Pacifica’s Chris Shockley Has Been Nearly Unstoppable : Football: The Garden Grove League’s standout running back holds the school records for most yards rushing in a game, season and career.

It was two weeks ago, while puttering around her kitchen, that Jan Shockley noticed something disturbing on the legs of her son Chris, Pacifica’s top running back.

“He was sitting in a chair and he had a pair of shorts on, and he had all these bruises on his thighs and on the backs of his calves,” Jan Shockley said.

“I said, ‘My God! You look like a battered child. Is it worth it?’ ”

Shockley looked at his mother, smiled and said, “It’s awesome Mom. I love it.”

Life as a Garden Grove League football standout has been so idyllic that Shockley, a senior, already is lamenting graduation.

“I have been thinking about graduating from high school a lot,” he said. “I am going to miss it a lot. This has been the funnest four years I have ever had.”

Opposing coaches, however, will be glad to see Shockley graduate.

For three seasons on the Pacifica varsity, Shockley has been a major rushing threat. He holds Pacifica’s records for most yards in a game (229), season (1,354) and career (3,348). Shockley also has been a standout in baseball for the past two seasons as a starting outfielder on the varsity team.

Though Rancho Alamitos’ Dana Ripley is the county’s rushing leader with 1,594 yards to Shockley’s 958, it is Shockley’s name that comes to mind when coaches discuss the league’s top talent.

Shockley is more than a standout running back. He also is the Mariners’ kickoff returner (33-yard average), punt returner (12-yard average) and punter (31-yard average).

Because Pacifica has one of the county’s top quarterbacks in Bobby Anderson, Shockley has carried the ball 154 fewer times than Ripley, who is the focus of Rancho Alamitos’ offense.

Shockley meets Riddle at 7:30 tonight when Pacifica (5-2-1, 5-0-0) plays Rancho Alamitos (4-4, 3-2) at Bolsa Grande.

To date, no team has been able to stop Shockley.

Bolsa Grande Coach Bill Holst was pleased with his defense for “limiting” Shockley to 109 yards rushing in the Matadors’ loss last week. Holst had Tim Derosiers, a 5-11, 200-pound linebacker and leading tackler at Bolsa Grande, follow Shockley (5-9, 170) all over the field.

“Tim tackled him a couple of times and he didn’t even have the ball,” Holst said. “That worked pretty well.” Except Shockley is not a one-dimensional back.

“He does so much for their team,” Holst said. “We concentrated all week on stopping him on the run and he ended up killing us on punt returns and kickoff returns. They had excellent field position because of his return yardage. . . . He is going to get the ball . . . and when he gets in the secondary, it is almost for sure a touchdown.”

La Quinta Coach Roger Takahashi said Shockley is guaranteed to repeat as the league’s most valuable player. “He is one of the elites as far as a player in the Garden Grove League,” Takahashi said. “I don’t see anybody beating him out.”

Shockley was more than instrumental in La Quinta’s 35-28 loss to Pacifica, he helped orchestrate the winning touchdown. “He killed us. He was incredible in that game,” Takahashi said. “At one point, we were up, 28-20, and they scored and he caught the two-point conversion pass after three people had tipped the ball.”

Shockley is not a big back nor is he a sprinter, yet Craven calls him the best back to come through Pacifica, Oscar Ravelo and Ed Odin included. “He does such exciting things with the football,” Craven said. “He takes a hit and it takes more than one guy to bring him down. He can move laterally without breaking momentum at all.”

Los Amigos Coach Art Michalik said his team concentrated on stopping Shockley, but to no avail.

“He changes speed and he changes direction so quickly,” Michalik said. “He is not like Ripley, who comes right to you and tries to overpower you. He’s deceptive. When you think you’ve got him stopped, he’ll break it.”

On the football field, Shockley has definite ideas about his goals. “Always get positive yardage, no matter what it takes,” he said. “If I get hit in the backfield, get back to the line of scrimmage. If a lineman gets me a five-yard hole, I want to turn it into eight yards. If I get stopped after five yards, instead of getting five, I want to lean forward and get an extra yard or two. Always get extra yards, always give a second effort.” And most important: “Never let one man take you down.”

If people have had difficulty tackling Shockley, he has had just as much difficulty tackling the books. Though he has a 3.2 grade-point average, he probably will not be eligible for an athletic scholarship because of his core courses.

“Chris’ problem I can tell you with one word,” his mother said. “He is social. He is very, very popular with the kids. He can come home at night and the phone never stops ringing. He is everybody’s buddy.”

Shockley, however, says his academic troubles stem from dubious counseling his sophomore year rather than neglect of his studies and devotion to his social life and athletics.

“He just likes to play,” Craven said. “When he gets up in the morning, I think that all he thinks about is going down to the ball field or gymnasium.”