Record-Courier
Alex Tenorio, Aurora football on the rise, ready to face Canfield
Jonah Rosenblum, Record-Courier
November 4, 2022, 5:58 am
Alex Tenorio can glide between defenders or blast right through them, but there's one thing that caught the Aurora running back off guard.
Greenmen coach Bob Mihalik noted that Tenorio, a senior, is just 28 rushing yards from becoming the program's first 1,000-yard rusher since Chris Vanzo in 2016.
"That really surprises me," Tenorio said. "That's the first time I've heard that. With [Evan] McVay especially and [Aiden] Henderson behind me, [Ryan] Papesh, all the great running backs, it's just surprising, but it's nice. Hopefully, I can reach it [this] week."
More:Aurora makes big plays at crucial times to earn a win over CVCA in OHSAA football playoffs
That potential milestone is the latest in an unbelievable year for Tenorio, who had a handful of varsity touches prior to this season and then had his entire offseason disrupted by a Lisfranc injury.
Returning to the gridiron in July, this season has been a big, wonderful blur for Tenorio, who has turned 146 carries into 978 yards and 14 touchdowns entering No. 10 Aurora's Region 9 second-round contest at No. 2 Canfield.
"He didn't get really cleared until June of this year, getting ready for his senior year," Mihalik said. "So we're really happy for Alex that he was able to recover from that serious injury and have the success that he's having this year."
Aurora senior Alex Tenorio battles back from Lisfranc injury
Tenorio's surprise at potentially becoming the Greenmen's first 1,000-yard rusher since 2016 is understandable.
After all, Aurora has had a plethora of brilliant backs, with Tenorio able to watch runners like Henderson and McVay first-hand.
"I could always just watch them, see how they played, the cuts they made, how they practiced hard," Tenorio said. "Just everything they did, all the little details that they did just to become a player able to start at the varsity level. I've just been able to watch them and take little bits from each player and help my game a little bit."
The size (6-3, 225) and talent was always there for Tenorio to take his turn as a senior, but a Lisfranc injury put all of that in jeopardy. The injury occurred midway through last season and included Tenorio dislocating all five of the metatarsals in his foot along with a couple of fractures and ligament tears.
Instead of racking up more carries at the JV level, and perhaps continuing to get more varsity totes as the season went on, Tenorio headed toward a lengthy six-month recovery period.
"That really set me back," Tenorio said. "I didn't really have an offseason this year. I think I got back on the field around July. That was when I first started putting on cleats and actually running and everything, but it was good to get back in the weight room with my teammates and just get back to working."
Tenorio acknowledged that going from a mostly JV running back to the varsity starter was a big transition, especially when it came to taking the field on Friday nights, but he said that after the first play, he was locked in."
"It was definitely exciting to finally get a chance to start at the varsity level, see all those fans in the crowd, but it's actually nerve-wracking, too," Tenorio said. "Just all the people, all the eyes on you, watching you, but I just had to remind myself to go out there and play."
Tenorio has done more than just "go out there and play," of course, averaging 6.7 yards per carry thanks to a healthy blend of power and speed. The senior's season started with six carries for 60 yards in Week 1 against Euclid and most recently saw him turn 29 totes into 141 yards in Aurora's 27-24 first-round victory over CVCA.
"He's 6-3, 225 pounds, and so number one, he's going to be a load to bring down, but he's not a fullback-type runner," Mihalik said. "He is a tailback who can make cuts and is also elusive and shifty as well."
Tenorio noted that whatever jitters he had about his new role, that was something that he and his teammates took on together. After all, the Greenmen had just two returning starters entering this season, meaning most of his teammates were in the same exact position.
Despite being quite green, however, the Greenmen's 8-3 mark comes as no surprise to Tenorio.
"We know as a group that we're able to do this and put this season together," Tenorio said. "We just had to show it to everyone else around us and to the community, other cities around us, just show that we can actually compete with these teams, but we've been playing together since third grade and I think we've always known that we could make a run."
Scouting Canfield
The challenge facing the Greenmen Friday is significant as they take on a 9-1 Cardinals team led by QB Broc Lowry, an Indiana commit.
"He'll be the best football player on the field Friday night, no doubt, and he's obviously a great offensive player who can throw and run," Mihalik said. "He's also an excellent safety on defense. He flies around and makes plays both in the run game and in the passing game, defensively, so we're worried about him on both sides."
Equally worrisome is a Canfield defense that has allowed just eight points per game since yielding 31 to powerful West Branch in their 2022 opener.
"They're good at all three levels, at the front on the defensive line, they have very active linebackers, who run to the football, and they have defensive backs that can not only cover, but they also come downhill fast and help in the run game as well," Mihalik said. "So you can't be one-dimensional offensively. You have to be able to run and throw the football against a good defense like this."
