NORMAL -- The No. 1 on Travis Mullen's jersey was symbolic. Coming off a season in which he rushed for 1,532 yards and 24 touchdowns, the senior tailback entered this year as the No. 1 option in Normal Community High School's offense.
Yet, when a stress fracture in his right foot limited Mullen in the first two games, and kept him out completely in the next two, the Ironmen had to turn elsewhere.
They didn't have to look far.
NCHS has had five players rush for 100 or more yards in a game, including three in last week's 41-24 first-round Class 6A playoff win at Oak Forest.
"By now you can probably say it (Mullen's injury) was a blessing. When we were going through it, we weren't thinking of it that way," NCHS head coach Wes Temples said. "But it has given some other kids opportunities."
The all-stater Mullen is healthy again and has four 100-plus games, most recently 103 last week. He enters Saturday's 1 p.m. home game against Crete-Monee (9-1) with 933 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10.7 yards per carry.
Senior quarterback Tre Jones (766 yards, 10 TDs) has topped 100 yards three times, including 121 at Oak Forest, and junior tailback Jared Cross has two 100-plus efforts.
NCHS (8-2) has 11 in all, including one each from senior Marcus Harris (season opener) and junior fullback Keegan McIntosh (last week).
"You want No. 1 out there all the time, but I think it made us better having to rely on other people," offensive coordinator Jason Drengwitz said.
"When we go into the option, it's nice to truly have a tailback who can run, a quarterback who can run, a fullback who can run, and a couple of backups who can run."
Senior Jared Mungo has added two games of 75 yards or more, giving defenses plenty to think about.
The key man of late has been McIntosh, who ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries at Oak Forest. He upped his season totals to 369 yards, six TDs and an 8.6 average per carry.
"Keegan blocks hard and he runs super hard," Jones said. "He's really unselfish because the fullback in our offense, it's block first and run second. For him to block as well as he runs is a great thing."
Jones called losing Mullen early in the year "a little bit of a downer," but added, "Everybody stepped up. Now that Travis is back and we have all the horses in the stable, we're looking pretty good."
NCHS has rushed for 3,073 yards behind a line with five new starters to open the season. Only senior tight end Brett Anderson returned.
He is joined by junior center D.J. Wollenberg, senior linemen Tyler Fink, Dylan Logue, Justin Kretlow and Bryce Starkey, and, on occasion, junior tight end Grant Hanley.
"We have a good bond," Logue said. "We trust each other real well. We also have really good backs. If we just give them a little seam, they can make big plays."
NCHS has 15 scoring runs of 30 yards or longer, including bursts of 85, 69, 64 and 61 by Mullen. He has watched the line steadily improve, saying, "They're fast and they're quick, so we just use that to our advantage."
With the run game flourishing, Jones has thrown only 48 passes, completing 18 for 186 yards and two touchdowns.
Drengwitz said six straight weeks of rainy conditions have limited the passing game.
"Contrary to popular belief, we do practice it," he quipped.
"We all know we can throw," Jones said. "We'll throw when the time is right."
Until then, they'll run ... and not just with No. 1.