By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Until Thursday night, Khorie Reaves had never played organized football.
Not at any level of Pop Warner, not in middle school and not with Greece Athena’s junior varsity.
He was, in his own words, a basketball player.
Until Thursday night. Now Reaves the point guard is also Reaves the wide receiver.
The junior wide receiver caught three touchdown passes from junior quarterback Jayden Rapp as Athena rolled to a 28-0 victory over cross-town rival Greece Arcadia (0-2).
The first time Reaves was targeted by Rapp, one of his closest friends, he snared the pass for a 10-yard gain. The next time, he went leaping above a defender in the left front of the end zone to make the jump-ball catch for the game’s first touchdown and a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JENNIFER LAEMLEIN HERE.
Then came a 67-yard catch-and-run touchdown with 2:57 left in the first half to give Athena (2-0) a 21-0 lead. And Reaves put the exclamation point on the resounding victory with a 49-yard catch-and-run scoring pass late in the third quarter.
In all, Reaves made four receptions for 150 yards, with touchdowns of 24, 67 and 49 yards – in his first-ever game of organized football.
Imagine what he could do with experience.
“That’s what I’ve been telling him,” said Rapp, who also connected with junior Connor Osier on a 8-yard scoring strike in the second quarter and now has eight TD passes in two games. “I’ve known him since sixth grade and I’ve been saying, ‘You gotta get on the football field.’ This summer I’d come to the field and he’d be with me. He worked so hard all summer, and it showed today.”
Guess what? Reaves enjoyed Game 1 of his career. A lot.
“Just having fun,” he said with a big smile. “Connor Osier and Jayden Rapp are my best friends and they’ve been saying for years, ‘Play football, play football.’ This year I decided ‘Why not’ and apparently it worked out.”
Did it ever. At 6-foot-4, he provides Rapp with a go-up-and-get-it weapon.
“I know a lot times it’s going to be a mismatch because he’s such a great athlete,” Rapp said. “I’m going to get it to him and let him make play.”
That’s what he did on the game’s first touchdown. Reaves darted down the left side toward the end zone, then, upon crossing the goal line, pulled up and leaped for the perfectly thrown Rapp pass.
“I’m 6-4 and lengthy and I know on jump balls I can go up and get ‘em,” Reaves said.
That was the biggest fear of Arcadia coach Brian Shonitsky coming into the game, and it became reality just 9 minutes and 2 seconds into the game.
“We knew they had a 6-4 receiver and our corners aren’t the big, so we knew we would have a mismatch,” Shonitsky said. “That’s a very good football team.”
Reaves wasn’t eligible to play in Athena’s season-opening 47-28 victory at Eastridge last Friday. He hadn’t participated in the requisite number of practices, so his debut was delayed a week. Considering he’d put off playing the sport for 12 years, what was another six days?
“We have a lot of weapons so we’re going to take what they’re giving us,” Athena coach Mike Husdan said. “Last week it was Connor (three touchdown catches) this week it was Khorie.”
While the Trojans offense produced again, their defense was stout. Arcadia was forced to punt four times in the first half and really only threatened to reach the end zone once, on the game’s final drive, and Athena senior linebacker Salvatore Butera preserved the shutout with a fourth-down stop-for-a-loss tackle.
“I was pleased with the guys, we played four quarters, and I was especially pleased after last week when we started slow,” Husdan said.
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