LA JOLLA : E.J. Watson Hopes He’s Saved Best for Last

The 1991 season is not likely to be remembered as The Year of the Great Running Back Controversy. But a battle for supremacy quietly existed.

And two days before La Jolla High’s San Diego Section 2-A championship game against incumbent El Camino at 4 p.m. Saturday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, running back E.J. Watson is willing to admit he has been motivated by the debate.

“I’m just out there to have fun and play hard on every down,” said Watson, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior who has rushed for 2,407 yards. “But if people don’t think I’m the best back, they’re wrong.”

Watson is probably right. He averages 9.9 yards per carry, he has 30 touchdowns and no opponent has been able to stop him as the Vikings have gone 13-0.

Fifteen running backs eclipsed 1,000 yards during the regular season. Grossmont’s Jason Eskridge, who won the regular-season rushing title with 1,875 yards, Morse’s Gary Taylor (1,595), San Marcos’ Mark Frazier (1,446) and Kearny’s James Curtis (1,258) completed back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.

Rashaan Salaam gained 4,982 in 25 games playing eight-man football for La Jolla Country Day. Each of these backs led their teams either to a league championship or a playoff berth.

But in La Jolla’s 50-49 victory over San Pasqual in the semifinals last week, Watson stepped it up a notch.

He rushed for 370 yards on 23 carries, surpassing the section single-game record of 366 set by Scott Garcia of Rancho Buena Vista in 1988. He tied a record with seven touchdowns, and his 44 points--he added a two-point conversion--also set a single-game record.

His touchdowns included runs of 38, 72, 75 and 48 yards and a 93-yard kickoff return. Watson piled up 494 all-purpose yards. But that’s nothing new to La Jolla. Watson has dominated every Viking blowout and he has broken the big plays to help them win every close game.

Where would La Jolla, City Western League champions, be without E.J. Watson?

“At home turning in their gear, and we’d be playing this week,” said San Pasqual Coach Mike Dolan.

“Where would SC have been without Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Anthony Davis, Ricky Bell and Marcus Allen?” La Jolla Coach Dick Huddleston said. “He’s the best back I’ve ever seen in 25 years of coaching other than Marcus Allen.

“And the tougher the competition, the tougher he is. He rises to every occasion.”

Like all great running backs, Watson burns with competitive desire. After an injury-plagued junior year in which he finished with 934 yards and La Jolla was eliminated by El Camino in the section semifinals, Watson wanted to prove himself in ’91.

The Avocado League champion Wildcats (12-1) will be the biggest challenge yet for Watson. Dolan describes El Camino’s defense as “suffocating.”

“El Camino has the people to slow E.J. down,” he said. “They force you out of the things you’d like to do. They attack the ball. They just smother you.”

“Yes, but they’ll have to keep their eyes open every down,” Watson said. “Because, if not, I’ll be gone.”

Huddleston, 23-2-1 since he became head coach at the beginning of Watson’s junior year, said the Vikings will execute their normal game plan, which features a lot of Watson and lot of patience. More than once, they have had to wait until the fourth quarter or the final minute for Watson to break loose.

He ran back a 52-yard interception and threw a five-yard touchdown down pass to rally the Vikings past Castle Park, 26-12. He scored on a 68-yard run and returned a free kick 68 yards to the 10-yard line to key a last-minute 20-19 victory over Mira Mesa. Of his 27 rushing touchdowns, 14 have been from distances greater than 40 yards. But his performance last week topped all.

“People look at him in awe with the things he does,” quarterback Andy Anello said.

E.J., whose initials stand for Ernest Junior, lives near Madison High but came to La Jolla because his father, Ernest, works as both a varsity football coach and custodian there. E.J. arrived with no football experience but with a reputation as a scoring machine for the youth soccer La Jolla Nomads. He soon found football suited his mentality.

“I run with a little anger once in a while,” he said. “Most of it’s on strength and aggression. I feel I can’t get tackled by one person. I thrive on that.”