Central Catholic’s Rice does it all to earn Player of Year honor

Justin Rice is a junior tailback at Central Catholic High School, coming off a 2,000-yard season that helped the Raiders win a third consecutive CIF Division IV state football championship.

If that sounds like enough to earn him the Stanislaus District’s 2014 Player of the Year, well, it is.

Now, if that sounds like enough to make him the front-runner on his team to do it again next season, well, not so fast.

The Raiders have a plethora of skill players coming back – not to mention those coming up from an unbeaten junior varsity squad – who could cut into Rice’s playing time.

And that’s fine with Rice.

“I’d say I’m a rhythm guy … I was really liking the 25 to 30 carries (per game),” Rice said. “But if they’re shutting me down and the running game isn’t working, then I’m totally fine with passing the ball and getting it to other guys.

“If it’s helping the team, then I’m all for it.”

Rice emerged as the Raiders’ go-to guy in their fourth game. He took over at tailback when sophomore Montell Bland sustained an ankle injury. Rice’s first start came in the Raiders’ 29-28 overtime victory over defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division III champ Manteca.

Rice rushed for 142 yards and four touchdowns, including a score in overtime and the winning two-point conversion. On the touchdown, he carried a defender eight yards across the goal line, and on the two-pointer, he ran over a defender and bulled his way into the end zone.

Rice finished the season with 2,146 yards rushing on 192 attempts (11.2 per carry), caught 35 passes for 599 yards (17.1 per reception), returned eight kickoffs for 205 yards (25.6) and completed a pass for 40 yards. He also started at cornerback during the playoffs and had an interception in a 35-14 win over Escalon. All told, Rice scored 33 touchdowns and averaged just over 12.5 yards gained every time he touched the ball and a TD every seven touches.

“He’s the fastest slow guy I’ve ever seen,” Central Catholic coach Roger Canepa said of Rice, who estimates he runs the 40-yard dash a little under 4.7 seconds. “There’s speed and then there’s football speed, and some guys just carry their pads well. I’ve never seen Justin get caught from behind.”

What’s more, the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder proved he’s tough. Rice dislocated his left shoulder late in the third quarter of the Division IV Northern California regional championship against Capital Christian. He insisted the medical staff pop it into place so he could re-enter the game. Later, on the Raiders’ second-to-last drive, he tore the lateral meniscus in his right knee.

“It got kind of close late in the game,” said Rice, who rushed for a school-record 307 yards against Capital Christian, which pulled to within a TD before falling 35-14. “I thought it would be an easy last drive and then I’d be done for the night.”

The knee was repaired surgically on Dec. 22, three days after the Raiders’ 31-19 win over St. Margaret’s of San Juan Capistrano in the state title game. Nevertheless, Rice played and racked up 50 yards on seven carries before shutting it down at halftime with Central Catholic ahead 24-6. He finished the five-game postseason with 976 yards on 93 carries (10.5) and eight TDs. Had he been healthy for the state final, or simply played the second half, he probably would have gone over 1,000 yards in the playoffs alone.

“If I had to play on it today, I could,” said Rice, less than three weeks after the surgery. “They gave me crutches, but I never used them. I was walking the next day.”

Rice and other Raiders are toying with the idea of playing for the school’s tennis team in the spring, and he should be 100 percent for summer practices.

As will Bland, who returned to play defense in time for the regular-season finale but was limited on offense. Also expected to get backfield reps is super sophomore Jared Rice (no relation), who rushed for 1,322 yards and 27 touchdowns on the JV team, including 245 yards and six touchdowns on just nine carries in the season finale.

“We’ve got options for next year,” Canepa said. “We can rotate the backs each series or we can play them in the same backfield. And we have Jared Rice, too, so we could have a fresh body back there for every series.

“It’s a good problem to have.”

This story was originally published January 17, 2015 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Central Catholic’s Rice does it all to earn Player of Year honor."