Range, 27-0, on Sept. 17 and held the Mustangs to 119 total yards.
“(Fairview) keeps it a little more compact or so,” Ayers said of Fairvew. “We thought we did pretty good against Mountain Range, so we’re feeling confident to be able to hold down the cut-backs.
“We’ve put in a new defensive front for them, so we’re excited about that,” he added. “They have, I think, 15 formations, so when they spread it out, we have some more tricks up our sleeves to help counter their attack.”
Ryan Casey: 303-954-1983 or rcasey@denverpost.com
