Rio Linda's Cameron Skattebo starts record-breaking and state championship day with a run for the ages.
Joe Davidson has been covering high school sports in Northern California since the late 1980s.
He said this weekend that he's never seen a better, or more determined, run than that of
Cameron Skattebo in the CIF State Division 5-AA Bowl Championship on Saturday.
The 5-foot-10, 200-pound
Rio Linda (Calif.) junior broke multiple tackles and seemed tackled a half-dozen times en route to a 67-yard touchdown run. He broke free from scrums at his own 45 and then a seemingly impossible one at the San Gorgonio 25.
But his TD run was no anomaly. Skattebo entered the game with 3,157 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns. What made the run even more meaningful, Rio Lindo won its first state championship 38-35.
Skattebo, who also plays linebacker for the Knights, finished with 396 yards rushing on 29 carries and three touchdowns. He broke the Sac-Joaquin Section single-season rushing record with 3,553 yards.
Of the run, Davidson wrote: "I just saw the greatest TD run by a high school player. The powerback with speed broke 7-8 tackles on a 67-yard effort. … It was Onterrio Smith-like — relentless and then some."
Rio Linda's Cameron Skattebo may have produced the Run of the Year in the Knights' 38-35 CIF state title game win over San Gorgonio.
Photo by Robert Schlie
