PORTLAND — Whatever represents the Mount Rushmore of Maine’s all-time high school football running backs, and wherever man may sculpt it, Josh Strickland better be on it.

Until Saturday, it was easy to draw comparisons between Strickland and Leavitt Area High School predecessors Jimmy Ray and Jeff Dube, each of whom hoisted the Hornets to a Class B championship during a four-year span of the 1990s.

Strickland has his fingerprints on a Gold Ball now, too, courtesy of a 35-21 victory over Cape Elzabeth at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

But it’s how he and the Hornets got there, spotlessly and splendidly, through the months of October and November that ought to thrust Strickland into the conversation with Jared Turcotte, Jeremy Tardiff, Steve Knight, Art Leveris and Maine’s other greatest backs of the last quarter-century.

“Strickland is a beast. He’s a manimal,” said Leavitt senior Matt Pellerin, anchor of a brawny and experienced line at least partially responsible for Strickland’s ridiculous postseason and surreal state final. “He’s been my lifting partner for years. He’s just naturally strong and naturally gifted.”

With a 51-yard touchdown run on his final carry, Strickland achieved the unthinkable task of rushing for 300 yards in a title game, hitting the number right on the nose with 37 carries.

It was his fourth touchdown of the night.

Now keep in mind that Strickland essentially sat out three entire games early in Leavitt’s perfect season before digesting these final statistics: 204 carries, 1,665 yards, 20 TDs.

Nearly 1,000 of those yards and almost half those carries came in the playoffs against the likes of Gardiner, Hampden, and now previously undefeated Cape.

In addition to a nagging hamstring injury, Strickland was hamstrung by the Hornets’ thorough dominance of the Pine Tree Conference this season. With Leavitt crossing the 50, 60, even 70-point threshold on a weekly basis, Leavitt’s featured back frequently gave way to junior varsity understudies in the second half of games.

“He does it because he’s got a great offensive line blocking in front of him, and because he’s a great competitor,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. “He wants the ball 100 times a game if he can have it.”

The 51-yard exclamation point as he tiptoed a triumphant Leavitt sideline wasn’t typical of Strickland’s day. He tortured the Capers six, seven, eight and nine yards at a time. 

Rather than panic and throw the ball in long-yardage situations as other teams might in a big game, the Hornets had zero reservations about sticking to their game plan with someone 6-foot-2, 220 pounds and able to jump over the moon at their disposal.

Strickland runs moved the chains on third-and-7 and third-and-11. And he delivered his second-longest TD jaunt, a 36-yarder that gave Leavitt a 28-14 lead with 9:15 left, on third-and-13.

“It just shows that the hard work, the weight room, the extra running all pay off,” said Strickland. “Coach said we were going to keep feeding me the ball in the second half.”

Only a year ago, Staires’ performance for Mountain Valley in this same game cemented his status in the Fitzpatrick Trophy discussion, eventually making him a finalist.

Pellerin believes Strickland earned that same consideration Saturday.

“We do a great job blocking for him, no question,” said Pellerin. “But sometimes he makes us look good.”

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