A part of Brandon Rosado sympathizes with those assigned to tackle the player who lines up next to him in Greenwood’s offensive backfield.
Bringing Isaiah Borjas to the ground wasn’t easy six years ago.
It’s not easy now.
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“When we were younger I remember going up against him,” said Rosado, who as a fifth-grader occasionally lined up at outside linebacker for the Cowboys team in the Greenwood Bantam Football League.
“But we’re good friends now, to be sure.”
Rosado and Borjas have helped Greenwood rocket to a 2-0 start — outscoring its opposition by a total of 78-14 — entering its Mid-State Conference opener at home Friday night against Martinsville.
Rosado, a 5-foot-4, 185-pound junior, has carried the football 37 times for 203 yards and five touchdowns this season. The 5-9, 205-pound Borjas, a sophomore, is strikingly similar statistically with 31 rushes for 188 yards and two scores.
Don’t let the physical dimensions fool you.
If 11th-year head coach Mike Campbell awarded miniature helmet stickers for determination and second effort, the traditional Greenwood “G” on each side of both helmets might be covered before the regular season is over.
“Physically, they are very similar,” Campbell said. “Brandon might have a little more open-field speed, but they both enjoy blocking.
“When we send in plays, to us they’re interchangeable kids. They sort it out themselves, and as a coach it’s neat to see your players be so selfless. I’ve never seen kids who were like, ‘Oh, you run the ball this time.’”
It’s a pretty basic formula, actually:
When junior quarterback Seth Gallman hands the pigskin to Rosado, it’s Borjas and an offensive line anchored by left tackle Ryder Burchett and center Thomas Bowling creating running lanes.
Those times Borjas’s number is called, Rosado can’t wait to do whatever is necessary to help Greenwood’s offense move the chains.
This isn’t to imply the Woodmen offense is one-dimensional.
Gallman has completed 6 of 12 pass attempts for 86 yards and a touchdown — a textbook 42-yard strike to Rosado’s brother, Dylan, in Greenwood’s 34-7 victory against Perry Meridian to open the season.
Dylan Rosado, a multifaceted 5-11, 175-pound senior, has carried the ball four times for a total of 91 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown on his lone carry against Indian Creek on Friday.
Very similar on the football field, Brandon Rosado and Borjas feature contrasting personalities away from it.
“Isaiah is a very soft-spoken kid, and Brandon is very outgoing,” Campbell said. “Brandon keeps the locker room light.”
Brandon Rosado’s emergence isn’t a surprise to those in the Woodmen football program.
As a sophomore, he finished the season with 140 carries for 701 yards and seven touchdowns to help propel the Woodmen to their first winning season since 2012. He established career highs of 190 yards and five TDs in a Class 4A sectional-opening win at Beech Grove.
He even gained valuable varsity experience as a ninth-grader (11 carries, 17 yards).
Borjas had yet to carry the football in a varsity game for the Woodmen prior to this season.
Now that he has and is averaging 6.1 yards doing so, Rosado likes how seamless the transition has been to this point.
“I feel like I have a little edge in speed, but Isaiah has a lot more power in the legs than I do,” Rosado said. “I love how both of us just about have the same amount of carries and the same yardage.”
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Rushing statistics through two games for Greenwood running backs Brandon Rosado and Isaiah Borjas:
Player;Att;Yds;Avg;TD
Rosado;37;203;5.5;5
Borjas;31;188;6.1;2
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