When St. Joseph’s KJ Cusack returned the opening game kick off for a 90-yard touchdown, the Paso Robles High School varsity football team found itself down 7-0 about 15 seconds into the game.

“It was a really tough way to start, the kid’s a great athlete, returned it all the way, outflanked us, so it put us in a hole early,” said Paso Robles coach Rich Schimke.

Cusack’s agility was on display throughout the game, as he helped propel his team to a 28-13 non-league win over the Bearcats at War Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

“When they kicked deep, it was returned left for us, and so I started off going left, then once their outside guy committed to going to their right, I cut back and it was just there for me,” Cusack said of the touchdown return.

St. Joseph coach Mike Hartman acknowledged the importance of taking a 7-0 lead as well against a team like the Bearcats.

“It’s always good to get up on a team that likes to run the ball,” he said. “It puts them in kind of an uncomfortable situation. We challenged our kids to make great plays and take advantage of their opportunities and they did, and I’m so proud of the guys –– they played their hearts out.”

Cusack wasn’t done though. In the second quarter, he returned a fumble 44 yards for a touchdown, and finished the game with eight rushes for 58 yards and two catches for 15 yards. Cusack, who said he’d been battling a stomach bug all week, sat out the second half. He currently has eight colleges, including Cal Poly, showing interest in him playing football for them, with Air Force and Portland State offering the 5-8, 150-pound running back/cornerback athletic scholarships.

The Knights ended the first half with a 21-0 advantage over the Bearcats. The team’s second touchdown, a 17-yard run from Knight quarterback Jacob Cano, was sandwiched between Cusack’s two first-half touchdowns. Cano went 2-for-8 for 23 yards and rushed 13 times for 77 yards.





For the complete article see the 09-22-2009 issue.

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