Top recruit Najee Harris finally breaks out against Rancho Cotate

ROHNERT PARK - It’s not often that boys, girls and even grown men line up to take photos with a high school football player. But that’s exactly what happened Friday night after Rancho Cotate battled hard, but lost, 41-33, to Antioch.

Everyone wanted to see what the fuss was about. Najee Harris, Antioch’s senior running back, is touted as the No. 1 high school recruit in the nation, and he would be playing at The Ranch in a nonconference game.

The crowd had all eyes on the 6-foot-2, 228-pound senior with bright eyes and an easy smile.

Though certainly the fans were for the Cougars, Harris was in the spotlight. There seemed to be an electricity in the air, an excited “is he going to break one open?” feel.

Harris didn’t disappoint, although much of it came later in the game than many expected.

Rancho held Harris to just 77 yards on seven carries in the first half, including a 33-yard touchdown on just his second touch of the ball.

After Rancho Cotate scored on its first possession - courtesy of a successful onside kick to start the game and a 29-yard run by quarterback Jake Simmons, and a Simmons-to-Logan Reese touchdown - Antioch struck back quickly.

Just 90 seconds into the game, Harris took the ball from quarterback Will Karnthong and cut right, then shrugged off a defender and sprinted down the left sideline to a 33-yard score. A two-point conversion made it 8-6.

While Harris didn’t make much more noise in the first half, ultimately he rushed for 261 yards on 17 carries and scored four touchdowns.

He scored on breakout runs of 33 yards, 70, 29 and 57 yards, showing his strength and ability to twirl out of the grasp of defenders near the line or as he turned the corner.

Harris spent much of the final six minutes of the game lying on the sideline, apparently stretching his back.

After the game - after obliging dozens of children and several adults who wanted to take photos with him - he said he was fine, just tired.

Asked about his performance, he called it “horrible.”

“Horrible, just horrible,” he said. The four TDs? “They don’t matter. We made a lot of mistakes.”

Harris, 18, who has verbally committed to playing at the University of Alabama, is still being courted by dozens of top schools. Coaches from the University of Utah were on hand Friday night.

Rancho coach Ed Conroy and his team were disappointed in the end result, but more than a little pleased with their performance. A year ago, Rancho traveled to Antioch and lost 54-14. It was 46-0 at halftime. In that game, Harris ran for 224 yards on 17 carries, in roughly two quarters of football.

The Cougars’ Peyton Whetstone, who scored twice for Rancho, said his team can hold its head high despite the loss.

“I feel like we fought hard,” he said. “It was only eight points. We put up a good fight. No one expected that.”

“I was glad we competed,” Conroy said. “We played well for a half. Actually we played well later, too, but he (Harris) got those runs that he’s going to get. He just pushes people off.”

Conroy complimented Whetstone’s performance, as well as fullback Tanielu Guerrero, who both ran hard up the middle.

Antioch led 14-12 at the half, then went up 22-12 before Rancho came back to trail by 4, 22-18. Antioch scored twice to take a 34-18 lead near the end of the third.

But Rancho pulled to within 34-25 with a Whetstone 7-yard run with 4:25 left in the fourth.

Harris broke out a 57-yard run on the second carry of the Panthers’ next possession, though, to nearly put it away. Rancho made it interesting with 35 seconds leftas Simmons connected with Jaelen Ward on a 10-yard touchdown

You can reach Lori A. Carter at 521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.