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11/25/04-Football
Eaglets' QB has been dreaming for game like this
ORCHARD LAKE - It certainly didn't take long for Orchard Lake St. Mary's senior quarterback Anthony Alexander to set his sights on the dream.
When he was barely in elementary school, Alexander said he already started familiarizing himself with what it would be like to be a starting quarterback for the Eaglets as he read up on past St. Mary's greats such as Jermaine Gonzales and teams such as the one that captured a state title in 1994.
"I dreamt about the fact that I could be the starting quarterback at a school like this," Alexander said. "I read all the newspapers about Jermaine and how well the team was doing when I was 6 or 7. I was like, 'I want to be a part of something like that,' and that's why I came here. It's awesome I've had the opportunity."
While not the flashiest of signal-callers and certainly taking a backseat in terms of notoriety to St. Mary's seniors Malcolm Arrington and Chris McLaurin and sophomore Dionte Allen, the steady if not unspectacular play of Alexander is just as critical to why the Eaglets find themselves in the Division 2 state title game against Muskegon on Friday at 1 p.m. at the Silverdome.
A backup to Brandon Cassise last year, uncertainty seemed to be the word of the day surrounding Alexander during the start of practice in August.
While the frontrunner for the position, Alexander still found himself competing for the starter's job with junior Dominic Knight - which, needless to say, was an important positional battle for a St. Mary's team loaded with talent seemingly everywhere else on the field.
Knowing it wasn't a position to mess around with, St. Mary's coach George Porritt eventually gave the reigns to Alexander and hasn't regretted it since.
Alexander has connected on 70 of 119 passes (58.9 percent) for 1,058 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season.
"It was his job to lose and his intangible is that he's a very intelligent quarterback," Porritt said. "He's smart kid who plays the position so well and I've been so impressed about the way he's played. Everything about his game has improved."
Armed with plenty of ammunition at the skill positions - Arrington and senior Lavonte Travis at running back and Allen at wideout - Alexander knew the weight of the team's fortunes didn't entirely fall on him, which allowed him to focus on providing other intangibles on the field.
"My expectations were to just be a leader and to count on my teammates, so I didn't have to put pressure on myself," he said. "Just go out and be a leader and lead the underclassmen and make sure everybody respects me out there. I have such great talent around me. Just get the ball to the receivers and do what I'm told."
His teammates certainly have noticed and rallied behind Alexander, given the stage the Eaglets have advanced to on Friday.
"He's a good quarterback when he wants to be," Arrington said. "He's made a couple of mistakes, but he hustles, he plays hard and he gets the job done."
Now, all that's left for Alexander to make his dream complete is to lead St. Mary's to what would be a titanic upset over No. 1-ranked Muskegon.
"I'm real excited to play a team like Muskegon," he said. "I've heard a lot about them and watched a lot of game film on them. I'm fortunate to have an opportunity to play a team like them in such a big game."
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