Soria has Spartans geared toward title

He proved all of the doubters wrong.

The doubters that, throughout his football career, told him guys his size aren’t fit for varsity stardom.

Even coming into his final season as Strathmore’s starting running back, Jesse Soria could still hear it.

“It was still in my head,” Soria said. “I had that thought that I’m still too small and I’ve gotta prove these guys wrong.”

The 5-foot-4, 145-pound tailback has done more than make a contribution to a varsity team. He’s the top player on a 7-3 Spartan squad that’s poised to make another run at a Valley championship and has a chance to take home a few records in the process.

“He’s the motor behind the machine,” Strathmore coach Jeromy Blackwell said. “He has a great offensive line, but he’s a remarkable athlete. He’s gonna touch the ball probably 25, 30 times (per game) and we expect big plays to happen when he touches it.”

Soria has 1,805 rushing yards (47 away from Keith Delk’s three-year-old single-season rushing mark) and 29 total touchdowns, but Blackwell can still remember him as the skinny flag football phenom.

“I remember him when he was a little bitty guy playing pee-wee football,” he said. “His brother (Vince Soria, a fullback for the Spartans at the time) came and bragged, ‘My little brother scored four touchdowns in a game.’ I was like, ‘Wow.’

“He probably could’ve played anywhere and he chose to play here. Everybody’s glad he did.”

Vince was a 5-foot-6, 155-pound fullback who graduated from Strathmore in 2003 and provided Jesse with fuel for a football career and had him dreaming of his days in Spartan red.

“I used to always go to his games, be water boy, he’d take me over the place with him,” he said. “He’s the one that got me started into football.”

Jesse played three years of flag football, with the Porterville Steelers, in elementary school, followed that with three years of tackle-league experience in middle school and was on Strathmore’s varsity team as a sophomore.

He can still remember vividly his first varsity game where, as a 135-pound change-of-pace running back, he gashed Lindsay for four touchdowns in a 53-7 opening-night romp in August 2007. Soria rushed for 139 yards in the debut and crossed the goal line four times in the first half.

He finished that season with 835 rushing yards and 14 scores on a 10-2 team that lost in the Division V semifinals.

“I was scared, but I knew I could do it,” Soria said. “I was just the rookie, the one everybody would go and pick on. I ain’t gonna let that happen. So I had to stand for my ground.

“(Defenders) were telling me, ‘Get him, he’s too small, he’s too small.’ That’d really get me and I’d get them. I’d just look at them as they’d be telling me stuff. I’d just smile and walk away.”

After a 1,306-yard, 15-touchdown performance as a junior, Soria spent the year lifting weights in Strathmore’s gym and McDermont Field House in the summer while leading on-field running drills and competing in passing tournaments with his team.

Soria bench-presses 240 pounds, power cleans 220 and squats more than 300 after the offseason program.

“We did a little bit of form running and he’s always in the front of the pack leading the way,” Blackwell said. “Then we come out in our passing tournaments and he’s always there. Everybody has a lot of faith in him. He’s one of those lead-by-example guys. He’s not gonna talk a big game, he’s gonna go in and show you how it should be done.”

The senior also developed as a football player, rushing for more than 100 yards in all 10 regular-season games and broke the 200-yard barrier three times, including a career-best 305-yard performance against Riverdale in October.

“Through the years you just figure out the game a little more, you see things from a different perspective as you grow,” Blackwell said. “He can see the game happening in front of him. That’s why he picks up chunks of yards on tiny little holes because he knows what’s gonna happen next. He understands offense, he understands defense, he understands the game. He’s not just a really great athlete, he’s got great football sense.”

Soria attributes his success this season to a newfound open-field running approach while playing behind an experienced offensive line.

“I’ve improved a lot: how to run better, how to hold the ball better, how to not hit someone, but actually juke them away,” he said. “I had a problem last year trying to hit the person instead of juking them. Coaches would tell me to just trust in my speed.”

The jukes have translated into a 9.45 yards-per-carry average and have made defenses game-plan to stop him every week. Soria likes the opportunities this creates for his teammates in the Spartans’ run-oriented offense.

“You can go after me all day, but a lot of people are gonna be open if they just focus on me,” he said.

Junior Michael Lemus benefits from Soria’s presence as he has 604 rushing yards and 15 TDs while senior wideout Jaime Magallon has 430 yards from scrimmage and two scores.

The shiftier style doesn’t mean a softer version of the running back, however.

“It’s still all about anger, you’ve gotta have a lot of anger,” Soria said. “Just think of all the anger you can, think of all the bad things.

“And you can’t get in trouble for it.”

He plays in all phases of the game, serving as the team’s punter, and kickoff and punt returner while starting in the secondary — Soria is second on the Spartans with 56 tackles while tallying two interceptions, two sacks and two fumble recoveries.

For his career, Soria followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, the 170-pound A.J. Knight and 180-pound Delk, by dashing for 100-plus yards 19 times and scoring 58 TDs from scrimmage.

He hasn’t received much interest from college teams due to his size but has been accepted to Fresno State, which he’s considering. But his long-term future is on the back-burner for now as he leads his second-seeded team into the Division VI semifinals against No. 3 Mendota.

“I really don’t care for no record,” he said of the likelihood of him owning the season rushing mark by halftime Friday night. “I just wanna win the next two games, knowing this is my last year. I just wanna have fun.”

Full-Time Performer

Spartan senior on field constantly in 3-year varsity tenure

Starting positions: RB, DB, P

Rushing numbers: 191 carries, 1,805 yards*, 27 TDs

Defensive stats: 56 tackles, 2 INTs, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries

Career: 3,946 rushing yards, 58 total TDs, 172 tackles, 31 games played

100-yard rushing games: 19

200-plus: 5

300-plus: 1 - 305 vs. Riverdale - 10-9-09

* = Needs 47 yards to break Keith Delk’s single season record