It's getting necessary to dig deeper and deeper to put Brian Stuart's accomplishments into perspective.
The senior running back's 165-yard game Saturday at Chapman is the biggest rushing game for the Kingsmen since Nov. 1, 2003 -- 54 games ago -- when Charlie Brown (Moorpark High) had a 27-carry, 193-yard game in a 31-20 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. And his four rushing touchdowns ties the CLU school record, set by Hank Bauer twice in 1974 and equaled by Dorian Stitt (2000) and Tyler Ruiz (2004).
With his 690 net yards this season, Stuart has already -- with three regular-season games remaining -- become the best single-season rusher the Kingsmen have had in at least nine years (which is as far back as season statistics are readily available on line.) Only three runners had surpassed the 600-yard mark in that span: Jose Rojas ran for 665 yards in 2006, and Brown had 622 yards in 2004 and 610 in 2005.
Like all successful runners, Stuart's success clearly comes through a combination of his own ability and that of the line blocking for him.
"Our o-line pushed them out all game," said quarterback Jericho Toilolo. "... They gave B-Stu some huge holes to run through all day. And he does not waste his opportunities. When he gets in the open field like that, one guy is not going to bring him down. And you saw that all day. He broke a lot of tackles on guys that got us extra yards."
Coach Ben McEnroe was certainly happy with the line play -- "We've got a pretty physical group up front," he said -- but felt Toilolo's contributions to the success of the running game should not be overlooked.
"The nice thing about Jericho is that he understands defenses well enough that he knows numbers and when to check us into the right plays," McEnroe said. "I was really proud of those guys up front, but I was really proud of Jericho, too.
"A great example was on our last (rushing) touchdown. We had a quarterback sneak called so he could score, and he checked out of it because there was a better play for somebody else to run. And that says a lot about that kid as a leader."
It is not unusual for Toilolo to make those checks and change plays at the line of scrimmage; McEnroe estimated he did it more than half time time Saturday.
"There are certain things we give him that if he sees those things, he knows what to get into. ... Clay (Richardson, the offensive coordinator) does a great job of giving him options. And Jericho really seems to understand the game well enough to put us in the right stuff."