Senior Iguess is impact player as Welsh guns for state championship

It doesn’t matter where senior Alec Iguess plays, he is going to make an impact.

Iguess played linebacker and running back last year, recording 170 tackles and rushing for 286 yards and six touchdowns, and helped lead the Welsh Greyhounds to their first state football championship.

This year, Iguess moved to strong safety and reprised his role on offense, but the move hasn’t phased him as he helped lead Greyhounds back to the Superdome. Welsh will take on Amite on Friday at 12 p.m. in the Class 2A state championship game.

“It feels amazing,” Iguess said. “We all knew we could (get back to the Superdome), but nobody else knew we could.

“Outside of this town, everyone doubted us, but we all knew we would. It feels like we are expected to be here. Last year was our first time and we were all pumped up. This year we were excited in the semifinals, but we still have another game to win. We knew we had the talent to come back to the dome.”

Since moving to strong safety, Iguess has recorded 87 tackles, three sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and forced two fumbles.

“It wasn’t bad because my sophomore year I played strong safety then moved to linebacker and now I am back,” Iguess said. “I just go to what every position helps my team, where ever they need me at.

“I am more of a vocal leader. I can talk to my defense and tell them what the coverage is, I can call the front and the secondary. I am more active.”

And he has taken on a greater role on the offensive side. He has 80 carries for 582 yards and nine touchdowns.

“I have been doing it for two years know, so it is easy,” Iguess said. “I do what ever my team needs me to do. I accept it.”

He rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns in the Greyhounds’ season opener, but his biggest game was last week in the semifinals against No. 1 Many. Iguess rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries against a stacked Many defensive front.

“I knew I was going to have to run the ball more last game because of how physical Many’s defense is,” Iguess said. “I am one of our bigger backs.

“I like playing as much as I can. I like being on the field.”

Welsh’s defense has been at its best since a wakeup call in Week 9 when it gave up 57 points to Division III No. 1 Notre Dame. Since then, the Greyhounds have allowed just 7.4 points per game.

“We learned that no matter how talented you are, any team can be beat on any given Friday night,” Iguess said. “We needed that loss.

“We are smaller than we were last year, but this defense has a lot of fight and heart and we are real fast.”

The defense shut out No. 1 Many in the second half last week, holding the Tigers to less than 100 yards over the final 24 minutes.

“It was big,” Iguess said. “Going into halftime how pumped up we were, I knew we were going to win. We all knew that we were going to come back and win.”

Iguess said it is going to take a team effort to stop an Amite team that is averaging 44 points a game.

“We are very confident that if we do are assignments and do what we are coached to do we are going to come out all right,” Iguess said. “It is going to take a lot of focus and a lot of our guys stepping up and playing positions they are not used to. We have to make it a team effort.”””

Welsh Greyhounds come out to get the Championship trophy during the Allstate Sugar Bowl Prep Classic Class 2A Football Championship at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on Friday, December 8, 2017. (Dennis Babineax/Special to the American Press)

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