HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK : Tushnet Combat Tough for Reseda

Buckle your chin straps, ladies and gentlemen, before you enter the world of Reseda High running back Joe Tushnet. It’s a rough-and-tumble ride and not one for the faint of heart.

It’s a world that harks back to the day when men were made of iron and ships of wood.

Need proof? A sampling of quotes:

* Tushnet on pain: “I don’t understand how people can get hurt. I won’t let myself feel pain.”

* Tushnet on defenders: “I try to hurt them when I run. I don’t want them to have an easy night at all.”

* Tushnet on his size (5-foot-6, 150 pounds): “People look at me and laugh. They say, ‘You’re gonna play?’ ” Tushnet becomes defiant. “I say, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna play.’ ”

* Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer on Tushnet’s on-field look: “Sometimes when I go out to the huddle during a timeout, I’ll look at him and he just has this cold-type stare. Just looking straight ahead.”

A perfect example of Tushnet’s style came early in his high school career. One Saturday, when he was a ninth-grader, Tushnet was playing on the Reseda High field.

Schaeffer, now in his 14th year as coach, was walking his dog on the same field. Now understand that Schaeffer and Tushnet are cut from the same piece of cloth. Neither takes any guff.

“Get your dog off the field,” Tushnet barked at Schaeffer.

Schaeffer, remembering the incident three years later, still bristles.

“I told him he was brave,” Schaeffer said. “And I told him he better be careful what he said. I told him he was alone and he better watch it.”

See what happens when a couple of hard-nosed guys get together? They laugh about the incident now. Kind of. It might not have been a beautiful beginning to a relationship, but it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

And a relationship that has blossomed in the past two weeks. Tushnet, a senior and the area’s hottest runner, is on a roll and Schaeffer loves every yard of it.

Two weeks ago, in a 20-6 win over Sylmar, Tushnet stole the show, gaining 200 yards in 27 carries. Bellowed Schaeffer after the game, for all the team to hear: “One of the most courageous efforts I’ve ever coached came from No. 20 tonight.”

Tushnet wasn’t above yelling that night, either.

“I had something to prove,” he hollered, mud splattered across his face, crewcut dripping with sweat. “He ain’t the best back around.”

“He” is Sylmar’s talented Jerome Casey, a Division I prospect who entered that game as the leading rusher among the Valley’s City Section players.

Friday night in a 50-26 win over Poly, Tushnet one-upped himself, gaining 220 yards in 18 carries and scoring touchdowns on runs of 15, 65, 36, 10 and 13 yards. At one point, he scored three consecutive touchdowns for the Regents. On his third run, he dragged three defenders into the end zone.

“I’ve been blessed with some good backs with ability before,” Schaeffer said, “but they’ve always been bigger and faster than Joey. He just does it the old-fashioned way.”

But what kind of a throwback would Tushnet be if he didn’t properly credit the big fellas in front of him? Tushnet likes to tell the story of the day before the Sylmar game when lineman Edgar Fernandez stood up in front of the team and gave an impassioned speech that ended amid tears.

“Since then, the offensive line has been blowing people off the line,” Tushnet said.

Ultimately, though, it comes down to the guy with the ball. And Tushnet, who is averaging 6.9 yards a carry and is fourth among Valley City rushers with 749 yards, has wanted the ball lately. After all, it suits his style. With the ball, he can claw and scratch. He can get muddy. He can be mean.

“He’s a spunky kid,” Schaeffer said. “He’s a 5-6 Rambo.”

The military reference is appropriate. Tushnet would like to play at the Naval Academy next year. One might think that he would thrive in that atmosphere.

One might also think that he’d have some coaches that would remind him of Schaeffer.

And to think, the first time the two met, they clashed.

“(Schaeffer) never liked me since that day,” Tushnet said.

But much has changed. . . .

“Now I think he’s going to have me over to his house for dinner.”