Wallace

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Shepherd has lifted gifted athletes from southern Maryland like crabbers have snatched those delicious sea critters from the Chesapeake Bay.

For one year it appeared as if the Rams had missed out on a shifty, make-’em-miss running back from smalltown Lusby.

At 5-foot-7, 175 pounds, Dervon Wallace wasn’t coveted by the major universities of the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area. And he didn’t attend Shepherd in his first year out of high school. He went to West Virginia State in Institute.

But then Wallace left Institute and transferred much closer to home; he came to Shepherd for the 2005 football season.

At Shepherd, Wallace made an immediate impression on the teams in the WVIAC. He ran by them, around them, into their end zones and past players chasing after him.

Shepherd recorded an undefeated regular season. And Wallace rushed for 1,311 yards, scored 162 points and was on his way toward breaking or owning career records that still stand today.

After another stellar season in 2006 for yet another unbeaten regular season Rams edition, Wallace was named the WVIAC Offensive Player of the Year.

He averaged 113 rushing yards per game and went over 100 yards in five games.

In his senior year, Wallace did some more swashbuckling things that sent him chasing and overtaking career offensive statistics.

He rushed for a single-game school record of 311 yards against West Virginia State as the Rams scored 51 points. He also bruised the West Virginia Wesleyan defense for 304 rushing yards, plus 61 receiving yards and a game-ending 390 total yards.

For his continued and consistent success, Wallace was once again named the WVIAC’s Offensive Player of the Year.

His rushing total finished at 2,138 yards in 2007.

Following his three years of scorched earth running through the WVIAC schools in West Virginia, Wallace had 5,305 yards — second-most for a career at Shepherd.

He blazed past anybody and everybody ever to play for the Rams with a career 464 points.

There were 71 touchdowns accumulated in his three seasons, leaving him with still another school record.

His 2,673 rushing yards in 2007 pushed him into another high niche in the record book.

He had five touchdowns and 30 points in one game. For the 2007 season, his 27 touchdowns were the most by a Shepherd player in any campaign.

Wallace completed his three-year reign of running terror with a career full of records for yardage, points and several undefeated seasons.

He could run inside when needed. He could be a prime pass receiver when necessary. And he could make it through whole seasons without injuries that would cause him to miss games.

Wallace filled the Shepherd record books the way crabs seasoned with Old Bay fill the tables at family dinners all over Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia and at seafood restaurants along the Eastern Seaboard.