Bruins' Juniors Wortk To A T - Sizemore And Walker Carry Cascade Hopes - Seattle Times 1998

Melanie Jackson

Times Snohomish County Bureau

EVERETT - Don't get him wrong.

Terry Ennis isn't downplaying their abilities or taking them for granted. But the way the Cascade High School football coach sees it, Grady Sizemore and Blake Walker are just doing their jobs.

"In our offense," Ennis explained, "the fullback and one of the halfbacks should be producing 1,000 yards a season."

Cascade opponents probably won't soon forget how effective Sizemore and Walker have been in the Bruins' wing-T offense this season.

The junior running backs have combined to rush for 2,249 yards, about 56 percent of Cascade's total offense, and 31 touchdowns to help put the Bruins one victory from a second straight Class 4A state semifinal appearance.

Both players finished with at least 857 yards in the regular season and are averaging more than seven yards a carry, but Sizemore, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound halfback, leads Cascade with 1,168 yards on 164 carries. Walker, a 6-foot, 195-pound fullback, has 1,081 yards and 19 touchdowns on 147 carries.

Teammate Taylor Matson said the each one's strengths complement the other's and enable Cascade to keep its opponents guessing.

"Both run really hard, but Blake's more of a power runner and Grady has more speed and agility," said the senior quarterback and team's top safety.

"I just give them the ball and watch them run. It's just amazing what they can do with it."

Still, despite a handful of 100-yard games and multiple-touchdown performances, Ennis says the Bruins evaluate their running backs more on "how they do after first contact."

"The offensive line is responsible for giving them the room to run, but we tell the backs they're responsible for breaking an arm tackle and getting extra yards after contact," Ennis said.

"And both of those kids have been very good at earning extra yards on their own. Their legs don't stop on contact, and often times, if it's not a real sure tackle, they're going to get additional yards."

And as Walker said, "That extra yard could be a first down or a touchdown."

Although Sizemore's rushing statistics aren't surprising (he's the top returning running back after ranking fourth on the team last season with 452 yards on 69 carries), he also leads the Bruins in receiving (15 catches for 345 yards and three touchdowns) and interceptions (seven).

Walker, who didn't get a chance to carry the ball for Cascade's varsity until this year, has been equally refreshing. As a sophomore he played some guard on the Bruins' junior varsity and became a varsity linebacker by the end of the season.

Although he was proud to receive a varsity letter, "I didn't really like playing on the line," said Walker, who had played fullback since he began playing football at 8.

"I told coach I wanted to try fullback because that's what I love, and he said if I came out in the best condition I could be, that he'd let me try it."

Sizemore couldn't be happier to have Walker out there with him.

"His legs are steel ticking," he said.

Ennis said the juniors' biggest strengths are perhaps their competitiveness and willingness to learn.

"Both are very consistent about using practice time and what happened to them in the last game as a learning process for the next game," Ennis said.

"Everybody wants to be more successful, but they really pay attention to detail. They have a lot of pride in what they do."

And, despite how many times the ball is in their hands, neither has committed a large number of fumbles.

"They've both been hit hard and gang-tackled," Ennis said, "but they've done a very good job of protecting the football."

And moving it downfield. ------------------------------- Wing-T wizards

Cascade juniors Grady Sizemore and Blake Walker have rushed for a combined 31 touchdowns and 2,249 yards (65 percent of team's 3,450 rushing yards) in the Bruins' wing-T offense this season. They also account for 208 points, 59 percent of Cascade's 351.

Rushing statistics

No. Yds Avg TD Grady Sizemore 164 1,168 7.1 12 Blake Walker 147 1,081 7.4 19

Sizemore also leads the team in receiving and interceptions (7)

Receiving statistics

No. Yds Avg TD Grady Sizemore 15 345 23.0 3 Blake Walker 2 25 12.5 0

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