Dancing Through : Smooth Moves by Saddleback’s Chrishon Leave Defenders Grasping for Air

After each Saddleback game this season, the scene has been pretty much the same for running back Marcellus Chrishon.

He stands near the center of the field, where reporters and well-wishers line up to talk with and congratulate him on his performance.

Once the procession included a weary defender.

“Hey 22, what year are you?” he asked.

“Sophomore,” Chrishon said with a polite smile.

“Good,” the defender answered. “I won’t face you next season.”

That sentiment is shared by many in the Mission Conference.

Chrishon led the 15-team conference in rushing with 1,748 yards and in touchdowns with 23. Chrishon’s coaches and teammates agree he isn’t a bragger but plays with a great deal of confidence.

“My quickness is my high point,” Chrishon said. “I don’t need a lot of room to get the job done. . . . (Off the field) I mess around and go dancing a little bit, and next thing you know you’re doing that same little move on the field.”

Chrishon plays his final game for Saddleback on Saturday when the Gauchos (10-0), the No. 1 team in the J.C. Grid-Wire national rankings, take on No. 5 City College of San Francisco (10-0) in the Simple Green Orange County Bowl. The game is at 1 p.m. at Orange Coast College.

“No question about it,” Saddleback Coach Ken Swearingen said when asked if Chrishon is the best running back he has coached in his 31 years. “In fact, some of my old running backs have come back and given me a hard time about saying that, but it’s true. He just has such superior speed and quickness.”

Chrishon, who is being recruited a number of colleges including Washington State, Maryland and USC, is aware of his rushing numbers this season but is reluctant to talk about himself.

He would prefer to discuss Saddleback’s talented defense or the blocking of the offensive line--which he recited name by name--or the help he gets from fullback Shaun Coleman.

“(Rushing totals) are not important at all,” said Chrishon, 19. “I don’t go out on the field thinking, ‘Tonight I will go for 250 yards.’ I don’t think about it. When you start to focus on that it brings a little stress on you.”

Chrishon, who is 5 feet 10, 180 pounds, came to Saddleback after being an All-South Coast League back at Mission Viejo High School. Last year for Saddleback, he had limited playing time the first half of the season.

“We were featuring (sophomore) Matt Carvalho the first few games,” offensive coordinator Bill Cunerty said. “Then Matt came to us and said that Marcellus was the better player.”

Chrishon made his first big impact against Orange Coast. Quarterback Tim Snowden was intercepted five times in the first half, so Cunerty turned mostly to Chrishon in the second half.

He gained 96 of his 151 yards in that half and scored twice as Saddleback rallied for a 22-21 victory. He became a mainstay of the offense the rest of the season and finished with 910 yards and 18 touchdowns. His best game came against Cerritos in the 1991 Simple Green Orange County Bowl.

He rushed for 207 yards and scored four touchdowns as Saddleback won, 42-18.

“I don’t really talk to him before games,” Cunerty said. “Just look in his eyes and you can see that he burns to excel.”

This season offered little chance for the anonymity he had early last season. He was a preseason J.C. Grid-Wire All-American and a marked man from the outset.

He opened the season by gaining 176 yards and scoring four touchdowns as Saddleback drilled Santa Monica, 34-10.

He has run for 125 or more yards nine times and better than 200 yards four times. He had topped 1,000 yards by the sixth game.

The only game he didn’t get more than 100 yards was against Riverside when he left with 45 yards after injuring his shoulder on the last play of the first quarter. The next week, he returned to gain 186 yards against Golden West Nov. 21 and says he is ready for Saturday.

“I don’t look at film and think that I have to get away from this guy or that guy,” Chrishon said. “They just look like objects to me that I have to get away from.”

Chrishon’s biggest game this season was against Southwestern when he ran for 237 yards and four touchdowns in 14 carries. He had a 90-yard touchdown run in the game, which is the longest run from scrimmage in Saddleback history.

“He’s great to block for,” said all-conference guard Mark Welker. “He just needs an inch or so of a hole and he’s gone.”