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Saturday, December 13, 1997

Granger player emerges as latest star in a football family

By JAKE RIGDON / Temple Daily Telegram

TEMPLE, Texas -- Jason Huf's dream came true last week when his touchdown with 1:27 remaining gave fifth-ranked Granger a 22-19 win over No. 2 Celeste in the Class A semifinals.

Not only did that put the Lions in the school's first championship game, but it also meant Huf's youngest brother, 8-year-old Nathan, will get to see him play in the title game. Nathan is mentally retarded and physically handicapped.

"This is something I really haven't told anyone about, but deep down inside, it's always been my dream for Nathan and my whole family to be there with me," said Huf, who along with the rest of the Lions will play Wheeler Saturday in Abilene for the Class A state championship. "I want him at that game more than anything else."

Nathan wasn't supposed to live past 1-1/2 years old. Jason's mother, Lillie Huf said. "(Nathan) is a miracle -- he's shot all the statistics the doctors gave us.

"If it's just cold or wet outside, (Nathan's) coming with us."

The Huf family has decorated Nathan's wheelchair in Granger's gold and purple colors, with a jersey with Jason's No. 6 attached to the back.

"When we first found out what was wrong with Nathan, we were devastated," Jason Huf said. "I wasn't sure what to think, because I was so little. But that only brought us closer together as a family, and basically, as a community, too, since there was such an outpouring of help from everyone."

Over the last couple of years, the number "3" hasn't exactly been Huf's lucky number -- up until this season. In previous seasons, Huf was the third option at wide receiver, the third option at running back, and played for a No. 5 Granger team that lost in the third round of the Class A playoffs the last two years.

Saturday's game will be the pinnacle for what has been a breakout season for him. He's third on the team with 826 yards rushing -- despite playing on a badly sprained ankle the last five weeks -- and has scored nine touchdowns, third on the team.

"He's having a great season," said Granger coach John Valastro, whose team takes a 12-1 record and an 11-game winning streak in to the title game. "He would have already had 1,000 yards rushing, but because of the injuries, the open date and the bouncing around on offense, he hasn't had that opportunity.

"Jason deserves all the recognition he can get," Valastro said. "In fact, that whole family deserves all the good things that can happen to them."

Huf is a three-year starter on defense, where he caught a team-high eight interceptions as a sophomore. But on offense, he rarely got much playing time, and when he did, he wasn't the primary option. It wasn't until the third week this season when Valastro, already without projected starters Chris Fisher and Robert White, inserted Huf into the starting lineup at running back.

"We've been blessed with so many good running backs and wide receivers that Jason's kind of moved around a lot on the offensive line," Valastro.

For years, Huf has lived in the shadows of older brother Allen, a former standout on the team from 1990-94. The elder Huf was all-state on the baseball team, and an honorable mention all-state selection in football. The other younger siblings include Tommy, a freshman on the football squad, 12-year-old James, 11-year-old Andrew, and Nathan.

"Our oldest one (Allen) never had the chance to go to state," Lillie Huf said, "but he always makes the trip down from Stephenville for the games, and he's always one of the first ones out there tackling all the guys after they win.

"That's something special to see."

Lillie Huf said her entire family will always have something to remember, no matter what the final outcome of Saturday's game.

"This is very, very dear to us," she said. "We're living in a dream."

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Distributed by The Associated Press