Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Sequoia’s Jordan Crockett

Behind the scenes, however, Sequoia was in crisis. Three starters on the defensive line departed the game due to serious injury, starting with defensive end Chapel Meza Thorborne who, up until suffering a broken forearm and a dislocated wrist in the first half, was in the midst of playing some of his best football of the season.

“Just seeing that look in his eyes, and that emotion and pain, I’ve seen him working from the bottom to top, he worked his ass off,” Crockett said. “Seeing him in shambles made me want to step up. He came to me and said: ‘I don’t know what you have to do to do it, but I want you to take over. And when you take over, I want you to have my back, and play as hard as you can for me.’”

Crockett heeded his teammate’s words literally. In the wake of Sequoia losing Thorborne, and junior defensive end Nicco Veimau and senior defensive tackle Aeden Macias, Crockett reported for Monday practice — in preparation for last Friday’s CCS semifinal matchup at South City — and asked if he could take over on the defensive line.

“He is a team player,” Sequoia head coach Frank Mems said, “and he came up to me Monday and was like: ‘Coach, how do you feel about me going down there (to the defensive unit) to help?’”

Crockett not only helped. The senior took over the game as the Ravens rallied for a 21-6 victory over the No. 1 seed and reigning CCS Division V champion Warriors. Not only did the 6-1, 185-pounder start at defensive end, he fronted a performance in a wind-battered rainstorm that saw Sequoia hold South City to a mere one first-down pickup on the night.

Crockett totaled six tackles — only senior linebacker Justin Schernig had more with eight — including one sack. Yet on offense, the running back’s pace never dropped off. On a ground-intensive night, Crockett totaled 29 carries for 162 yards with two touchdowns.

“We tried to limit his reps during the week and he came up to us and told us we don’t have to lighten his workload,” Mems said. “He’ll let us know when he can’t go anymore. But he was really adamant about that.”

At the start of the second quarter, Crockett broke a scoreless tie by taking a pitch off the right side (on a play that was misreported as a forward pass in the weekend edition of the Daily Journal) and galloped 46 yards for a score. But it was the drive that led to his second score that featured his most impressive carry of the game.

After the Warriors closed Sequoia’s lead to 7-6 at the end of the third quarter, the Ravens answered back. With the ball at the Warriors’ 42-yard line, Crockett took a draw into the middle but ran into a bottleneck, where two different South City defenders got their hands on him. The shifty running back kept moving his feet, though, and somehow emerged from the pile to bounce off the outside, free himself up, and low fly into the red zone before he was tripped up and ruled down at the 1-yard line.

“When I had the first two guys miss, I was like: ‘I’m not going down.’” Crockett said.

That had been Crockett’s mantra all week.

Starting on defense wasn’t new territory for him. Prior to this season, he was a regular two-way player who patrolled outside linebacker. The double-duty workload was all but nixed this season, however, after Crockett suffered a shoulder injury that cost him the first four games of the season.

How important has Crockett’s presence in the backfield been to the Ravens this season? They opened the year with an 0-4 record without him. Since his return Sept. 27 against Fremont-Sunnyvale, Sequoia has gone 7-1, while Crockett, by virtue of his performance against South City, has rushed for over 1,000 yards this season. He is currently sitting on 1,147 yards.

“We knew it was always in him,” Mems said. “He’s a versatile kid, but it’s come full circle. He’ll do whatever we ask him to do.”

Crockett did play some defensive reps his first two games, including a strong performance Oct. 11 in a 24-14 win over Terra Nova. He notched six tackles with a sack in that one, but didn’t see a play on defense again — until the CCS semifinals.

“I’m still not the average size of a defensive lineman, but I was able to do it,” Crockett said.

Now, the Ravens are set to play in its first CCS championship game since 2010. Sequoia is 0-2 all-time in the CCS finals, also finishing runner-up in 1986. This year, however, their not-so-secret weapon on offense is also their secret weapon on defense.

“I’ll do what it takes to win,” Crockett said. “If that means being a two-way player, that’s fine.”