Trabuco Hills’ Rooker Won’t Let His Injured Hamstring Tie Him Down : Football: Mustangs’ running back must undergo a daily training routine just to get to the practice field. But he will face Orange tonight.

The process has begun. Ben Rooker, Trabuco Hills High School running back, lay on his back while trainer Brandon Griffith stretched and twisted his left leg.

Step 1: Griffith loosened up Rooker’s hamstring. It’s a job that takes more than five minutes. Rooker grimaced every time his leg was twisted to a point where the tendon complained.

“Ouch, that’s the spot,” Rooker said.

When finished, Griffith wrapped the upper leg tightly, first with a bandage, then with athletic tape. Rooker flexed his leg and nodded.

Limping back to his locker, Rooker began Step 2.

He wrapped his left knee with a bandage and then put on a brace. Rooker flexed the leg again and, satisfied that it was going to hold up, began to put on his uniform.

This is an almost daily routine for Rooker, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior. He has to spend 15 minutes tending to the leg just to get on to the practice field.

And game days are worse. Rooker also has to get his ankles taped and, when completed, his left leg is mummified from his upper thigh to his foot.

“Ben lives in the training room,” Mustang Coach Jim Barnett said. “He has to.”

It has been a frustrating season for Rooker. When healthy, he has played brilliantly. He gives the pass-happy Mustangs a break-away runner in the backfield.

That threat has been under wraps for nearly half the season because of injuries to his leg.

“It still doesn’t feel right when I run,” Rooker said. “And I’ve lost some speed. But once the game starts, I forget about the leg and just run.”

Rooker, who has nearly mended from knee and hamstring injuries, will be taped and ready to go when Trabuco Hills (12-1) plays Pacific Coast League rival Orange (10-2-1) in the Southern Section Division VIII championship game tonight (7:30 at Santa Ana Stadium).

It is the second title game for Rooker, who was a starting running back for the Mustangs last season. Trabuco Hills defeated Woodbridge, 34-14, to win the Division VIII championship.

Rooker, who gained 600 yards rushing in 1988, was hoping to be a big part of the offense this season.

However, his season has been interrupted twice.

First, there was the knee injury. Rooker tore ligaments in the second game of the season. He underwent arthroscopic surgery and missed four games.

Then, after three weeks in rehabilitation and two games on the field, Rooker suffered a partial tear of his hamstring and missed another two games.

“It’s been a pretty rough season,” Rooker said. “I was just starting to feel good about the knee and then I hurt my hamstring. It got to the point where I wondered what would happen next.”

Rooker has shaken off those injuries during the playoffs. Last week in the semifinals against Santa Clara, he gained 200 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 48-21 victory. The previous week, he gained 136 yards and scored one touchdown in a 35-21 win over Cabrillo.

For the season, Rooker has gained 890 yards, averaged 7.4 yards per carry and scored 10 touchdowns. He has done it in six complete games and parts of two others.

“It makes me wonder what I would have done had I not been injured,” Rooker said.

Rooker’s injury problems began in the second week of the season against Dana Hills.

The week before, Rooker gained 200 yards and scored four touchdowns in a 50-14 victory over Santa Margarita. He ran well against Dana Hills, but early in the third quarter, he felt something pop in his knee after a five-yard run.

The Dolphins won the game, 14-7.

Rooker underwent surgery and was out for four weeks.

Rooker began rehabilitating almost immediately. He lifted weights and rode the stationary bicycle.

By the second Pacific Coast League game, Rooker was healthy enough to play. He saw limited action against Laguna Beach, then gained 115 yards the following week against Laguna Hills.

All appeared to be well, until the third league game against Woodbridge. With six minutes gone in the game, Rooker burst through the line for a 23-yard touchdown run. However, he tore his hamstring on the play and hobbled the last five yards for the score.

“He literally had to hop the last five yards,” Barnett said. “We weren’t sure when we would get him back.”

Rooker played little the following week against Orange. He carried the ball seven times and gained only nine yards.

He played little the following week in the first-round game against Notre Dame.

“The guys were doing a good job, but it was killing me,” Rooker said. ‘I wanted to contribute.”

He has the past two weeks. In the Santa Clara game, Rooker scored on an 80-yard run to break a 21-21 tie.

“I got one more game left, then I can rest the leg,” Rooker said. “All I want is to stay healthy for one more game.”

And, with the help of a few rolls of tape, Rooker may get what he wants.