Timing was perfect for NC high school football running back to emerge from the shadows

Millbrook High’s running game needed something extra last week.

The Wildcats, known for their explosive passing attack, faced top-seeded Hillside’s balanced offense in an East Region semifinal of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A playoffs.

Xavier Pugh, Millbrook’s overshadowed running back, delivered — three times. The senior’s third rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter was the game-winner in a 19-14 victory.

“Every game he got better and better for us this year,” said Millbrook coach Jimmy Vereen.

And with Millbrook’s season advancing another week, the Wildcats are again asking Pugh for something extra. The 12th-seeded Wildcats (13-1) travel to play No. 2 seed New Bern (14-0) at 7 p.m. Friday in the East Region final.

This time, though, the “ask” is spot duty on defense. Added pursuit to the ball is needed to slow New Bern’s ground game that features three 1,000-yard runners.

“I’ll be playing both sides of the ball,” Pugh said. “We trust our coaches’ game plan. We just have to go out there and execute it.”

Adding to Pugh’s workload isn’t an act of desperation. The 5-foot-9, 185-pounder cut his varsity teeth as a starting defensive back his sophomore and junior seasons and has played spot duty on defense throughout the season.

His overall career is a reason to not consider him an overnight success story. He’s been building for these moments since he was in eighth grade and competing for East Millbrook Middle School’s team. One of the team’s games was played at Millbrook High’s stadium, and Pugh soaked up the scene with wonder.

“I knew I wanted to come here,” he said. “It’s a winning program, and I knew I wanted to join it.”

Pugh gained his first varsity experience in 2019 as a freshman playing in three games. That early taste added to his motivation entering 10th grade, and it carried him through the pandemic that postponed the 2020 season to the spring of 2021, followed by his junior season in the fall of 2021. He occupied his time during the lonely months working out.

“We have a hill by my house, so did hill sprints,” he said. “I made up my own workouts since I don’t have a gym membership.”

Despite Pugh’s early defensive identity, he never took his eye of the prize of the primary running back role.

As a sophomore he carried 18 times for 94 yards and one touchdown and as a junior 61 times for 258 yards and three touchdowns. At the end of his junior season, Pugh turned to Millbrook track coach Gabby Brown to improve his speed.

“Coach Gab really helped me,” Pugh said.

He had competed on the track team as a freshman and sophomore to keep in shape, but his junior year he dedicated himself to learning techniques to find those fractions of a difference in quickness and speed.

“We worked on his starts, his drive and his leg turnover,” Brown said. “He worked hard and helped us win the conference (in the 400-meter relay).”

Pugh will need all his speed and strength on both sides of the ball against a New Bern roster that beat Rolesville last week, 70-34. Rolesville handed Millbrook its only loss this year at midseason, 35-6.

“They’re a great team with a talent all over the field,” Vereen said. “They’re quick and fast.”

The Bears average 46.1 points a game with an option offense directed by junior quarterback Damaree Tucker (6-1, 185). Tucker has run for 1,145 yards and 15 touchdowns. Senior running back Aronne Herring (5-10, 175), who has offers from East Carolina and Charlotte, leads the team with 1,895 yards and 27 TDs. Senior Jayden Wallace (5-7, 155) adds 1,208 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Millbrook senior linebacker David Santiago, who is committed to Charlotte, leads a unit that, similar to Pugh, spent the year playing in the passing game shadows of junior quarterback Mason Fortune and two senior receivers, Nathan Leacock and Ty Broughton. Other leading defenders are senior linebacker Ian Rambert, senior safety Daunte Stokes and senior defensive lineman Bradley Muse.

“We’ve got great team chemistry,” Pugh said. “A lot of our seniors have been together on the varsity since we were sophomores. We learned from those leaders that coaches can’t do everything. The players have to lead, too.”