Wildcat workhorse

How do you stop a 165-pound human wrecking ball?

So far, no one has figured that out.

Columbia Falls High School sophomore running back Josh Wilson has punished opposing defenses this season, leading Northwestern A with 139 carries and 864 rushing yards, despite missing a game with a hamstring injury. He's averaging 6.2 yards per run and has scored eight touchdowns.

Those numbers have helped the Wildcats to a 4-2 record, including 3-1 in conference play.

"As a coach, I'm much happier to prepare what you do with him than what you'd do against him," said Columbia Falls head coach John Thompson.

Wilson has been Columbia Falls' workhorse since last season when he rushed for 963 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman.

"I wasn't really overwhelmed at all," Wilson said. "Coach Thompson gave me a fair shot, everybody made me feel like part of the team."

When Thompson met Wilson more than two years ago, he knew freshman football wasn't in his future.

"I think Josh moved here at the end of his seventh-grade year," Thompson said. "He started showing up in our weight room during his eighth-grade year.

"For a 15-year-old kid, he is as put together strength-wise as you'll find."

But Josh didn't just make an appearance. He trained with a resolve which belied his youth.

"Josh is flat-out the strongest kid on our team and he works at it," Thompson said. "When he's in the weight room, he's working and for a young kid, he's extremely concerned as far as his work ethic is concerned and his work habits are concerned."

Wilson bench presses 330 pounds once and 225 pounds 18 times - just one repetition fewer than the average running back performed at the NFL's National Invitation Camp in Indianapolis in February.

Wilson also squats 455 and sprints 40 yards in about 4.5 seconds. He ran track for the first time last year and made it to the state finals in the 100 meters, placing seventh.

But Wilson isn't a muscle-bound body builder or power lifter who plays football. He is a gifted athlete who works to make his body stronger and more resilient.

"My dad says that lifting is really just to keep your body together and help a little with power," Wilson said.

Despite his eye popping strength and speed figures, the number people obsess over is 66 - his height in inches.

"I don't think my height hinders me at all," said the 5-foot-6 Wilson. "I think it's a little harder to see me behind the linemen, so I just squirt through the hole. Obviously, in football, the lower man wins and I usually get lower."

Thompson agrees.

"I think his size can be an advantage because if you don't see him coming and all of a sudden he's on you, he's going to win that," Thompson said. "I don't think his size is any issue. Sometimes he gets lost in the shuffle and before a defense can react he's in the second level of the defense and that's where we want him."

Wilson and Columbia Falls' offensive line, led by all-state senior Keith Catt, have allowed the Wildcats to play smash-mouth football, which Thompson savors.

"You're defenseless if a team can run the ball on you," Thompson said. "There's nothing more helpless than being a coach on the sideline where somebody's running the ball, running the clock and you can't stop them."

Wilson's dedication to the weight room has imbued a belief in him that one defender can't tackle him.

"I like to think about the hard work I put in," Wilson said. "Ever since I started playing football, I never had a doubt I'd win a head-on hit with anybody."

Wilson ran the ball 37 times for 235 yards in Columbia Falls' homecoming win against Bigfork on Sept. 22, but he had no idea how many carries or yards he accumulated until Thompson told him the next morning.

He's fast enough to outrun most defenders, but Wilson prefers to run through them. That mentality makes his coaches nervous, but Thompson knows better than to change it.

"I just think that's a mindset that he's developed over time and why change something that's working?" Thompson said. "He gets the better part of a lot of tackles and I think that has to do with the spirit he brings to the game, the speed he brings to the carry. He has the ability to deliver a hit while being tackled."

Thompson said Columbia Falls' coaches didn't want to overwhelm Wilson last year, so they "eased him into the lineup." He started the Wildcats' third game and has been a backfield fixture ever since.

Columbia Falls running backs coach Troy Bowman said Wilson's running style reminds him of former Montana Grizzlies star Yohance Humphery who rushed for 4,070 yards from 1998-2001.

"We refer to him as 'Crazy Legs' because those legs are like the Tazmanian Devil or Road Runner," Bowman said.

Wilson admires New Orleans Saints rookie running back Reggie Bush, but says his bruising style is more similar to Jamal Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. He describes his running as "quick and explosive," but he wants to improve his moves in the open field.

"He keeps his shoulders square to the goal line and, when he smells the goal line, he gets there," Thompson said. "He came in running that way."

But Wilson is actually on the field less this season than he was last year when he played nearly every defensive snap at linebacker. He still plays some defense, but he's able to rest more now thanks to the emergence of linebackers Mackey Nolan, Aaron Horine and Roddy Hill.

"He's a very good linebacker, very good in pursuit," Thompson said. "We usually play him at the middle linebacker position in our defense and, in my opinion, he's a very solid linebacker. When we need a little more speed on the field out of that linebacker corps, he definitely fits the bill."

Wilson's defensive skills may be genetic since his father played middle linebacker at Illinois. Wilson carries a 3.2 grade point average and would love to play college football in three years.

"My goal is definitely to go to a college, Division 1-A, if I reach that ability," Wilson said. "My desire, if God wants, is to play in the NFL someday."

Thompson thinks Wilson's goal of playing major college football is attainable.

"I think Josh could be a very good college football player and I don't see any reason it couldn't be at the Division I level," Thompson said. "He's not going to get slower, he's only going to get stronger and he's only going to become a better football player."

Wilson didn't learn about hard work and teamwork through football. As the oldest of five children, Wilson helps his little brothers and sisters with the family's tougher chores because "the older brother is supposed to lead by example." He has been chopping wood for his parents, Bob and Natalia, since he was 10.

"He's an exceptional kid," Thompson said. "He's polite, he's courteous in the hallways at our school, he leads by example. "I think his parents have played a huge role in that. I think they've taught him some great values, a great work ethic."

More than accomplishing his personal goals, Wilson wants Columbia Falls to contend for a state championship before he graduates.

"I am so excited about that," Wilson said. "Personally, I want to get much, much better."

Wilson said the Wildcats can make the playoffs this year if they play to their potential in their final games at Whitefish (5-1, 3-1) and Libby (6-0, 4-0), but he wants to get his teammates excited about strength training this offseason so Columbia Falls can rise from good to great.

"What you work for, you can't just have it," Wilson said. "You have to take what you work for."