Dirk Wedd calls him “truly amazing.”

His coach says, “I wish I had 12 more like him.”

Casey Curran is a high school football player who elicits flattering adjectives every week.

A senior at Blue Valley North High, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Curran has rushed for 1,874 yards and 21 touchdowns.

“On top of that,” said Lawrence High coach Wedd, “he’s probably their best defensive back at free safety.”

The Lions will face Curran and the Mustangs on Friday night in the first-round of the Class 6A playoffs at the Blue Valley District Activities Center.

“He doesn’t want to come off the field,” Jason Jones, BV North’s second-year coach, said about his workhorse I-formation tailback. “He’s tough.”

Curran is tough enough to average a bone-wearying 31 carries a game. In the Mustangs’ 26-14 October victory over Blue Valley West, Curran carried 52 times for 351 yards.

To put that in perspective, Kansas University’s Tony Sands carried the ball 58 times for 396 yards against Missouri in 1991. The 58 carries are still are NCAA Division I-A record.

“We’ve seen four or five tapes of him,” Wedd said. “His motor runs hot. They have a couple of 300-pound lineman, and he runs behind them.”

Notably, too, Curran has fumbled only twice in 278 carries, an average of once every 139 times he is handed the ball.

“He runs a lot like Tony (Williams),” said Wedd about his senior running back who ranks second in the Sunflower League with 1,124 yards in 197 carries, or 81 fewer than Curran.

Because both Lawrence High and Blue Valley North rely heavily on ground-oriented ball control, possessions will be at a premium.

“I anticipate having the ball only three or four times each half,” Wedd said, “so we’ll have to make the most of our opportunities.”

Lawrence (5-4) is the No. 5 seed in the eastern half of the 6A bracket. Blue Valley North (6-3) is No. 4. The Mustangs won their district by disposing of three Shawnee Mission schools – South (31-14), North (25-6) and East (27-7).

Lawrence met SM South and SM East during the regular season. The Lions spilled South, 42-21, and East, 16-3.

BV North’s losses were to Class 5A juggernaut Blue Valley High (17-52) and to Overland Park Aquinas (20-21) and BV Northwest (7-28).

Lawrence and Blue Valley North have met once previously in football. That was in the first round of the 2002 playoffs. The Lions won, 40-21.

Kickoff for will be 7:30 p.m. Friday instead of the customary 7 p.m. start because a Class 6A state soccer semifinal (Wichita Southeast-BV North) is scheduled at 6 p.m. at BVDAC.

The Blue Valley facility is located at 135th and Switzer in Overland Park.