SOUTHERN SECTION PREVIEW : Star at Colton Has Longing for Good Old Days : Southern California Is Home, but His Heart Is in South Carolina

George Hemingway likes to remember when things were different. He played a tough and simple game of football. The air was clean and the atmosphere mellow. There was a distinct feeling of being in a small town.

Conway, S.C., had white winters and summer football, something not allowed on an organized level in California. But that was then and this is now.

Three years ago, Hemingway didn’t stand 6 feet 3 inches and weigh 225 pounds. He couldn’t bench press 365, lift 575 and run the 100 in 10.1. But he can do those things now.

Still, Hemingway, a senior running back/linebacker from Colton High School, is convinced that South Carolina holds several advantages over California.

“Back there, it would have been tougher,” Hemingway said. Last season, he averaged almost 7 yards a carry for 1,275 yards and 17 touchdowns for Colton.

“I mean, out here it’s easy. Back there I hit against mean guys, and they were all tough.

“They’re tougher back there. They’re kind of like momma’s guys out here--not as tough,” he said.

Hemingway came to California when his parents divorced. But his new home has brought him the exposure that should bring him a college scholarship. He is being recruited by all the Pacific 10 schools, but, he says, no California school is on his current consideration list. Hemingway is hoping to choose from Nebraska, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Texas A&M.;

Hemingway has the ability to play several positions, it will depend on which school wants him for what position.

“I’ll take defense over anything else, when it comes down to it,” Hemingway said. “I like defense better because you get to hit guys a lot. They hit me, I like to hit them, too.

“It’s sort of like a retaliation thing,” Colton Coach Robin Luken said of Hemingway’s defensive play. “He enjoys getting to hit them back for a change.”

Offense is no different for Hemingway. He appreciates hard hits when he runs the ball, too.

“I’m running the ball sometimes, and I’m thinking ‘that guy’s gonna hit me really hard . . .’ so I go hit him, hard, before he hits me.”

Hemingway also sees himself as a motivator, inspiring teammates with head-slaps and words of encouragement.

“I psych ‘em up,” he said proudly. “The coach doesn’t like it, but I do it.

“In the locker room, I’ll go around--they all respect me and stuff like that because I’m a leader on the team--and get together a team meeting with all the guys, without the coaches there.

“I’ll start to talk to them . . . and then I’ll start beating them across the head (helmet) and stuff. And when we get in the tunnel, that’s when everything peaks. They’re up, and it’s all-out from there. On the field, I do the same thing--beating and slapping them across the head, screaming ‘Let’s go! Let’s go!’ and stuff like that.

“When I get the ball,” he said, “I’m pumped up.”

The Citrus Belt League is a very physical league, but not even traditional powers Fontana and Riverside Poly will be able to defend the Colton running attack this season. The offensive line averages 252 pounds, and includes senior Ray Hernandez (6-1, 250), junior Aaron Ross (6-2, 255), senior Eugene Mayana (6-1, 300), senior Eric Phillpot (6-1, 250) and senior Mark Martinez (6-2, 205).

Fullback Daryl Wingate, who is 6-2, 215, will carry the ball often, according to Luken.

“I’m pretty much sure that we’ll win the CBL and make it into the playoffs,” Hemingway said. Luken says he expects to go 6-4.

The Yellow Jackets, 4-6 last season, open with Anaheim Servite Friday, then face Southeastern conference champion Charter Oak, plus a league schedule that includes Fontana, Riverside Poly, Rubidoux and Redlands.

“If it’s a very close game, people are going to expect me to get the ball every single play and run up and down the field,” Hemingway said.

“I get tired--if I score, I have to go back and kick the ball off and run defense.” Hemingway doesn’t kick field goals and extra points.

“I punt, I kick the ball off, I do everything,” Hemingway said almost reluctantly, taking in a deep breath of California air as if to say it isn’t really so easy after all.