High School Sports
Stewart nears yardstick

By Sandy Ringer
Seattle Times staff reporter

Jonathan Stewart has 6,033 career yards.

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Jonathan Stewart won't slip into the record book quietly, although that's the way the Timberline running back would prefer it.

Like it or not, Stewart will be the center of attention tomorrow night at Yelm Stadium if he rushes for 96 yards or more against the Tornadoes to become the state's all-time career rushing leader. Jerod Moore of Wahkiakum of Cathlamet set the record of 6,128 yards from 1996-99. Stewart (5 feet 10, 220 pounds), who has 11 Division I college scholarship offers and is considered by some the No. 1 high-school running back in the country, has 6,033 yards, including 579 in three games this season.

Earlier this week, Stewart said he wasn't aware of how many yards he needs for the record and hasn't been focusing on it.

"I just go out and try to do whatever I have to do to help the team win," he said.

He has to be prodded to even talk about the subject.

"If I break the record, I guess it would be something special," Stewart said. After more prodding, he added, "It's a pretty big deal. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I don't know what to say about it. I'm just blessed to get this far in my running-back career in high school."

Chances are good that the record will fall tomorrow. The last time Stewart didn't rush for more than 100 yards was in the sixth game of his sophomore year, when he suffered a season-ending foot injury early in the second quarter of a nonleague game against Clover Park. He left with 71 yards after averaging an eye-popping 307.6 yards in five games. If not for that setback, Stewart likely would have had the state record last season.

The only other two times he has been held to fewer than 100 yards was the first two games of his freshman year, when he came off the bench.

Yelm is 1-2 this season, but played the Blazers from Lacey tough last year, losing 28-24 after leading by two touchdowns. Timberline (3-0) is ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 3A behind Bellevue, the three-time defending state champion and the team the Blazers lost to in the quarterfinals last year.

The Tornadoes hope Stewart doesn't make history against them.
 
"Our motto this week is, '94 and no more,' " Yelm coach Del Enders said, noting that 95 yards would tie the record. "That's a little motivation for us."

But Enders is quick to give Stewart his due.

"He's a very gifted athlete," he said.

And Stewart won't be snubbed if he does break the record.

"If it happens, we're going to take care of Jonathan," Enders said.

Ron Barnard, the Yelm athletic director, said he has a game ball to give to Stewart in the event the record is broken. He said the presentation would be made at the first available break in game action.

That's more than Timberline coach Kevin Young had anticipated. He originally said he likely would present a ball to Stewart in front of Timberline fans after the game.

"Hopefully, we'll be celebrating a win," he said. "If we lose, it might not happen at all."

Young, in his fifth year as head coach, has spent many hours the past few weeks reviewing more than two dozen of Stewart's games to verify his rushing totals. He actually subtracted 26 yards from last year's original final tally, giving him 2,566.

"We want to be as close to perfect as possible," he said.

The review gave Young an even greater appreciation of Stewart's abilities.

"Over the course of four years there have been a lot of highlights," he said, "but you're in awe every now and then at some of the things he's done."

Note

• Stewart said he recently received scholarship offers from Tennessee and Florida, adding to previous offers from Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, California and Duke. He said he has no official visits lined up and likely will not take any until late in the season or after it is over.

Sandy Ringer: 206-718-1512 or sringer@seattletimes.com