THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 20, 1995 TAG: 9510200679
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
There are no easy yards for Princess Anne's Mike Majette. No easy touchdowns. No easy victories.
Perhaps that is why now, with only four games to go in a magnificent high school career, he finds it hard to accept the easy recognition that accompanies his chase of the area's all-time Group AAA rushing record.
Majette, a 6-foot, 195-pound senior, stands fourth on the list with 3,625 yards. He needs 461 yards to eclipse the mark of 4,085 set by Norcom's Terry Ricks in 1993.
``I'm tired of everybody saying how good I am,'' Majette said two weeks ago, after Green Run pummeled Princess Anne 51-13, dropping the Cavaliers to 0-5. ``I want them to say how good we are as a team.
``Football is a team sport. I'm no superstar. If I was I'd pull us out of this.''
No superstar?
A week after spitting out those bitter words, Majette shredded First Colonial for a career-high 252 yards and three touchdowns in an 18-3 victory.
``I'm looking forward to getting the record now,'' Majette said Wednesday. ``But it still doesn't mean as much as winning. Records come second to me. There is nothing better than running off the field after you have played your heart out and won.''
Ask Ricks. He played on an undefeated state championship team his senior year.
Princess Anne is 13-23 in Majette's four varsity seasons and hasn't won a title or made the playoffs since 1979. That has cost Majette some media exposure, but to the football fraternity he has always been one of the best.
``I've been playing against Mike since junior high and he's the toughest running back I've ever tried to take down,'' Green Run's Billy Higgins said. ``High. Low. He's the toughest.''
Maury coach Bob Pannenbacker, whose team plays at Princess Anne tonight, is bracing for Majette left, Majette right and Majette up the middle.
``Good golly, he's a defensive coordinator's nightmare,'' Pannenbacker said. ``He finds a crack and knows how to exploit it.''
College recruiters are equally aware of Majette. He's on the mailing list at Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina. Norfolk State coach Darnell Moore is scheduled to meet with Majette.
But Majette is borderline academically and hasn't achieved a qualifying score on the SAT or ACT. He met Wednesday with his guidance counselor and coach Mike Benzel to mull over junior college options.
``Mike tries hard in the classroom,'' Benzel said. ``He could try a little harder.''
Majette rues his late start in the classroom and draws on that experience in a cautionary tale he spins for underclassmen.
``I tell them not to wait until the last minute to take care of academics,'' he said. ``I tell them you don't want to go through what I'm going through. I'm stressed out trying to figure out if I'm going to make it.''
This has been a stressful year for Majette even without worrying about college.
His parents, who have a stormy relationship, split up again and last week his mother, Mildred, had a serious attack of diabetes. Majette skipped practice Wednesday to visit an uncle who is terminally ill.
``People think it's easy being me,'' Majette said. ``I wish they knew.''
With his father gone Majette has adopted more responsibilities at home. He's become an all-district housekeeper, said his mother, and is learning his way around the kitchen.
``He can fix some terrible, terrible spaghetti,'' Mildred Majette said.
Mildred Majette is a self-motivated supervisor for Optimum Choice, an HMO. A former high school basketball star in North Carolina, she was the first person to recognize her son's running talent.
``When Mike was a toddler, he never walked, he always ran,'' she said. ``He would look back at you and laugh, as if to say come on and catch me.''
Majette doesn't run away from tacklers as much as he runs through them.
He is a classic I-back. Slashing through the line, head up, trunk bent slightly at the waist to help keep his balance, he resembles an infantryman scurrying across the field of battle.
Benzel kept track last season of how many yards Majette gained after the initial hit. It was more than five yards per carry, he said.
Majette led South Hampton Roads with 1,325 yards rushing and was a first-team All-Tidewater pick in 1994. He is first again with 805 yards this season and on pace to slightly better last year's total.
If he does that he'll own the record.
It's not easy being Mike Majette. But it's a lot harder stopping him. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
PAUL AIKEN/The Virginian-Pilot
As a classic l-back, Mike Majette's trademark is to carry defenders,
like this First Colonial player, with him after he's hit.
Princess Anne's Mike Majette stands 461 yards from the area's
rushing record - and not many dare get in his way.
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