Asheville – Rico Dowdle scored the first touchdown in the Dallas Cowboys’ 45-10 win over Washington on Thanksgiving Day. He scampered 16 yards on a screen. He faked to his left, as if staying in to block. He went to his right, took the pass, evaded a defender, and sprinted untouched the rest of the way into the end zone.
This was week 12 of the 17-week NFL season. The Cowboys (8-3) have won three games in a row. They are comfortably in the first of three NFC wild card slots, two games up on the next-best contenders with five games left.
Dowdle surpassed rookie Deuce Vaughn of Ole Miss as the primary backup to Tony Pollard. Dowdle got more rushes in recent contests, filling in once Dallas amassed large leads. But Dallas didn’t run the ball much last Thursday. Dowdle had merely three carries to Pollard’s 13. Vaughn was inactive for that game.
Husky Dowdle is 5-11 and 1/4 and weighs 213 pounds. He went undrafted in 2020, but Dallas signed him as a free agent. He played sparingly in 15 games, mostly on special teams. He missed the 2021 season due to a preseason hip injury, and played merely five games last season before landing on the injured reserve with an ankle injury.
On Thanksgiving, the opposing quarterback was Sam Howell of Washington. Howell leads the NFL in passing yardage. He played for UNC Tar Heels and, before that, for Sun Valley High School in Monroe near Charlotte. Howell lost in successive high school playoffs at Reynolds, in 2017-18.
Dowdle, 25, a 2016 Reynolds grad, starred as a running back and defensive back before he switched to QB for his Rocket senior season. He was a Parade All-American, all-state performer, and a Shrine Bowler. He set a WNC record with 63 TDs in 2015 — 41 rushing, 11 passing, and one receiving. He rushed for 2,545 yards. He averaged nearly 200 yards per game, and 10.3 yards per carry. He also passed for 1,434 yards, as ACR went 11-2.
Dowdle fought through injuries to end up as the 15th leading rusher all-time for South Carolina Gamecocks. He ran for 50 yards in the 2020 collegiate East-West Shrine Bowl.
MAC Rivalry Renews
A local rivalry was renewed in Dallas’ week 11 decisive win in Charlotte. On one play, Dowdle was tackled by former Asheville Cougar Eku Leota and other Carolina Panthers. Struggling Carolina (1-9) signed linebacker Leota as a free agent, before the week-nine game.
Leota’s best production, so far, was two solo tackles and an assisted tackle at Chicago in week ten on Nov. 12.
Leota, 24, played for Northwestern in the Big Ten then Auburn in the even better Southeastern Conference (SEC). He is 6-foot-3 and weighs 252 pounds.
He played for Asheville as a tight end and star defensive end. He set a school seasonal sack record with seven in 2017. Eku went by “Andrew” Leota back then.
His brother Pika “Pete” Leota graduated from AHS in 2016, two years before Eku did. Pete was an offensive lineman, at 6-4 and weighing 290 to 315 pounds. He played for USC Gamecocks, then Georgia State.
Coaching Whiz
Benjamin David Johnson, 37, played on Reynolds’ 2002 state champion team. Ben was a walk-on quarterback at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2004-07. His UNC degree is in math and computer science.
He is the prolific offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, who at 8-3 lead their division by 2.5 games. They got off to their best record by Thanksgiving in 61 years.
Johnson is hailed as a play-devising genius. He elevated Detroit’s sagging offense to top five in points scored and yards gained, adept in both passing and rushing.
Johnson reportedly shunned the Carolina Panthers head coaching job months ago. But he resurfaces as its frontrunner for 2024, after HC Frank Reich was fired on Monday.
Johnson coached as a Boston College grad assistant in 2008, tight ends coach in ‘11, and joined the NFL Dolphins’ staff in 2012 then the Lions in 2019. He rose from offensive quality control to tight ends coach in 2020, passing game coordinator in ‘21, then offensive coordinator since 2022.
Johnson’s interest in football tactics was evident when he was nine years old. A school friend of his back then recalls that whenever Johnson lost a football simulation match on the EA Sports Madden NFL video game, he would rewind the plays and evaluate and refine his strategy.
Gashing Cancer
The other local player who made it as an NFL assistant coach is Sam Gash. Gash, 54, was an assistant (mostly over running backs) for the Jets then Lions in 2005-12, and the Packers in 2014-15.
Gash starred for Hendersonville Bearcats then Penn State as a running back. Gash gashed defenders as a punishing 6-0, 242-pound runner. blocking back. He was twice all-pro as a blocking fullback in the Nineties. He was a pro in 1992-2004, and on Baltimore’s NFL championship squad of 2000.
Gash battled cancer in his prostate, throat, and kidney in 2020-22. He was reportedly deemed cancer-free a year ago. He still lives near Detroit. He has three athletic sons. Isaiah Gash was a walk-on, reserve running back for Michigan in 2020-22. Caleb is a Michigan State freshman defensive back. Elijah is a pro lacrosse player.
Sam’s younger brother Eric Gash, a local minister, was a UNC linebacker and Bearcat star D-lineman. He was recently the HHS head football coach, and an elementary principal.