St. Al teammates Smith, Harris decimated opponents

Over the course of his high school career, St. Aloysius quarterback Connor Smith has used both his arm and his feet to leave beaten opponents scratching their heads.

This season he added an even more potent weapon to his arsenal — the handoff.

While Smith carved out a spot in St. Al’s record book as one of the best quarterbacks in school history, junior running back DeMichael Harris was busy breaking rushing records and providing a steady stream of big plays.

Together, the backfield tandem combined for nearly 3,500 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns while leading the Flashes to their first state championship game appearance in 33 years. They’re sharing The Vicksburg Post’s Offensive Player of the Year award as surely as they shared the football, both key and inseparable cogs to St. Al’s success.

“I think each game, one of us stepped up,” Smith said. “Somebody got on a roll and it was a snowball effect and kept going.”

Harris was a part-time player as a sophomore, seeing time as a receiver and on special teams. He was moved to tailback to replace the graduated Barrett Teller and Douglas Busari — two backs who combined for 1,808 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2013 — and needed all of one game to prove he was up for the job.

Harris had 143 yards and two touchdowns in the season opener against Cathedral. He said his performance in that game proved to himself that he could handle the workload of a feature back.

“I knew it was going to be a lot tougher than just playing one side of the ball. I had to get bigger and mentally tougher,” Harris said. “When I finished that first game I was beat up, but I said there was not going to be another game where I feel as bad as this.”

The only ones feeling bad, most of the time, were the opponents Harris left in his vapor trail as he sprinted down the field.

The speedster ran for at least 100 yards nine times, had six 200-yard games, and scored two or more touchdowns in nine of St. Al’s 15 games. Three of his 200-yard games came in the playoffs.

Harris finished with 2,102 yards and 24 touchdowns, both of which are school records. It was the first 2,000-yard season by a Warren County back since 1994 and could have been more. He missed a game and a half early in the season with an injury and sat out the second half of a lot of blowout wins.

“It meant a lot for my name to be in the history books. Not too many people get an opportunity to do this,” Harris said, adding that his teammates deserve credit for their roles as well. “The receivers did a great job blocking this year, and so did the offensive line. It’s probably the best offensive line St. Al is ever going to see.”

Besides the raw numbers, Harris also had a knack for big, timely plays. He ripped off a 59-yard touchdown run on St. Al’s first play from scrimmage in a 35-6 rout of Coffeeville in the Class 1A North State championship game and had a half-dozen scoring runs of 40 yards or more.

His biggest play of the season, though, came on a kickoff.

The Flashes had lost to Cathedral in the opener and trailed 14-0 the following week against Pisgah when Harris returned a kickoff for a touchdown. They went on to win 35-14 for the first of 13 consecutive victories.

“Just thinking about the season, at Pisgah we were still trying to find a spark. All of a sudden he busted a kickoff return and that got our season rolling,” Smith said.

As dangerous as Harris was, however, he was only one facet of the team’s potent offense. Opponents who keyed on him did so with the knowledge that Smith could just as easily beat them.

Smith had either a rushing or passing touchdown in 14 out of 15 games. He ran for at least 100 yards seven times, even as coach BJ Smithhart limited his carries late in the season to keep him fresh for the playoffs. Smith averaged 9.4 yards per carry and only had more than 14 carries in a game once.

Smith’s ability not only gave St. Al two 1,000-yard rushers for the second consecutive season, but an even rarer feat — a 2,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard rusher. Smith finished the season with 1,365 yards.

“There have been years where we haven’t accomplished what one of them did, much less have both of them in the same backfield,” Smithhart said. “It’s hard to say with those two together, which was better. One of them always seemed to make a play.”

Smith was a three-year starter at quarterback. He laughs and cringes when thinking back to his sophomore season, when he threw only one touchdown pass and St. Al finished 3-8. Smith realized, however, that he needed to get better and quickly came into his own.

As a junior, Smith surpassed the 1,000-yard mark both rushing and passing, led St. Al to the Class 1A semifinals, and won The Vicksburg Post’s Offensive Player of the Year award.

This year he was even better, finishing with 1,109 yards and nine touchdowns passing in addition to his gaudy rushing total.

“I just think I got bigger and stronger. That was something I was going to have to do just to be the starter. I matured, too. All of that was beneficial to me getting better,” Smith said. “For me it’s been amazing. As a freshman and sophomore it was like rock bottom. Then we broke through, and getting to state this year is something I never dreamed we’d be able to do.”

From his humble beginnings, Smith emerged not only as one of the best quarterbacks in St. Al history, but one of the best in Warren County history.

Smith’s selection as Player of the Year in 2013 marked the first time a St. Al player had received the award since 1995. Now he’s one of only four players to get it twice, following Warren Central running backs Brian Darden (1992, ’93 and ’94), and Larry Warner (2003 and ’04), and Vicksburg running back J.J. Brown (2000 and ’01).

Smith finished his career with 2,736 rushing yards. Since yardage records were first kept in 1970, it’s the best total for a Warren County player who spent his entire career playing quarterback.

Smith also threw for 2,660 yards, which is one of the top passing totals in St. Al history, and won more playoff games (five) than any quarterback in school history. St. Al won a total of four playoff games from 1981-2012.

Harris, for one, said there’s no doubt in his mind where Smith ranks.

“The best quarterback,” Harris said matter-of-factly. “He’s put the team on his back at times, gotten us out of tough spots, and just made a play when we needed him to make one.”

Vicksburg Post Offensive Players of the Year

2014 – Connor Smith, QB, St. Aloysius and DeMichael Harris, RB, St. Aloysius

2013 – Connor Smith, QB, St. Aloysius

2012 – Peter Harris, RB, Porters Chapel

2011 – Cameron Cooksey, QB, Vicksburg and A.J. Stamps, WR, Vicksburg

2010 – Chris Marshall, WR, Porters Chapel

2009 – Tim Jones, RB, Warren Central

2008 – Clayton Holmes, QB, Porters Chapel

2007 – Austin Barber, RB, Porters Chapel

2006 – Hayden Hales, QB, Porters Chapel

2005 – Chris Mixon, RB, Porters Chapel

2004 – Larry Warner, RB, Warren Central

2003 – Larry Warner, RB, Warren Central

2002 – Richmond Fields, RB, Warren Central

2001 – J.J. Brown/Phelan Gray, RB, Vicksburg

2000 – J.J. Brown, RB, Vicksburg

1999 – Caris London, RB, Vicksburg

1998 – Thomas McKnight, RB, Vicksburg

1997 – Josh Morgan, QB, Warren Central

1996 – Ben Jernigan, QB, Porters Chapel

1995 – Stacy Williams, RB, St. Aloysius

1994 – Brian Darden, RB, Warren Central

1993 – Brian Darden, RB, Warren Central and Jamaal Williams, RB, St. Aloysius

1992 – Brian Darden, RB, Warren Central

1991 – Alfred Daniels, RB, Vicksburg

1990 – Damian McClelland, RB, Vicksburg

1989 – Larry Carter, RB, Warren Central

1988 – Kenny Johnson, RB, Warren Central

1987 – John Kavanaugh, RB, St. Aloysius