CARRIED AWAY

If the adage about toil leading to glory ever needs a poster child, George Witter is a top candidate.

Witter, a senior tailback for Harvard-Westlake High and one of the region’s hardest-working student-athletes, is reaping the rewards of his labor.

Witter, 6 feet and 185 pounds, leads the region with 295 carries and has rushed for 1,647 yards and 24 touchdowns to help the Wolverines reach the Southern Section Division VII semifinals against top-seeded Los Altos at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Pierce College.

Witter, the senior class president, carries a 3.9 grade-point average and scored 1560 on his SAT, 40 points short of a perfect score. He has applied to Princeton and expects a reply sometime this month.

Dave Bennett, Harvard-Westlake’s coach and a former competitor at a Green Bay Packer training camp under Vince Lombardi, has in past years questioned the toughness and committment of his players.

But not this season, and certainly not when discussing Witter.

“George is a throwback,” Bennett said. “I really work him harder than anybody out there, and he thrives on that and meets the challenge.”

Not much was expected of Harvard-Westlake after going 3-7 and missing the playoffs last season.

But the Wolverines (9-3) have forged a turnaround in large part because of the improvement of Witter, who reported to practice in peak condition after a summer of track competition.

“[Witter] was definitely the difference,” said St. Bonaventure Coach Jon Mack, whose team lost to the Wolverines, 20-6, in a nonleague game. “In the second half, he ran like a madman. We’d hit him at the line of scrimmage and he’d drag us four or five yards further.”

Witter and Bennett discovered early in the season that the tailback seemed to perform better if his practice tempo matched that of a game. Witter now pushes himself through brutal workouts.

“I’ve found it true with both track and football that if you can really push yourself hard in practice, then in games you know you can go further and harder than you would think,” Witter said.

While his teammates begin practices by playing catch or stretching, Witter is often already at full speed. Under Bennett’s supervision, Witter runs sprints and crashes as many as 40 times through “the blaster,” a gauntlet of waist-high pylons built into a blocking sled.

The regimen has helped Witter maintain his 4.8-second speed in the 40-yard dash and improve his ability to hold on to the ball. That and an improved offensive line have allowed Harvard-Westlake to average 200 yards rushing per game.

Despite four new starters, the line--consisting tackles Tom Larkin and Spencer Torgan, guards Paul Drury and David Coben and center Matt Loebman--has paved the way for Witter and allowed quarterback Matt Felder to pass for 1,471 yards and 10 touchdowns, with only four interceptions.

Fullback Robert Van Norden and tight end Alex Holmes, who has 39 catches for 818 yards and six touchdowns, round out a balanced offense.

“Our conditioning is really good and because of that, very few players take any plays off,” Witter said. “Our work ethic is much stronger and everyone’s much more determined this year, especially when we get behind.”

Witter, a Pasadena resident who started at tailback in the final four games of the 1997 season, spent three weeks in China on a medical outreach program last summer. Upon his return, he ran well enough in club track meets to qualify for the Junior Olympics in Seattle.

Witter arrived back at Harvard-Westlake in August to find himself in a battle for starting tailback, a competition Bennett said was short-lived.

“George came to me very early and made it very clear he thought he could run the ball 25 times a game for us with good results,” Bennett said. “He’s been very durable and he’s one of the kids we’ve hung our hat on, a kid that finds a way to win.”