Short-Yardage Yert Finally Breaks Loose, Scores on Long Run : College football: Former Mission Viejo standout leads Colorado State to victory with 52-yard touchdown dash.

Todd Yert blew through the line, then cut left, just as the center said in the huddle.

Thirty yards later, he made another more severe cut to the left. Soon, he was in the clear, and sprinting--well, sort of--toward the corner of the end zone. He’d finally done what the tailback told him he should have been doing all along.

Still later, after Colorado State had beaten Oregon, 32-31, in Saturday night’s Freedom Bowl, he found friends almost everywhere he went.

His father, Daniel, had purchased 60 tickets for family and friends from Mission Viejo, so it was hard to be alone.

“Awesome, man,” friends screamed at him.

“Awesome, man,” Yert screamed back.

It was an awesome night for Yert, Colorado State’s senior fullback from Mission Viejo High.

Yert’s 52-yard touchdown run helped Colorado State win its first bowl game, in only its second appearance.

There was 4:59 left when Yert cruised into the end zone, 10 yards ahead of the nearest Oregon defender, to put Colorado State ahead, 32-25.

It turned out to be enough, and Yert was named the Rams’ MVP. He gained 94 yards in 12 mostly mundane carries.

He’d bashed through defenders with inglorious frequency Saturday night. But this was nothing new.

This season, Yert was part of Coach Earle Bruce’s Robust Backfield. On short yardage situations near the goal line, Yert was the Rams’ man.

Breaking long runs was for tailbacks Tony Alford and Brian Copeland.

Maybe that’s why it looked so funny to quarterback Mike Gimenez when Yert rumbled toward the end zone alone.

“I though it was somebody else running with the ball,” Gimenez said. “He’s my roommate and he’s always getting tackled on the 10-yard line. He keeps saying, ‘I gotta bust one one of these days.’ ”

An audible by Gimenez gave him a chance to run a belly play up the middle. Center Mike Padilla told him to cut back after crossing the line of scrimmage, which freed him initially. And Copeland’s nagging to make a move on somebody, brought him clear of three converging Oregon defenders.

A little crossover step was all it took and Yert was free.

“I looked for it (the cutback) and it opened up,” Yert said. “And as I ran through, I said ‘I gotta make a move on someone.’ Normally, fullbacks run straight up and down. I thought, ‘What the heck? I might as well.’ I don’t think anybody expected me to cut back.”

Was he ever worried he’d be caught from behind? Yert laughed and said he’d rather run people over, rather than try to run around them.

He was that type of runner at Mission Viejo, where he stomped through defenses on the way to a school-record 26 career touchdowns.

“I wasn’t thinking of it right then (when he was running),” he said. “But I guess it’s always in the back of my mind.”

Yert would say later he could only remember one other cutback this season--against Arkansas on Sept. 29 in Fayetteville, Ark.

“Remember?” he asked Gimenez, who was standing nearby. “I tried to make a move on that guy. I wound up juking the guy so bad that he hit me.”

Gimenez laughed.

“Tonight was the first time it ever worked,” Gimenez said.