Cruz's journey reaches brink of playoffs

He repeats it like a prayer. Over and over. Mind over matter. Mind over matter. It's more than just a mantra, because the mind of a 5-foot-9, 155-pound running back has to overcome quite a bit of matter. Most of it trying to knock him flat on his back.

"All the nicks and bruises heal," says Robert Cruz, Magnolia's all-purpose lightning bolt. "It's just mind over matter, wanting to accomplish something great."

"Great" is a few steps behind what Cruz has done this year for the Sentinels, who are looking at the possibility of playoff football for the first time in 23 years with a victory Thursday against Anaheim.

Besides averaging 255.2 rushing yards per game, Cruz punts, plays linebacker, is 1 for 1 passing for 26 yards and has made eight catches for 166 yards. Because Magnolia lacks a dedicated placekicker, Cruz has had to take the load on two-point conversions, as well.

When the Sentinels' second-year head coach Dave Perkins was criticized by his daughter, Ally, for appearing to run up the score early in the year, he laughed.

"We tried to have (Cruz) take a PAT and he almost killed one of the cheerleaders on the right, so that was the end of that," says Perkins. "That was one thing he couldn't do this year, so we decided to forget it and just go for two."

OK, so maybe he can only do almost everything. But put the football in Cruz's hands, and he's about as untouchable as a live power line. Pound for pound, he may just be the best back in California.

"Some nights you turn the switch on, and you can't turn it off," says Perkins. "Robert has a second gear. When he gets into that secondary, you really don't catch him."

Cruz's 2,297 yards are tops in California, and among the top 25 totals in the nation. He has run for more than 300 yards in five games, topping out at 381. And he's not shy about contact.

"He brings it," says Perkins. "And you'd better be ready for it or else he'll come knock your socks off if he gets the chance, and that's what he does. He does it in practice and he does it in games."

Cruz brings that same intensity to defense. He collides with players 20 pounds heavier than him, and he's the one left standing, waiting for more.

"It's hard to keep him off the field," says Perkins. Even after running for 343 yards against Katella, Perkins couldn't turn off Cruz's engine in the fourth quarter. "He was saying 'I want the ball, give me the ball, I want to go, I want to play defense.' He's just a football player."

For a player who lives on the far side of fast-forward, that kind of speed and excitement should be expected. But there is something deeper that drives Cruz's unceasing pistons: the hunger for battle, the love of the game. And, like his school, which has waited so long for playoff football, the hasty Cruz is - ironically - all about patience.

"Being younger, you're really impatient and you're so quick to jump the gun on somebody else," says Cruz. "But I've just learned to be more patient, just take it easy and learn to pick more people up and be more responsible for yourself and let the other guys worry about their jobs."

Right now, Cruz's job is to make pencil-thin holes look as wide as a runway. And once he's on the other side, the rest of the world just gets to slow down and watch him turn on the afterburners.

With the recent success of such pocket-sized speedsters as Oregon State's Jaquizz Rodgers and Arizona's Keola Antolin, it is no longer just friends and family that have been watching. Cruz has received letters from, among others, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, UCLA and Utah.

"It would be such a blessing," gushes Robert's mother Cathy. "It would be such an opportunity for him and such a great experience for him. It would be a total blessing."

But until that blessing can come to life, there are still games to play, tackles and ankles to break and a drought to be quenched, none of which will be easy. But easy just wouldn't be Cruz's style.

"It's hard with all the temptations of drugs and alcohol and the partying that you can fall into," says Cruz of his newfound stardom. "Just like anything, it's easier to fail than to succeed. It's tough, but it's all just mind over matter."

Contact the writer: preps@ocregister.com