Relentless Pursuit of Perfection : Willing to Accept Praise Only When It’s Deserved, Chaminade’s Giovannettone Pushes Himself as a Hard-Running Back, Hard-Rocking Guitarist

Chaminade High’s first loss of the season--to rival Crespi no less--was fresh in the mind of Justin Giovannettone, so he was in a foul mood. The last thing he needed was empty praise.

When Giovannettone’s teammates, responding to film of the Crespi game, had the nerve to compliment him on a tackle, he became angry.

“He kind of grabbed (the Crespi player’s) jersey,” said Chaminade Coach Rich Lawson of his star running back-defensive back. “The kids said, ‘Nice tackle,’ and he said, ‘No it’s not! I’m supposed to get my head out in front and wrap up!’ ”

Giovannettone, the emotional leader for Chaminade (5-2), is better known for being the guy with the ball, the guy who causes bad tackling. He also is, by his own admission, a perfectionist. And if there are three things he hates, they are: losing, poor fundamentals and Crespi.

Watching that film, he was dealing with all three.

“He can be hard on himself,” said Mike Byrne, one of Giovannettone’s closest friends on the team. “Sometimes people get sick of hearing, ‘Good job,’ every play. He knew it wasn’t. If he messed up, he’s not afraid to admit it.”

It is that drive that makes Giovannettone, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior who isn’t blessed with great size or speed, one of the toughest running backs in the area.

“It’s just really hard for the first guy who gets him to bring him down,” Chaminade quarterback Ryan Graves said. “Even though he’s rather small for a running back, he still has a lot of power.”

Byrne describes him this way: “He’s short, but he’s big. He can be intimidating.”

Giovannettone has rushed for 919 yards in 144 carries. He has caught 29 passes, the most among area running backs, and scored 17 touchdowns and one two-point conversion, giving him the area scoring lead with 104 points.

Despite those numbers, he’s still waiting to play what he considers a really good game.

“I’ve had really good quarters,” he said, “but I think I can do a lot better.”

And he thinks he can do it faster too.

In his quest for speed, Giovannettone has turned to an expert, Kevin McNair, the speed trainer for the Raiders and Angels. McNair has also worked with Buffalo Bills’ receiver James Lofton and Chicago Bears’ fullback Brad Muster. McNair accepts clients based on their potential and what he calls “coachability.”

Giovannettone and his younger brother Jason, a leading rusher for the Chaminade freshman team, work out with McNair once a week at UC Irvine. Giovannettone said he was last timed over 40 yards in 4.6 seconds, but McNair said Giovannettone is faster now. “I think he’s a 4.5 guy with the potential to go faster,” McNair said. “I think he’s a very powerful runner. He is an aggressive dedicated athlete.”

The speed training also might help him gain attention from college recruiters. Despite his statistics, Giovannettone’s name is not exactly scribbled in the notebooks of every college football coach in the country. He has gotten a serious look from Oregon State and interest from Colorado, San Diego State, Dartmouth, Navy and Army.

“It’s so difficult to understand what these (recruiters) want,” said Lawson, puzzled by the lack of interest Giovannettone has generated.

McNair has no doubt Giovannettone is a Division I prospect.

“I think he’s just scratched the surface (of his ability),” McNair said.

If Giovannettone’s No. 1 goal is winning--and there’s little question about that--reaching his potential must be No. 1-A. And it applies to more than football.

“He’s always been really intense in whatever he does,” teammate Steve Swaney said.

The intensity isn’t confined to the football field. Giovannettone also plays guitar in a rock band called Lost Faith. Byrne, a drummer-lineman, said it’s the same intense Giovannettone at both pursuits.

“He’s like a take-charge kind of guy,” Byrne said. “He likes to be in control when we play and I kind of do too, so we argue a lot. If someone is bothering him, he’ll tell them. If someone is not doing a good job in practice, he’ll tell them.”

Are we talking about football or the band?

“Both,” Byrne said.

Giovannettone also brings a perfectionist drive with his music.

“It’s just like football,” Giovannettone said of playing guitar. “I want to keep getting better at it. I enjoy doing it and I want to be the best I can be at it.”

Giovannettone’s desire to win can be summed up by how he handled a slump as a member of the Chaminade baseball team last season. Batting leadoff, he failed to get a hit in his first 33 at-bats, but he still helped the team by walking, stealing bases, and, yes, getting hit by pitches.

“He was all but diving across the plate to get hit by one,” said Dave Desmond, a Chaminade baseball assistant last year and the head coach this season. “(Despite not getting many hits), he was still the catalyst of our offense.”

Giovannettone also showed his toughness during the baseball season. After sustaining an ankle injury during a practice drill, he was advised by doctors not to play. But Giovannettone didn’t tell the Chaminade coaches, Desmond said.

“His mother pulled up to one game and there he was leading off first base,” Desmond said. “She came up to us and said, ‘Did you know he’s not cleared to play?’ We said, ‘No, thanks for telling us.’ And we took him out. . . . He’s the kind of kid that as long as he’s still breathing, he’ll be out there playing.”

This baseball season, Giovannettone will move from center field to catcher, the position best-suited for a hard-nosed, get-dirty type. Sometime during the season, you can be sure, a baserunner trying to score is going to run full speed at Giovannettone and try to knock him down. If that runner has seen him play football, he’ll know knocking down Giovannettone is difficult.

Blocking for Giovannettone on the offensive line, Swaney has seen it happen time after time. His favorite example of Giovannettone’s running style comes from the opening game of the 1991 season, Giovannettone’s first after not playing football his sophomore year for personal reasons.

“It was against Newbury Park and no one was really sure how he was going to do,” Swaney said. “There was one play, a fourth and six, we needed to score pretty bad. We just ran a pitch to the weak side. I had to pull, and there was just nothing there. I was on the ground and looked up and saw Justin. I don’t know how he got out, but he scored a touchdown.

“That’s when we realized there was something different about him.”