LONGVILLE — The South Beauregard Golden Knights can attribute much of their 4-0 start to their running game.

Leading the way is junior running back Shea Holland who has gained 854 yards and nine touchdowns through four games.

Holland has also thrown for a touchdown — the winner in the final moments of a 36-34 homecoming victory over Welsh on Sept. 19. It earned him the American Press Player of the Week honors after rushing for 268 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

But Holland won’t be the first to brag about all of the yards and touchdowns he has piled up, even though he ranked fourth in the state in rushing yardage as of last week.

“It feels good,” Holland said. “I never really thought I would be here, but I have to give a lot of credit to my blockers because without them I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.”

South Beauregard head coach Dwight Hudler shares the sentiment, constantly complimenting Holland’s attitude and game mentality.

“Shea wants to be good, but he’s not a cocky kid by any means,” Hudler said. “He’s very humble; he understands that a lot of times he gets the ball more than others, but when he doesn’t get it he doesn’t complain, he just puts his helmet on and goes to work.”

Hudler said while his star running back is fun-loving off the field, he knows when it’s time to take care of business.

“Shea is obviously a very talented kid, but he takes a workman’s approach,” Hudler said. “He’s not very vocal, but when it comes to football he is very serious. We never have any issues with him. He is a good kid who is fun to be around, but he also has a good work ethic.”

On the field Holland is a complete back with a good blend of size and speed to go along with a whole host of attributes, Hudler said.

“He really does everything well,” Hudler said. “He catches the ball well out of the backfield, he has good hands downfield, he blocks well when we need him to, he runs very hard, he makes good cuts, he has good balance and he has good vision.”

Holland wasn’t always the feature back at South Beauregard, though. The past two seasons he split time with backfield mate Kelly Courville.

“He has given us stability,” Hudler said. “We have two really good running backs who we rotated to keep them fresh last year. This year we decided that we were a lot better when both of them were on the field so we asked (Kelly Courville) to slide into that fullback role and he has excelled. It has allowed Shea to be the true tailback.”

Holland and Courville have teamed up with the rest of the offense for the team best start since joining Class 3A four years ago.

“We are feeling great right now,” Holland said. “Last year we had a pretty good year, but this year everyone is really pumped. We have a really good feeling about this year.”

Holland and the Knights will look to close out their nondistrict schedule undefeated Thursday night when they travel to Lake Arthur (3-1).(Rick Hickman/American Press)