Amityville Moves into a New Holmes

Amityville, New York (AP) Darick Holmes gave the Amityville Horrors their most productive rushing day this season. But Holmes said his 23-carry, 96-yard performance that included 7 receptions for 41 yards and a 25-yard pass to Curtis Conway in Amityville’s 17-7 thrashing of the Michigan Sunday could have been even better. Much, much better.

"We just looked at the film and Larry Centers and the line made some great blocks for me," Holmes said Monday. "My endurance was kind of off, I didn't see the cuts, you know, I got kind of tired or I could have had an extra 40 or 50 yards." The Horrors will gladly take what he gave them. Holmes, was given the starting role after Amityville traded away Leshon Johnson to Clayton for Orlando Pace and the Blizzards first-round draft pick.

Holmes, a supremely confident runner whose enthusiasm is infectious, said he doesn't care if expectations on him skyrocket now. "Naw, that's cool because you want to go out each week and perform like that. We've got a three-game road trip starting this week, and hopefully I can top that performance," he said with a shrug. The addition of Holmes, mixed with a new resolve from Centers and the offensive line, a unit that coach Steve Charnoubi told to step up their performance last week to get the ground game going, got the Horrors (8-4) back on track after a disappointing midseason slump. Holmes was so excited he was pumping his fists and riling up his teammates. "I'm a very energetic guy and hopefully I did get my line energetic, get them back having fun out there, get the receivers having fun, and it'll just make the game that much better," Holmes said.

Holmes credited his blockers for his big day. "Larry was great. Larry had some blocks that if I would have had my wind and had my endurance, I could have made the cuts and gotten some more yards out of it," Holmes said. "Larry was excited too out there. Because he was saying, 'That's the most I've run in a long time.' The linemen felt good, they didn't have to pass-protect that much, they got a chance to really show we can run this thing."

Larry Centers also had his terrific day rushing with 11 carries for 55 yards. I'm just glad to see that the offense is finally coming around. Charnoubi said. Our defense ranks number one in the league, and if our offense can continue its production we could travel much further into the playoffs this year.

Amityville has a three-game road trip coming up, including games against division rivals Arizona and Meadville. When asked about their final game of the season at home against the Maine Maulers. Holmes responded, We're trying not to look that far ahead to our showdown with the Maulers, but any idiot can clearly see that winning that game could mean home-field advantage, and a first-round bye for either team.