Posted on Fri, Nov. 23, 2007
Chipping away at county recordsLANGSTON WERTZ JR.
Last week, after Independence stopped Butler 20-7 to advance to this week's N.C. 4AA quarterfinals at East Burke, Patriots senior tailback Rod Chisholm walked out of Memorial Stadium with a slight limp, holding his bright yellow helmet in his right hand.
He carried 39 times for a personal-best 320 yards.
"I'm not hurting," he said through a big grin. "I'm not hurting at all."
Apparently not.
Chisholm, 5-foot-9 and 195 pounds, doesn't say much, and when he talks you have to lean in close to hear him. He's always said he would rather let his play do his talking for him.
This season, his play has been extraordinary.
With 2,203 yards and a Mecklenburg County record 38 touchdowns, Chisholm is on pace to have the best year -- and possibly best career -- of any running back in the immediate Charlotte area.
"He's done everything we've asked him to do," Independence assistant coach Bill Geiler said. "He gets stronger as the game goes on. Coach (Tom) Knotts told him he wasn't a good pass catcher and he worked on that and became a good pass catcher.
"He's good in the classroom. A yes-sir, no-sir guy. He's everything you want."
For his career, Chisholm has 4,961 yards and 65 touchdowns.
Tonight, he could become the fifth back in county history to top 5,000 career yards.
If Independence (11-2) advances to the N.C. 4AA championship game, which would mean three more games including tonight, it's possible Chisholm could gain 989 yards and break the county career rushing record.
He could set a county single-season record with 401 more yards.
That could come next week in the semifinals if Independence is still playing.
This season, Chisholm has rushed for at least 265 yards three times, including 315 against Providence and a career-best 320 last week against Butler.
For his career, he's got two of the top five single-season performances in Mecklenburg County history, three of the top 12 single-game performances -- plus one Observer Offensive Player of the Year award in 2006.
So why does this guy not have a college scholarship offer?"All of the colleges are waiting to see," Geiler said. "He's not 6-foot tall but I told all of (the college coaches) they're going to regret not getting him. They're going to come in here Shrine Bowl week and he'll be taken. The kid's got it all."
Chisholm is thickly built with 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash.
Geiler said he still tries to score every time he gets the ball. Pete Gilchrist, who coached Chisholm at West Charlotte last season, watched the Butler game and said Chisholm "still needs to learn how to get small and get you a few on fourth and 2."
All that's true, but Chisholm has an awful lot of upside.
He's got eight straight 100-yard games and has had 200 or more in four of the Patriots' 13 games.
He hopes to run Independence to an eighth straight Western Regional championship game appearance tonight.
"I don't want to take all the credit," Chisholm said. "I want to do it for the team. They supported me. My offensive line, everybody, does great. I just wanted to be part of a great football team and play football. This is the season I wanted."
Rod Chisholm's game-by-game statistics
OPPONENT CARRIES YARDS TD
Olympic 21 164 4
Elder 22 100 3
WC 12 82 1
Vance 15 114 3
Myers Park 10 48 2
South Meck 24 267 4
Ardrey Kell 17 165 4
Providence 39 315 4
Weddington 9 142 4
East Meck 26 200 2
Butler 32 136 1
Page 24 150 4
Butler 39 320 2
Totals 290 2,203 38