Heart of a Lion: Middletown North’s 5-foot-2 running back Shane Volante helps fuel a 4-0 start

Middletown North senior center Andrew Klimovich has seen the frustration in opponents’ faces when 5-foot-2, 150-pound dynamo Shane Volante starts eating up yards at tailback for the Lions.

“They’re like, ‘Why are we letting this little kid get first downs on us?!” Klimovich said. “Everyone overlooks him. People see him and don’t expect much, but when he starts scoring, they shut their mouths real quick.”

While the Shore Conference has had its share of undersized star running backs over the years, 5-foot-2 is at the extreme end of the chart. Manasquan had 5-foot-5 Chazz Coursey churning out 1,000-yard seasons in 2006-07, but Volante is a bit of a Shore Conference unicorn at three inches shorter.

Middletown North head coach Steve Bush has been coaching for 41 years at the high school, college and NFL levels, and he’s not seen a player quite like Volante. For a running back as small in stature as Volante to get a chance to prove himself at a physical position, he first has to have a coach who believes in him enough to put him out there. Bush has had no second thoughts.

“He doesn’t think that he can’t do anything,” Bush said. “He’s confident and goes out and plays hard and plays fast.”

The senior has been one of many key ingredients in Middletown North’s best start in more than 20 years at 4-0. The balanced Lions are averaging 27.5 points per game while only allowing 5.3 points per game after a 35-7 win over Freehold in Week Four.

Volante is the team’s leading rusher with 374 yards and 5 touchdowns on 55 carries for an average of 6.8 yards per carry. He’s only 15 yards away from surpassing his total from all of last season, when he made his varsity debut. Sophomore Matt Belenko has formed a solid 1-2 punch with Volante, rushing for 152 yards and three touchdowns on 7.2 yards per carry.

“I just tell people, ‘Look at the tape,’” said Klimovich, a four-year starter and team captain. “Look at the stats.”

Volante has dealt with questions about his size since his days as a youth player, but it’s never been an issue in his mind.

“I use my height to my advantage,” Volante said. “I’ve never seen it as a liability. The height stigma in sports is overrated. As long as you work hard, you can accomplish anything you set out to do.”

“It just gets him angry, and he’s out there to prove people wrong,” Klimovich said.

Volante is not just some scatback, either. He has shown this season he can run through arm tackles and get hard yards, like when he had a career-high 161 yards rushing and a touchdown on 20 carries in a win over Ocean.

“I think my height works in my favor in those situations because I have the leverage to break tackles by pumping my legs,” Volante said.

“Last year his carries were limited in the red zone,” Klimovich said. “This year’s just full throttle. We’re gonna give it to him down near the goal line.”

He also packs a lot of power into a small frame. Volante bench presses 235 pounds, squats 415 pounds and can deadlift 525 pounds with a trap bar.

“Pound for pound, he’s one of the strongest kids on our team,” Bush said.

Volante worked to strengthen his frame after dealing with injuries in his first two high school seasons. He also used the reps on the field to work on avoiding getting squared up for direct hits by defenders who might outweigh him by a hundred or more pounds.

“I learned how to get tackled properly,” he said. “I got over that initial fear of it on varsity pretty quick.”

He also has molded his running style around the fact that Middletown North has a veteran offensive line that returned Klimovich at center along with senior Michael Dwyer at left tackle, senior guard Andrew Lubrano at left guard, and junior Shea Mora at right guard.

Once his blockers are out of their stances and moving forward, it’s not easy to see Volante behind them.

“They can’t find him, and then he shoots through a hole,” Klimovich said.

“That’s a big key to my playing style,” Volante said. “I do my best to cut late so linebackers can’t see me (behind the line). I think it’s a big advantage for me.”

Volante has also worked to become a more complete player in Middletown North’s diverse offense led by junior quarterback Owen Robson. He has five catches in four games after only registering six all of last season, making him another player to account for in the passing game.

Robson has thrown for 694 yards and five touchdowns by spreading it around to seven different receivers, led by junior Jack Viola (16-296) and senior Brian O’Donnell (11-131).

“Owen and I worked a lot in the offseason on him throwing me the ball so that I could improve my receiving game this year,” Volante said.

Middletown North has stamped itself as a top contender for the Class B North title, but now faces its most daunting stretch of the season. The unbeaten Lions have their biggest test of the year this week with a nondivisional game against St. John Vianney and then have crucial games against Red Bank and Freehold Township in search of their first division title since 2021.

The Lions have a chance to open some eyes this week but will be an underdog against a Lancers team that features a running back right at the front of the conversation as the best in the Shore Conference. Sophomore Abdul Turay has registered three straight games of more than 200 yards rushing and has 900 yards rushing in five games on an average of 9.6 yards per carry.

Volante just sees it as just another opportunity to convert the nonbelievers about him and his team.

“Every time we go out there, we have something to prove,” he said.

Scott Stump is an award-winning reporter, newsletter writer and editor who first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.  

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