Anthony Meray took the football everywhere.

At the gym and on the track. At home and in the car, the football was always close by the Bethel High School senior. It had to be. Meray had written his goals on the ball and nothing motivated him more.

“I’d be running on the treadmill and my dad would hold the ball up and say ‘Look at this,’ ” Meray said. “It kept me going.”

All the way to rewriting the South Puget Sound League football record book and being named The News Tribune’s 2009 Football Player of the Year.

Nicknamed “All Day,” the running back literally carried Bethel into the Class 4A state playoffs for the first time since 2004. Through nine regular season games, Meray ran the ball 241 times, giving him nearly 50 carries more than the next highest total in the SPSL.

By the end of the season, Meray had rushed for 2,003 yards and 25 touchdowns on 286 carries. Meray was the definition of a workhorse, tallying at least 25 carries in seven games.

“I haven’t had a player that has ever gotten the workload he did this season,.” Bethel coach Gavin Kralik said. “I don’t think anybody around here has.”

The Braves were able to rely on Meray because he kept himself in tip-top physical condition. He passed on processed foods, choosing instead to eat fruits, vegetables, chicken and pasta.

Meray’s preseason training regimen is well-documented. He split time at training facilities in Puyallup and Lacey. He also spent three or four mornings a week doing speed drills at Mount Tahoma High School. On Sunday evenings, he did yoga to improve his flexibility.

That dedication carried over into the season. Meray would hit the gym on Saturdays, despite aching all over from playing a game the night before.

“I’d wake up and think, ‘Who is working today? Who else is trying to get better today?’ ” Meray said. “That was my motivation.”

That tenacity was evident at practice too, according to his coach.

“It’s always a huge advantage when your best player, a player who is not being pushed for playing time by a backup, is working his tail off at practice,” Kralik said. “That made us a better team.”

Meray capped off his summer by spending two weeks at Athlete’s Performance, a training complex in Phoenix that caters to professional athletes. The training tips and health education he received were invaluable, providing a blueprint for an exercise regimen and loads of inspiration.

“My schedule was mapped out for two months in the summer,” Meray said. “My dad said, ‘If you can do all this for two months, what you want should come true.’ ”

Meray reached some goals, but fell a few short. He wanted to reach 4,000 all-purpose yards, but had to settle for the eye-popping total of 2,741. He did manage to shatter the SPSL single-season record with 2,267 all-purpose yards in the regular season and was named the SPSL South Offensive Back of the Year.

Despite those gaudy numbers, few big-time colleges have come calling. Air Force is the only Division I school that has offered a scholarship. Meray is holding out hope that a university in the Pacific-10 Conference will still offer him a scholarship.

The knock on Meray is something out of his control – his size. Most college coaches want a running back taller than his 5-foot-9, 185-pound frame.

Meray just wants a chance to prove he belongs, to check off one more goal achieved.

“I’m willing to do anything to play at that level,” he said. “If a (Division I) school would step out on me, that would be a million times bigger than playing for my high school.”

Doug Pacey: 253-597-9271

doug.pacey@thenewstribune.com

blog.thenewstribune.com/preps