Dunbar?s Tavon Austin might be the best running back in Baltimore, but Lee Reynolds is the best back that no one is talking about.
Reynolds? continued maturation ? both on and off the field ? has been a major reason why the Poly Engineers are off to a 6-0 start overall and 5-0 in the Baltimore City Division I. And tonight at the Poly Complex at 7, the Engineers will have a chance to upset the defending 1A state champions when they host Austin and Dunbar (6-0, 5-0) in a game in which the winner gains sole possession of first place.
“We have a lot of team chemistry, we have fun together and the better we come together the better we play,” Reynolds, who was Baltimore?s 60-yard dash champion in indoor track last year, said. “We just want to look past all that and look at them like they are another team. We just want to get out there and show that we can compete with them.”
Through six games, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior has 17 all-purpose touchdowns and 868 yards rushing, smashing his totals of 831 yards and 11 touchdowns he had last year when the Engineers went 6-4. In last week?s 30-9 win over Mervo, Reynolds posted 203 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns on 26 carries and had 3 catches for 63 yards and 2 more scores.
Statistics like those have garnered Reynolds recruiting letters from schools such as Rutgers, Virginia, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Maryland.
“We intentionally didn?t run him a whole lot in the first few games to keep him fresh,” Poly coach Roger Wrenn said. “He?s always had the speed, but he?s worked in the weight room and become a more durable runner.”
Austin, a junior, has verbally committed to Maryland, but many other schools are continuing to recruit the 5-foot-9, 170-pound back who posted 1,701 yards and 32 touchdowns last season. He is well on his way to equaling those numbers this year, as he has already gotten into the end zone 15 times, including twice last week.
Austin has played his best in the biggest games so far this season, rushing for 102 yards and 3 touchdowns on only 8 carries in a 56-6 win over City (4-2, 4-2). He also ran through defending 2A state champion Edmondson, as he rushed for 344 yards and 4 touchdowns on 25 carries in a 49-24 victory.
Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith, who took over after coach Ben Eaton, Sr., died in late August, said there is a lot more behind the Poets? success than just his star running back.
“We are staying humble and taking it game by game and we are dedicating the season to Coach Eaton,” Smith said. “We are going to have to keep on playing smash-mouth football like we are. We don?t do anything special. I know it will be a tough, grind-it-out game, and hopefully we will be successful.”
Wrenn said its imperative his team matches that physical play.
“Poly always kind of has this reputation as being a little soft,” Wrenn said. “That this is an academic school, and that we are not the rough, tough street kids that you associate with the city kids. But what would surprise people is that we have that aggressiveness and tenacity this year ? Poly hits.”
