Mooney running back's career is a junior achievement

SARASOTA

Steve Ierulli pointed to the far corner of the stands on the home side of Austin Smithers Stadium at Cardinal Mooney High early this week, then talked about football ... and family.

"There are maybe 20 people there when we play football. My grandma, my mom. Dad. My uncle Nick and uncle David," Ierulli said.

It is from that sacred spot in the stands where Ierulli can feel the support flowing every Friday night that he takes the field there. Each time he carries the football -- and he carries it a lot -- he can hear, and feel, the cheers coming from the Italian Ierulli football family.

With each carry, he carries on the tradition and follows in the footsteps of the first family of Mooney football.

"Football is certainly a uniting entity within our family," explained Ierulli's father, Steve Sr., who heard many of those same cheers when he carried the football at Mooney more than a quarter century ago.

Long before young Steve Ierulli stepped on the football field at Mooney, he knew the family football history. "My dad would talk about the teams he played against, and things that would happen," he said. "When my uncles came to the house we would talk football."

The tradition began with Steve Sr.'s older brother, Tony Ierulli, who made the all-state football team twice, played on the 1972 state championship team at Mooney, and is now the head coach at Maryville College in Tennessee.

It continued with David and Nick, who each earned football honors at Mooney in the mid-1970s. They were followed by the best of the four brothers, Steve, who led the area in rushing two years and earned all-state honors before graduating in 1981.

Now a senior, the son of Steve Ierulli is ready to make some history of his own.

Last Friday night, Steve Ierulli gained 234 yards to push his career total at Mooney to 2,449. He is now within striking distance of catching his father, who gained 3,061 yards and is second on the school's all-time career rushing record.

"I think he can definitely catch me. That would be fantastic," Steve Sr. said. "He deserves it. The kid runs circles around me."

That is saying something since the senior Ierulli set the standard by the way Mooney running backs would be judged with a bruising running style that leaned heavily on heart and desire. He still holds the Mooney record for carries in a game, gaining 273 yards on 48 carries his senior season in a win over Booker.

The younger Ierulli is stronger and faster, but the running styles are strikingly similar.

"It is incredible how much they are alike," said Bob Smithers, who is in a unique position to offer some perspective. Smithers was the head coach at Mooney when the elder Ierulli arrived at Mooney. He currently works as an assistant coach at Mooney, working under his son, Josh Smithers.

Mike Dowling can also make comparisons. His coaching career at Mooney spanned father and son. "It is like they came out of the same mold. Believe me, I can testify to that," Dowling said. "It's like déjà vu."

When Steve Ierulli Sr. carried the football those 48 times, everyone knew he was getting the football. It took its toll.

"I think I threw up in the back of one of my linemen that game," he said. Ierulli spent the next couple days on crutches, but by the following Friday he was ready to go it again. He carried the football 31 times for 277 yards against Fort Meade before passing out at a dance later that night.

His son now carries the load at Mooney.

"He is one of those guys who gives tremendous effort," Josh Smithers said. "There are times he looks like he can't go another play. Then you give him the football one more time, and he is bursting out for a 30-yard gain."

In Mooney's first four games, including the Kickoff Classic, Ierulli carried the football more than 30 times each night. Last Friday, it only took the 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior 25 carries to get his 234 yards and four touchdowns.

He loves the work but pays the price.

"I am tired, really tired," he said. "I can't wait to go to sleep after the game. I am so tired. But, as long as we win, I don't care."

Despite the aches, his eyes light up at the prospect of getting the chance to break his father's record for carries in a game.

"It would be cool to do that," he said. "That would be a lot of carries ... a lot of carries."

Those types of carries can take their toll, especially the way Ierulli gets his yards. There are times where he will break loose and run free. But more often, he breaks tackles before getting into the clear.

"I love to hit someone," he said. "I have never had a problem hitting anyone. I am not afraid of that."

Shortly after the end of last season, Ierulli had surgery on his left shoulder to repair a torn labrum that he played with much of the season. By summertime, he was lifting more than he ever had in the weightroom. He also worked out with a speed coach -- Mike Gough -- and is clearly faster than he was a year ago. "You can see it on film," he said. "I am completely different."

But not so different from his father, who started sixth on the depth chart and ended up with the school career rushing record that stood until 2000 when Brandon Whitman ran for 3,432 yards.

"Being at Mooney and seeing him play certainly tugs at me and brings back a lot of memories," Steve Sr. said. "I always preached to Steve that he would one day play for Mike Dowling and that he could run for more yards than I did."

And, for Mooney fans of all ages, that's a good thing.