MARYSVILLE — How does a running back’s body feel after 45 carries in one game?
“Pretty sore,” said Marysville Getchell running back Collin Montez, who found out first-hand in Week 2 when he ran for 314 yards and two touchdowns in the Chargers’ 27-21 overtime loss to Jackson.
Through four games, Montez already has 1,031 yards on 137 carries, almost twice as many yards — and carries — as the next-closest runner in the Wesco 3A North. Marysville Pilchuck’s Killian Page has 75 rushes for 555 yards.
“I’m a little beat up but I’m just going with the flow and doing what I’ve got to do,” said Montez, who also has seven rushing touchdowns. “It gets tiring but I like it. I like the contact.”
Having an athlete like Montez, who is 6-feet, 3-inches tall and 190 pounds, makes running an offense easy for Marysville Getchell head coach Davis Lura.
“It’s pretty easy to give it to your best athlete and say, ‘Go,’” Lura said. “We’re having success with it. We’re trying to get him the ball as much as possible but we’re using other people as well. It’s getting them open because we’re making him the centerpiece.
“My philosophy has always been, ‘Take what they give you,’” Lura continued. “We found that we keep running the ball and running the ball and no one’s stacking the box on us. We’re going to keep running it until they do that.”
Montez, a sophomore who ran 75 times for 607 yards as a freshman, has established himself as an offensive force for Marysville Getchell. Lura said Montez also opens things up for other runners as well as the Chargers’ passing game because defenses focus on No. 3.
Montez also has lined up at receiver and even behind center in a wildcat formation. He has added nine receptions for 79 yards this season.
“We’ll use him at receiver, we’ll use him at tailback, we’ll use him at fullback, we’ll use him as a wildcat quarterback,” Lura said. “He’s all of the above. He’s going to play all of those positions.”
His playmaking abilities have earned Montez the respect — and admiration — of all the Chargers, including the upperclassmen.
“Collin’s crazy. He does it all,” senior lineman John Clark said. “He’s an awesome guy, too. He’s not cocky. He’s not about himself. He’s great.”
Lura and the Chargers’ coaching staff are worried about overusing Montez, and try to limit his carries in the game. But when Montez — who rushed for 204 yards against Arlington last week and 273 against Lakeside the week before — gets rolling it’s hard not to give him the ball.
“That’s something we’ve talked about,” Lura said. “We’ve felt that every game he’s getting more touches than we want him to get. We are worried about him making it through the season. We’re trying to establish other people.”
Montez said he’s got a good routine down for recovering from games with high-volume carries.
“My legs get really, really tired. But you just got to do it,” Montez said. “I go home and fall down. I shower for about half an hour and then sleep.
“Monday, I’m still a little sore and then Tuesday is when I start to get back into it.”
The Chargers’ next challenge is crosstown rival — and perennial Wesco 3A North champion — Marysville Pilchuck in the third installment of the Berry Bowl. The Tomahawks are 2-0 in the two teams’ previous meetings, but neither one featured Montez, who missed last year’s contest with an injured foot.
“Oh yeah, I’m excited,” Montez said of going against Marysville Pilchuck. “We want it bad. This game is always a big deal.”
Said Clark: “It’s pretty fun. It’s like youth ball, kind of. You’re facing everybody you know from the same town.”
Montez’s goal for the season is to win more than the five games — the Chargers’ victory total from last season. After opening the season with a 25-21 win over Auburn Riverside, Marysville Getchell has dropped three straight.
Montez also would like to get a school record for rushing yards, which he says “is about 1,200.”
At his current pace, Montez could have that by Week 6.
“I think the sky is the limit with him,” Lura said. “I think in the years to come he’s going to get a little shiftier and faster. He’ll still run you over but he has the ability to make you miss as well. Right now he’s really good, but in the next two years I see him being even more explosive.”
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