Football: Castillo racking up yards behind Rankin linemen

Before Rankin junior Jorge Castillo talks about his game Friday, the 191 yards and four touchdowns on nine carries in a 56-8 win against Water Valley stopped at halftime because of the 45-point mercy rule, he needs to thank some people:

His linemen, first and foremost.

“OK, my line, they’ve been getting on me for giving them no credit,” Castillo said. “But I tell them, ‘I’m not anything without you. I’m not lying. Y’all are the heart and soul of the team.’ They’ve been making huge holes for me.

“A lineman could have ran through them.”

Maybe so. But on Friday it was Castillo who carved up Water Valley for a Six-Man District 8 Division I victory, especially welcomed after two consecutive close losses to Top 10 teams, Ira and district foe Fort Davis.

The highest of the highlights Friday?

A 79-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, spanning almost the entire field.

It was first-and-15 on Rankin’s own 1-yard line, the Red Devils lined up in a shotgun formation — not in tight, like Castillo expected — and called a 38 Sweep. Castillo ran one side, then cut back, turned the corner and saw daylight.

And a lineman.

“It was K.T. (Pruett),” Castillo said. “He’s like, ‘Let’s race. … He won. But he had like a 10-yard head start.”

Rankin head coach Danny Davis said he’s proud of the fact that Castillo battled back from a nagging ankle injury, one that limited him earlier in the season and caused him to miss one game.

Castillo feels at full strength now, and that means Davis will keep feeding the ball to him. The Red Devils have three other capable runners, but Castillo is the standout. He earned the status last season, when as a sophomore he ran for 31 touchdowns and 1,497 yards, the most in the program’s six-man era, which began in 2006.

“He’s our first back that we use,” Davis said. “Before the year’s out, he’ll have the most carries. Earlier in the year, we were rotating. Here in district, he gets 85 percent of the carries.”

The percentage, and whether he can surpass last year’s rushing mark, does not matter to Castillo, he said. At this point, he is enjoying a worry-free ankle and knowing that his absence earlier in the season helped the progression of his fellow ball-carriers.

Being injured “was really frustrating,” Castillo said. “I hate sitting out. It makes me so mad. Starting out the season injured, not going 100 percent, not being able to help out — those other games I wasn’t 100 percent.”

Meanwhile, Castillo has learned to better control his energy output. Earlier in his career he was known to exhaust himself by simply getting too jacked up on the field.

A remedy, Castillo said, is to remind himself that the moment is not only about him, but about others, too.

Linemen included.

“Freshman year, it was bad,” Castillo said. “Now I use it to pump up my team. On defense, that’s when we need it. I want to let them feel it.”

JORGE CASTILLO

>> School:  Rankin.

>> Height: 5-foot-8.

>> Weight: 186 pounds.

>> Class: Junior.

>> Position: Running back.

>> Favorite athlete: Ben Tate.

>> Favorite food: Hot dogs.

>> Highlights: Castillo ran for 191 yards and four touchdowns on nine carries in a win over Water Valley stopped at halftime because of the 45-point mercy rule. 

>> Alpine’s Dominic Scott was 28-of-45 passing for 444 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in a win over Sonora. He also rushed for three touchdowns and 82 yards on 10 carries.

>> Crane’s Jordan Cavazos was 14-of-21 passing for 212 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in a win over Reagan County. He also carried the ball six times for 74 yards and one score.

>> Fort Davis’ Marcus Hartnett rushed for 326 yards and four touchdowns on 22 attempts in a win over Sterling City. He also returned a kickoff 80 yards for a score.

>> Kermit’s Gabriel Chavez had 12 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Ozona.

>> Monahans’ Colby Denton rushed for four touchdowns and 83 yards on 19 tries in a win over Andrews.