Eyes On The Prize

As he chases several of Pittsburg’s career rushing records, Montaz Thompson has the Pirates on a pillaging path.

The eyes have it.

They belong to Pittsburg High running back Montaz Thompson, and on the football field they never stop moving. They dart one way, seeking out the hole that the play call is designed to create.

They dart another, trying to find the small opening that may develop elsewhere.

Sometimes, they stare straight ahead, directly at taller, heavier defensive linemen only inches away.

The feet follow the eyes.

Always pumping, like pistons on an engine, they propel Thompson left, stop on a dime, then propel Thompson into the air and slightly backwards again to his left. Then a jitter, a hesitation, then another back-and-to-the-left dart.

All of this on a left foot Thompson sprained on his first carry on this Sept. 23 night against Vacaville High, the one so heavily bandaged it covers his shoe. But the eyes and the feet have done their job, and now the eyes see only one thing.

Green grass ahead.

Thompson is alone, ahead of Vacaville High defenders, en route 65 yards to the 5-yard line.

“Normally, I’d have gone all the way,” he says after Pittsburg’s 42-31 win over the Bulldogs, “but my foot slowed me down.”

In 2016, it’s about the only thing that has.

Thompson, a 5-foot-8, 185-pound package of muscle and moves, has spent the first half of his senior campaign establishing himself as one of the top runners in the state, not to mention in running-back loaded East Contra Costa County.

  He’s totaled 1,170 yards in Pittsburg’s first five games, the fourth-highest total in the state through the first five weeks and second in the North Coast Section behind Moreau Catholic-Hayward’s Jullen Ison (1,318).

Thompson also was third in the state and the leader in Northern California with 17 touchdowns (16 rushing).

In the season’s first half, he’s outrushed and outscored Antioch High running back Najee Harris (1,074, 15 touchdowns), the nation’s top recruit; and Freedom High of Oakley’s Ronnie Rivers (631, 12 touchdowns), the son of former NFL running back Ron Rivers.

Thompson also inserted himself into the discussion about the greatest Pittsburg running backs, a group that includes former 49ers star John Henry Johnson and former NFL Europe MVP Ken Simonton.

“It’s a blessing, because I’m a senior, and I want to be a leader,” Thompson said. “Coach told me the best way to do that is to take those expectations and not back down from them, but welcome them. I need to take on that responsibility (of being a leader) because what I do, others on our team will follow. It’s why we have a really good team this year.”

It’s also why he will close out his career atop Pittsburg’s all-time rushing list, barring a season-ending injury.

He needs just 78 yards in the Pirates’ next contest to attain the throne. Only 2013 grad Harris Ross (2,659 career yards) has rushed for more than Thompson’s 2,582. Playoff stats are not included in Pittsburg’s record totals.

“He has incredible God-given talent in what he sees and how he runs,” Pittsburg running backs coach Mike Orlando says. “His vision is incredible. All he needs is a tiny piece of space, and if it’s there, he’ll see that. Now you combine that with balance that is phenomenal and game speed that’s off the charts. He’s got a toolbox, and he has all the tools.”

They’ve been there pretty much since the first time Thompson put on pads — he once scored 11 touchdowns as an 11-year-old in Pop Warner — and they compensate for a body size that’s one of the few things about him that’s not eye-popping.

“Put him in a 6-foot-2 body with 220 pounds and Pac-12 teams are knocking down his door,” Pirates head coach Vic Galli said. As it is, Thompson says Sacramento State, Montana and San Diego State are showing the most interest.

  Nevertheless, he is anything but small. His thighs, thick like trees after a summer of training that included pulling car tires up a steep hill behind Pittsburg High in 100-degree heat, punish opposing defenders like battering rams. His compact frame keeps his center of gravity low, enhancing his balance and making it almost impossible for the first defender to him to bring him down.

“Very tough to tackle, and in space, just about impossible,” says former Pirates and Clayton Valley coach Herc Pardi, who has seen the best  of the East Bay for 40 years. “Great balance, great agility. And so, so strong. He’s like all those Pittsburg backs — you think he’s small, but it’s like trying to tackle a moving fire hydrant.”

In fact, it may be Thompson’s strength and will that has personified Pittsburg’s undefeated start. Take the Pirates’ contest against Vacaville. On the first play, Thompson’s eyes spied a huge hole to the right on a delayed draw, and Thompson zipped 46 yards, only to have his ankle roll over on the tackle.

Screaming in pain after the play, Thompson missed most of the next three series. The Pirates soon were agonizing, too, down 24-14 on the road against a good team. But a few breaks — a 17-yard-Vacaville punt from its 2 after the Pirates failed to score following Thompson’s 65-yard run was the biggest — put them on the Vacaville 5 late in the opening half with a chance to go ahead.

Thompson got the ball again, only this time with no holes to his left or his right, and only two big linemen in front. The man with a thousand jukes goes old-fashioned, driving straight into the heart of the defense, legs chugging, defense and mass of players moving until, on sheer will … touchdown.

“That was a big one for us,” Galli said. “He went through some real adversity out there, our whole team did, and to get out of the half with the lead was big. We need to be better, but that says a lot about who we are and the heart we have. He represents that.”

Which is why the Pirates were happy to receive a two-week break after the Vacaville win. Thompson says his ankle will be fine but concedes the week off couldn’t have come at a better time. The Pirates, the last North Coast Section team to beat mighty De La Salle — in 1991 — are thinking grand thoughts a quarter-century later, and Thompson has other great running backs in the area to keep up with.

“My biggest desire is to win,” Thompson says. “And really, I think the best is still to come.”

Photos by PHILLIP WALTON