Tyrone Curry remembers the play clearly. It was the playoffs last season and the smallest player on the field lined up at running back. He ran a sweep to the left. The blocking broke down and five defenders met the runner, he broke through and changed course to the right. He met three more defenders, slipped past their tackles. Then he weaved back the other direction, running around three more defenders before breaking clear and running freely into the end zone.

“Man, I wish you could have seen it,” Curry said. “He broke 11 tackles. It was pretty amazing.”

Curry has reason to feel proud. The player was Jawann Gault, his son and the Benson Bruins 89er’s star running back.

The Benson Bruins are part of the Puget Sound Junior Football League (PSJFL) and the 89er’s is a division of the Bruins. Players fit into either the Pee Wees, Midgets, 89er’s, Sweat Peas or Bantams, depending on their age and weight.

Gault, 10, weighed in at the beginning of the season at 55 pounds, which threw a wrench into the PSJFL’s age and weight guidelines. He was too old and too small.

There isn’t even a weight guideline listed for 10-year-olds in the 89er’s division. But for comparison, the maximum weight for 7-year-olds is 90 pounds. Gault should have been playing in the Sweet Peas division (next division up from the 89er’s) but he didn’t weigh enough.

Curry said he tries to get Gault to eat more to gain some weight. “All he really eats is waffles,” he said.

Gault measures in at just over 4 feet tall and Curry said he has been the shortest and smallest since he first set foot on the field three years ago. Curry fed him this simple advice: If you can’t be bigger, be faster.

“That’s been his drive,” Curry said. “Because he’s the smallest, he’s got to play 10 times better than everyone else. He’s got to play 10 times harder than everyone else.”

The results have been impressive this season. Gault has rushed for 960 yards and scored 19 touchdowns heading into the Super Bowl today (Saturday) against Enumclaw.

At age 2, Gault pulled the cord of a hot iron, knocking the iron onto his face. Curry and Gault’s mother pulled the iron off of his face and it fell onto his arms and hands. Gault spent three or four days in the hospital and still carries some scars on his arms.

At five, Gault was playing catch with a toy in the front yard when the toy went out into the street. He ran out to grab it without looking and a passing car hit him, running over his foot. He wore a cast for a few weeks but suffered no broken bones.

At six, Gault was playing with venetian blinds and fell, lodging part of the blinds in the back of his mouth. He had to eat through a straw for some time after that accident.

“He’s always been really curious,” Curry said. “Luck was not on his side when he was younger.”

Gault may be a Bruin, but it seems he has nine lives. After that catastrophe-crammed childhood, Gault’s luck has turned and he has found his home on the football field.

Before this season, Gault knew what milestone he wanted to reach: 1,000 yards. He asked his coaches if it had ever been done; it hasn’t. Curry said he wasn’t sure at the beginning of the season, but the more he played, the more yards he picked up. Through nine games Gault is just 40 yards short of his goal.

So where did the speed and elusiveness come from? Curry played basketball growing up.

Similar, but not football. Gault is related to Willie Gault, former NFL wide receiver for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders, but Curry said that’s not where it comes from. Gault’s speed, instead, comes from more of a home-grown source.

“He has four sisters at home,” Curry said with a chuckle. “So he’s used to running away and getting around tacklers.”

Parents and coaches at the games have noticed Gault’s talent and often jokingly solicit Curry to be a part of Gault’s football future.

“I hear everything,” Curry said. “People say they want to be his agent. People say they want to adopt him. One parent even came back the week after his son played against Jawann so he could see how he did again.”

Curry said he’d obviously love to see Gault go on to play at college and in the NFL, and the thing that makes him feel like it’s a possibility is Gault’s drive, his work ethic. If he’s not on the field or at practice, he’s around the neighborhood playing football. Or watching football, or playing his Madden NFL football game. Except Gault often doesn’t play the game, he lets the video game system play itself and he just watches the plays develop.

Gault looks up to Santana Moss, Randy Moss and Clinton Portis, NFL players who have one big thing in common with him: speed. He wants to play for Ohio State University and the Dallas Cowboys.

But that’s getting too far ahead. The first priority is the Super Bowl this Saturday, Gault’s chance at his his preseason goal and more importantly, a championship for his team.

“It would mean everything if we could win, just holding that trophy would be awesome,” he said, not mentioning how close he is to 1,000 yards until asked. “It’s not about me, it’s all about the team.”

Gault will have to move up to the Sweet Peas next season because of his age and Curry said he has got one idea to get Gault ready for playing on the field with bigger players next year.

“I really have to get him to eat a lot more,” he said.

Adam McFadden can be reached at amcfadden@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5054.

Jawann Gault leading Bruins into Super Bowl