It took roughly one half of a Matt Leazier run on Friday night for this thought to pop in my head:
“This guy’s running style is Toby Gerhart.”
In the final few drives of Campo Verde’s late, come from behind 17-13 win over Ironwood Ridge, Leazier had a workload similar to that of the former Heisman runner-up when he was at Stanford.
Everyone on the Campo campus knew he was going to be getting the ball often, and he still picked up yards in chunks. At times, he bounced off of defenders and seemingly looked to make contact each run during Campo Verde’s 99-yard, go-ahead touchdown drive in the final minutes of the game. The drive was capped off with a touchdown by Leazier.
“He’s money,” Campo Verde football coach Max Ragsdale said. “When we’re in a tight jam, he plays. He wants the ball all the time. We have to put a pitch count on him sometimes to make sure we have him in those (late game situations), but he works so hard.”
Entering Friday’s game, Leazier, a self-proclaimed power back, averaged 187 yards per contest and found the end zone six times. After beating a very good and consistent Ironwood Ridge program on Friday to go to 4-0, Leazier and the rest of the Coyotes know there is a target on their back now.
“Practice has to get better, we need to work harder, conditioning, everything,” Leazier said. “We have to keep improving every day.”
Like in their first four games, Campo Verde will look to their leaders in Leazier and a veteran offensive line.
“He knows he needs to be that Viking in the locker room,” Ragsdale said. “He needs to be that Viking in the classroom and in team meetings. Out here, on the field, obviously you can see what he does for us.”
The Coyotes wouldn’t mind if their Viking had a few more performances similar to Gerhart, who happened to play his first four years in the NFL with the, you guessed it, Minnesota Vikings.
Campo Verde will go for 5-0 next Friday against Verrado.
