“I really wanted to focus on basketball,” Darling said. “And then I realized how much I missed it, missed football, and so I decided to return.”

Darling is back on the Spruce Mountain football team, now as a senior, and the Phoenix are glad he’s there.

Now instead of running through fields and around trees, he’s running through tackles and around the edge.

Injury stalled Darling’s return, rendering him unable to help out his old team through the first two games.

And he couldn’t do much to stop the bleeding in week three, running the ball four times for just nine yards and failing to catch a pass.

But the past two games, Darling has shown what he can do. He scored three touchdowns in a breakout performance against Gray-New Gloucester, running to the end zone from 55 and 30 yards and catching a Caulin Parker scoring pass for 55 yards. Darling combined for 208 yards rushing and receiving in a 51-6 win.

He followed that up with three more scores — again, two rushing and one receiving — in a 46-0 victory over Poland.

“At Cape, I was a little hesitant on what to do and stuff,” Darling said. “But the Gray-New Gloucester game, I locked in and I told myself I needed to do something because it’s my senior year and I haven’t done anything yet. It was three games in.”

A 200-yard, three-score performance might not have been possible if Darling had never left the game. He said missing a year while cross country renewed his love for football. When he decided to return, he rededicated himself to the game.

“Probably halfway through double sessions I realized I really should be playing, I shouldn’t have missed last year,” Darling said. “A learning experience.”

While the running part was easy for Darling, it was everything else about the game that he had to re-introduce himself to.

“Through double sessions, like with the plays and just getting back catching the ball,” Darling said. “Just simple stuff. Having your hands in the right place. That stuff, I had to get renewed with all that stuff. My injury didn’t help, but as the season went on, like (against Gray-New Gloucester), I thought I kind of came back and was myself again.”

Getting all the other basics down allowed Darling to showcase his biggest asset — his speed.

“He’s just quick. He’s fast,” said fellow senior Dillon Webster, who called Darling a “bandit.”

“He’s really quick, fast, he’s speedy,” echoed classmate Parker. “It’s great to watch him get out in the open field and do what he can do.”

Darling’s position is the hard-to-define slot back. It’s part running back, part wide receiver. He can start one play out on the edge, but end up taking a handoff from Parker. Or he can start near the snap and find himself catching a pass near the sideline.

Either way, Darling has the potential to take any play for a touchdown.

“When we run sweeps and stuff, I’m able to use my speed and my agility to be better than the corners. Just get around there, and that’s kind of my game,” Darling said. “Dillon is the one who takes all the big, in-the-middle plays.”

Darling, Webster and Parker help make up a dangerous and versatile offense for the Phoenix. Add in fellow runner/receivers Brett Frey and Kayle Stewart and it’s no wonder Spruce Mountain has totaled 97 points in its past two games.

“It’s great. Just having confidence in the line, and (Dillon and Caulin),” Darling said. “Just growing up with them, and just knowing what their abilities can do, and just having me as well. We all love being together.”

Darling is also an asset on special teams and defense. He returns punts and kicks, giving him more opportunities for long touchdowns, and on defense he is a key piece in the secondary.

As a defensive back, however, Darling’s speed can only help him so much. His 5-foot-8, 155-pound frame doesn’t do him any favors in some matchups.

“Like Cape, against (Ben) Ekdahl, he was definitely a challenge,” Darling said. “My height is definitely a problem, but I try with my speed and agility and my experience, that’s how I try to overcome that.

“Just being intelligent with the game. Knowing that I’m smaller than most people. Just being smarter.”

Darling said that he is smarter in terms of football as a senior now than he when he last played as a sophomore. Speed and smarts can be a deadly mix for opposing defenses.

Darling also said returning to football was the smart choice for him. And it’s his Spruce Mountain team that is reaping the benefits.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

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