TVL Preview: Season opener long time coming for Modesto Christian’s Chris Brown

Chris Brown has been chasing next Friday’s season opener for more than eight months.

In his mind. On the practice field. Over and over again.

Modesto Christian High School’s electric running back spent the long offseason high-stepping through speed ladders, flipping tires, driving sleds and pulling parachutes across the Crusaders’ practice facility.

Brown was accompanied by only the brave. Those workouts, which preceded team practices, weren’t for the uncommitted and weak-minded. They were designed to break Brown, to test his mental and physical limits.

“Those (workouts) started right after the section playoffs,” said Brown, who has added an inch to his 5-foot-11, 175-pound frame. “I was mad, and I had to work out my frustrations.”

The junior was driven by bookend losses to Capital Christian, the only blemishes on Modesto Christian’s 2014 ledger. Those defeats denied the Crusaders a Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship and chance at a CIF State Bowl berth.

Instead, the Cougars advanced to the CIF Northern California Division IV regional game, where they were dashed by the heaviest of the Stanislaus District’s heavies – Central Catholic, 35-14.

To this day, Brown believes the Crusaders were the better team in the D-VI final, but the Trans-Valley League champions buckled in the big moments.

“When I went back and watched the film, we didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” he said, “but we were too tight and didn’t play how we should have played.”

So he channeled that frustration onto the football field, turning the spring and summer months into a new season focused on speed and strength gains.

“I want to be better than I was last year and have a successful season,” Brown said. “I don’t want to feel that same way again. I don’t want to see the seniors with that kind of heartbreak. That’s what drove me this summer.”

Well, that and another shot at Capital Christian.

The small-school parochial powers will collide Sept. 4 in Salida as Modesto Christian opens its season at home. The Cougars won both meetings last fall by slim margins, escaping with a 23-22 victory on opening night and a 35-28 win in the section final.

Brown had 249 yards on 32 carries with five touchdowns in those losses, production that was emblematic of his breakout season. He was named MaxPreps’ Sophomore of the Year for the Sac-Joaquin Section after rushing for 1,604 yards and 25 touchdowns.

In coach Mike Parsons’ run-oriented offense, Brown topped the 100-yard mark 11 times and averaged 10.2 yards per carry, blending a lethal concoction of speed and power. He enjoys making defenders miss but won’t hesitate to punish the daring with his pads.

“I enjoy the contact,” he said. “I can take a hit.”

More than that, though, he lusts for wins and titles.

With Parsons at the helm, Modesto Christian’s sights have been set high again. Parsons was the architect of the Crusaders’ 2009 state championship run before leaving for a short stint at Clovis West. That Modesto Christian team featured quarterback Isaiah Burse, a driven super athlete.

Brown has some of those same qualities, as witnessed by his offseason training regimen, but his expectations for 2015 are tempered. He’s broken the new season into three stages: league, sections, state.

In that order.

“We’re focused on that TVL championship,” Brown said. “I would like to get back to the section final and win a section championship, but we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. That’s what happened last year.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 1:57 PM with the headline "TVL Preview: Season opener long time coming for Modesto Christian’s Chris Brown."