RANDOLPH — Fire and ice. Yin and yang. Or, as Randolph High head football coach Jon Marshall described his team's running game, "thunder and lightning."
Some things, though vastly different, belong together in tandem. Add Nate Gomes-Correia and Mekhi White to the list.
“With (White), he’s a fast guy. He’s going to hit the edge and get out of there," Gomes-Correia said. "Me, I’m more of a gritty type of guy. I like to get up in the mud with the linebackers and D-line.”
For as much as the two running backs contrast in play style, perhaps the two can relate to each other in one way. Both missed a season of high school football earlier in their careers, albeit for different reasons.
Gomes-Correia, a rising senior, transferred to Bridgewater-Raynham in 2021 following his eighth grade year at Randolph. He missed the Blue Devils' underdog run to the Division 8 Super Bowl, but came back to Randolph High for his sophomore season and beyond.
White, meanwhile, missed the 2023 season due to a collarbone injury suffered last summer. The younger brother of Malik White, who scored the game-winning touchdown on special teams in Randolph's Super Bowl win three years ago, he is a rising junior on the heels of an All-Scholastic outdoor track season in which he placed second in the 55-meter dash at Div. 5 states with a time of 6.54 seconds.
The two team up this fall with hopes of making a name for this Blue Devils' team.
“That is the bread and butter of our offense," Marshall said of the running game. "We have really strong kids, really fast kids so we want to rely on that. It’s what we want to establish as our identity.”
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Gomes-Correia was the bellcow back last fall in White's absence as Randolph fielded a young team that rostered just four seniors. In an All-Scholastic junior campaign, he rushed 136 times for 1,272 yards and 14 touchdowns as Randolph turned in a 4-5 season.
“He put up so much yardage," said Marshall, Randolph's newly appointed athletic director who enters his fifth season leading the football team. "We really needed to just have that one person (carry), but now we have complimentary pieces. The area of growth I’ve seen (in Gomes-Correia's game), this kid was at every workout, did track and now has a new edge to his game. He’s not avoiding contact. He’s coming after contact.”
Gomes-Correia and White will be reinforced by a returning junior quarterback in Abraham Cornet, as well as intact offensive and defensive lines with the retention of senior Josiah Germaine, junior Alin Norisca, senior Aiden Joseph-Jaruu and sophomore Ayden Davis. The Blue Devils bring back nine two-way starters from last year's bunch.
"It’s a blessing to have nine of 11 (starters) come back," Cornet said. "We’ve got a lot to prove. We were an underdog last year and everything, so this is a bounce-back year. We’re coming for it all.”
Marshall said Cornet will shift from being a prototypical game manager, the role he played as a first-year starting sophomore, to a dual-threat quarterback with the ability to -- guess what -- tuck it and run, too. It all depends on the Blue Devils' front-line blockers.
“That’s a group of guys with such a great identity," Marshall said of the offensive line. "We love our lineman because it’s such a self-sacrificing position. That’s something we value around here.”
2023 rewind
The Blue Devils are coming off a season in which the team did not tally two consecutive wins or losses. Randolph, the No. 12 seed in the Division 8 tournament, upset fifth-seeded Ware by a field goal, 3-0, in the first round but bowed out to No. 4 Cathedral by a 16-12 margin in the quarterfinals.
“We look like a team that paid it forward," Marshall said. "Our theme this year is 'Rent is due.' That’s because we started a team of sophomores and juniors last year, and four seniors. ... We did all that work, had a pretty good playoff run last year and now it’s time to take that next step forward.”
They said it
Marshall on returning QB Abraham Cornet: “His field vision and decision-making has gotten better. Now, we’re looking for him to take a step. Last year, we wanted him to manage the offense. Now we want to see him progress a bit, use his legs in the game a little bit. He’s a fast kid, an athletic kid.”
Marshall on White: “Mekhi looks great. We’re blessed to have him here. He’s exactly the type of guy we want to give the ball to in space and let him run. One of the fastest kids in the state is coming back to our team.”
White on missing the 2023 season due to injury: “Last year was a big setback. I couldn’t help the team that much. This year I’m willing to put in as much work as I can to help the team. ... I was overly excited to get back on the field, playing with my boys.”
Randolph football 2024 schedule
Thursday, Sept. 5 -- at Medway, 6 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 13 -- at English High School, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 20 -- vs. Blue Hills, 6 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 27 -- at Brighton, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 4 -- at Mashpee, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 10 -- vs. Hull, 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 18 -- at Carver, 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 25 -- vs. Tech Boston, 6 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 1 -- vs. Cohasset, TBA.
Thanksgiving: OFF
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Thunder and lightning: Running back tandem to lead Randolph football's bounce-back bid
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