No Solving His Talent

You need to be a detective to figure out this Holmes.

Will he catch a pass over the middle from his tight end position or will he line up in the backfield and run with the ball?

Maybe Alex Holmes, a junior from Harvard-Westlake, will pass the ball, something he did with success on several gadget plays.

Confused? That’s nothing compared to what it feels like to get flattened by the 6-foot-3, 300-pounder, who plays middle linebacker for the Wolverines.

An all-around talent for Harvard-Westlake, Holmes was selected The Times’ offensive player of the year.

He finished with 45 catches for 914 yards and eight touchdowns for Harvard-Westlake, which lost to Charter Oak in the Southern Section Division VII championship game.

Holmes rushed for 173 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per carry, and threw two touchdown passes on trick plays.

His blocking improved immensely and, like the rest of the Harvard-Westlake offensive line, helped spring running back George Witter for 1,886 yards and 26 touchdowns.

“This year, he was an unstoppable machine,” Coach Jon Mack of St. Bonaventure said. “He made a commitment to victory. He’s a physical specimen who can do whatever he wants. He’s got unbelievable hands, unbelievable feet, great size. We couldn’t stop him.”

Neither could Alemany, which lost to Harvard-Westlake, 39-37. Holmes intercepted a pass and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown to spark the Wolverines (10-4) to their biggest victory.

“He was a fun player to coach because he could do so much,” Coach Dave Bennett of Harvard-Westlake said. “It didn’t take much to figure out we were either running behind Alex, throwing to Alex or using him as a decoy.”

Holmes, the long snapper on punts, kicked off for the Wolverines earlier this season, but was replaced after he experienced hamstring problems.

“I guess he can’t do everything,” Bennett said.