How Williams Field’s Lee broke 6A single-game rushing record
Gilbert Williams Field junior running back Dylan Lee never would have been in position to set a 6A state rushing record last week if a few things didn’t happen.
First, an injury to starter Josh Dye led to Lee getting the brunt of the work on his way to rushing for 518 yards on 24 carries in the Black Hawks’ 49-27 victory over Scottsdale Chaparral.
Second, Williams Field had to keep giving the ball to Lee because Chaparral would respond with touchdowns. Third, the offensive line, led by senior Colton Campbell (coach Steve Campbell’s son), was as locked in and making blocks without getting penalized as any Williams Field line has ever been for a game.
“It was one of those perfect storms,” Coach Campbell said. “Josh was out. Dylan took those carries. And it was the right kind of game, where the other team is scoring also. He took advantage of every rep he got.”
Four of Lee’s five touchdown runs went for more than 50 yards — 55, 81, 84 and 94. His game made him the media darling of the week. There was a TV station out at his practice this week, along with representatives of the Arizona Cardinals, who presented him the high school football Player of the Week award.
With Dye’s status still uncertain, Lee might have to expect another big workload Friday night when the Black Hawks (2-0) play host to Queen Creek Casteel (2-0). Lee, 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, isn’t thinking about breaking his own record. He wasn’t thinking about a record last
week, when he rolled up his 518 rushing yards in the rain.
“That wasn’t the focus,” Lee said. “The focus was to win the game. I don’t really care about the record, the stats.”
Lee credits the guys up front blocking, springing him loose.
“They’re studs,” Lee said.
One of those is 6-5, 265-pound guard Colton Campbell, who flirted with being a quarterback like his 6-foot-8 father earlier in his football life. “I realized I was too slow to play quarterback in high school,” Colton said. “I was going to be tall. So my dad said, ‘You know what, give yourself a shot, play the O-line.’ That’s something
that he wish he did.”
Steve Campbell came out of Norco, California as a quarterback at Arizona State from 1994-98. His biggest claim to college fame came in the 1997 Sun Bowl, where he started and led the Sun Devils to a win. He played QB for his dad Gary in high school. But now he wishes his dad had turned him into an offensive lineman, where he might have had a better shot at playing in the NFL.
Colton Campbell has a scholarship to Southern Utah waiting for him.
“I tried to make the opposite decision my dad made,” Steve said. “My dad always said, ‘If I would have made you a left tackle, we’d both be retired.’ But with him, he can throw. He’s got a really good mind for the game. But the way the game is today with athletic quarterbacks, it just didn’t fit with him. If I was to try to play quarterback in today’s game, I never would have made it.”
Colton can play all five offensive line positions. His freshman and sophomore years, he played center. The last two years he’s been a right guard. He played a little bit of left tackle in the first game.”
It makes the line’s job easier with a back like Lee so quick on the snap, slicing through holes and using his track speed to carry him the rest of the way into the end zone.
“We’ve always known as a team, when he was coming up as a freshman, he was one of the more talented kids in his class,” Colton said. “It really shows that he had the talent, but he’s taken it to the next level by being a great teammate. He’s busted his ass in the weight room.
“Any time we have a team night, he’s always there. He’s going to make a commitment to be at everything. He has a tight bond with his line. We just want to block for him.”
It wasn’t a productive sophomore year for Lee, so he committed himself in the weight room and to get faster on the track. He knew he had a chance to be productive with the line coming back.
“I knew I was going to be able to do something special with my guys,” he said.
Lee got quite a few compliments after his record night. But he shies away from that. “I don’t want it to get to my head,” he said. “It’s really about my guys and how well they performed on Friday night.”