In this past Friday’s season-opener, the junior brothers, who have lived in the same house since they were 5, were an unstoppable duo in Wayne’s 58-51 victory over Fairfield. Lewis passed for 372 yards and five touchdowns. Hunter caught nine of Lewis’ 20 completions for 212 yards and two touchdowns.
Brotherly love, however, does not apply when they compete in the Madden NFL video game or even NBA 2K.
“I like to say I’m the best gamer now,” Hunter said.
If Lewis had been present for that answer, he would have looked sideways at his younger brother. Or he would have given him a playful, “C’mon man,” brotherly shove.
“He’s not better than me at any video game,” Lewis said. “I can’t believe he’d lie to you like that. When it comes to video games, that’s something we compete at just like football.”
The video game competition is not limited to Hunter and Lewis in their household of nine. Younger brother Javion Lewis is a sophomore and the Warriors’ starting Mike linebacker. Ka’Maurri Smith is the Warriors’ junior starting tight end, a cousin to the brothers who lives in the house, too.
“My little brother is the second-best Madden player,” Lewis said. “He’s the only one that gives actual good competition.”
Hunter, however, says he has no competition for the best room, and Lewis, who shares a room with Javion, agrees. The family remodeled the garage and Hunter got half that space. He has the biggest room and says his gaming setup is also the best. The Madden battles take place in Hunter’s room or online from their own gaming spaces.
The real football field, though, is where they all excel, and they all plan to play in college. Division I offers are coming in, but college is a couple years away. So the quarterback and the pass catchers work together year-round outside and at indoor facilities. To have four varsity starters under one roof is a cool thing to Lewis.
“We all get to push each other and that’s something we’ve been blessed with. Not not everybody has that,” Lewis said. “If we’re slipping, we’re on each other. We’re not going to let it happen. and we push each other to work harder every single day.”
The success of Week 1 hasn’t always been there for Lewis. He started his first game as a freshman and the Warriors defeated Dunbar 41-7. They won the next week at Reynoldsburg. Then in Week 3 at home against Canton McKinley, Lewis started the game 1 for 10 and was replaced by Brian Kinley, a senior receiver with running skills. The Warriors lost 28-12.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
“That game can tell you everything you need to know from middle school to high school,” Lewis said. “It was a big difference.”
Lewis played a lot in the next four games, three of them victories, but Kinley took most of the snaps in the final four games.
“It was really just a big learning experience,” Lewis said. “It was a lot on the game plan that week, what we felt was the best thing we needed to do to go out there and get a win. So the games that they felt it was BK , I understood that. I was cool with it.”
Lewis didn’t share the position last year and improved his completion percentage from 50.7% to 59.9%. Lewis, who is 6-foot-1, has several college offers, including Louisville, Miami, Akron, Toledo and Central Michigan.
“It’s the maturation process and the growth from a freshman to a junior and the confidence in the work that he and his coaches put into it,” Wayne head coach Roosevelt Mukes said.
Lewis, with the help of his teammates, is becoming the consistent players his coaches, especially QB coach Brian Vance, have been grooming and been patient with. Mukes says Lewis is seeing the field better and understanding how to take what the defense gives him.
“My confidence is through the roof, especially coming off last week,” Lewis said. “Going into the season I’ve been feeling like this is really the year for us. I work all year for this and I trust in my game for sure.”
Lewis also trusts his receivers. In addition to Hunter’s big game, Smith had four catches and a touchdown for 34 yards, Gage Miesse, a junior transfer from Northmont, caught three passes and scored twice for 79 yards, and senior Jackson Solomon caught three passes for 40 yards. And don’t leave out freshman speedster Jamier Averette-Brown. He caught one pass and scored the final go-ahead touchdown on an 80-yard kickoff return. Brown won state middle school titles in the 100 and 200 meters.
“I feel like we have the best quarterback in the state – he’s gonna put it there,” Hunter said. “Everybody in the receiver room feels like they’re the best receiver in the receiving room. That creates a competitive nature every day.”
And there’s always competitive room left over for some hard-hitting games of Madden.
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