From third team to icon

By Dave Morrison

FOR THE REGISTER-HERALD

As the story goes, Atticus Goodson seemingly came out of nowhere, arriving on the Independence football scene as a third string sophomore running back and leaving as one of the most decorated running back in school history.

The truth is, Goodson never really was a third string running back. That was simply window dressing.

“We were smart enough to know he was eventually going to get there but we are kind of old-school around here and you have to earn it,” coach John H. Lilly said. “We wanted to make him earn it and I thought if he earned it his team would follow him. He wasn’t third team long. But he had to learn how to play (high school) football. But he was first team pretty quickly.”

Goodson was honored by having his jersey retired Friday night during the Patriots’ 28-21 season-opening win against Armstrong, Pa.

“I (said) a long time ago one of the only things I wanted when I stopped playing football here is I wanted in the Hall of Fame,” Goodson said after being presented a framed navy blue jersey with his No. 3 by assistant coach Kevin Grogg. “To have my jersey retired with all these people here in the stands really means a lot. To have my jersey never worn again after Micah (Cuthbert) gets done wearing it really hits home.”

JERSEY » 2B

Kevin Grogg, right, offensive line coach for Independence High School’s football team, presents Atticus Goodson with a framed jersey at his jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of Friday’s win over Armstrong, Pa.

Amanda Ritchie/ for The Register-Herald

Continued from 1B

Marching to the beat of his own drummer, Goodson didn’t play as a freshman. But he did enough in middle school to offer a glimpse of what he would become.

“I was still a little timid and worried about getting hurt for baseball and all that,” Goodson said. “Some stuff happened before the first game and that’s when I got the start opportunity. I tell coach Lilly all the time I didn’t even know the plays going into the first game. He called some plays I knew, and we just took off.”

The aptly-monikered A-Train rushed for over 100 yards in his first game against Midland Trail and never really slowed down.

He finished that first year with 1,767 yards and 21 touchdowns and was captain of the second- team all-state team. During a Covid-shortened 2020 season he had 1,618 yards and 25 touchdowns.

As a senior and a leader on a team that would go undefeated and win that state title, he had 1,907 yards and 29 touchdowns.

“He carried us to the state championship,” Lilly said. “We had a really young group of kids and we knew they were very talented, but they weren’t quite ready to win it all. And he carried us there. I don’t know if anyone will ever break his numbers here. It will take a phenomenal effort because he was a phenomenal athlete.”

One of the things that set him apart was imposing size. “You stand beside him, he’s a big man,” Lilly said. “I’ve had probably 20 all-state running backs and none had that combination of size and speed like he did.”

Everyone has a favorite Goodson run or play. “The one that amazed me came against Nicholas County,” Lilly said of his choice. “It was a straight power play. He came up into the gap and just made one quick move, one a guy 6-1, 220 pounds just doesn’t make. And then he got into the open field and straight-armed a kid (driving him into the ground) and just basically walked into the end zone. You just don’t see that all the time at this level.”

That was also Goodson’s favorite play until melancholy, inspired by his time away from the gridiron, set in.

“The older I get and the more I look into it, my favorite play was by far the play when we were playing Bluefield and it was fourthand-1 and we ran a play where I went to quarterback and I rolled out and threw it to my little brother and he came back and caught it,” Goodson said of a 2021 playoff hookup to younger brother Cyrus, himself an all-state player and member of the 2022 state championship team. “That was tide-turning and gave us that extra little go helps us get that win.”

His numbers tell the story and he set the standard.

In three years at Independence, Goodson rushed for school-record 5,292 yards on 488 carries, an average of 10.8 yards (a first down) per carry. He had 81 touchdowns and added 18 receptions for 248 yards.

Those numbers led to big accomplishments, including the 2021 Kennedy Award (player of year and the state’s sports highest honor) and the Warner Award as the state’s top running back of the year.

Goodson had a record three 1,000-yard rushing seasons and led the team to its first-ever berth in the state championship game, which ended in a 21-12 loss to Fairmont Senior in 2021.

At one point he scored a touchdown in 17 straight games.

Baseball was his chosen sport, and he was the West Virginia Gatorade State Player of the Year in the spring of 2022.