Heitz becomes first Comet sophomore to rush for 1,000 yards

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

WAVERLY — The late yet still-oft-quoted Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips said this about his star running back Earl Campbell.

“He may not be in a class by himself, but whatever class he’s in, it doesn’t take long to call roll.”

Yet take Charles City Comet running back Trever Heitz … technically he is in a class by himself.

During the Comets’ season-finale loss to Waverly-Shell Rock on Friday, Heitz rushed for 91 yards on 22 carries which gave him exactly 1,000 for the season.

What makes that historic in the realm of Comet football is that Heitz is the first Charles City sophomore to reach quadruple digits in rushing yards.

“We really haven’t had too many 1,000-yard rushers at this school,” Charles City head coach Darren Bohlen said.

Heitz is only the fifth Comet 1,000-yard rusher, and the first in nine years with Taylor Manning being the last one in 2009 when he rushed for a school-record 1,259 yards.

“Our all-time leading rusher only has around 1,800 yards for his career,” Bohlen said in reference to Taylor Fiser, who rushed for a combined 1,863 yards during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, “so (Trever) is already more than halfway there.”

Heitz averaged 5.6 yards per carry, and most of his work was done between the tackles — right up the gut — which in part helped the team’s other backs break big gains down the sidelines, especially when the Comets were at full or near-full strength.

“The line has been a big help,” Heitz said. “They really opened things up for me.”

The line may have helped, but Heitz didn’t get much help from the officials during the tailend of Charles City’s 47-0 loss to the Go-Hawks.

On the final drive of the game, Heitz was closing in on the needed amount to get to 1,000. It was going to be close, and when Charles City got inside Waverly-Shell Rock’s 5-yard line, the Comet coaching staff frantically called for a timeout to get one last snap in which presumably would have been another running play for Heitz.

But with a running clock already initiated, the officials didn’t grant Charles City a timeout — though it had one left in the game — and let time expire.

“I knew how much I needed and I knew it was going to be close,” Heitz said. “It feels great to work to reach such a milestone. I was hoping for a good season this year, but this is better than I expected.”