As the Georgetown football team came out of halftime last Saturday against Lafayette, Charlie Houghton cut across the middle of the field on a short slant pattern, looked Matt Bassuaner’s pass into his hands and darted down the field eluding Leopard defenders along the way for an 84-yard touchdown reception. For this Canadian-born ball carrier, it was no sweat.
“First time I stepped on the field [to play American football] I thought it was really small,” the freshman, who recently won his third consecutive Patriot League Player of the Week award, said.
Playing in the United States has been more than just a change in scenery for Houghton. In Canadian football the field is 10 yards wider, the end zones are 20 yards deep and the length of the field isn’t the nice round 100 yards that Americans are all used to. Canadian fields are an extra 30 feet long.
“I was used to running forever, finding a little hole and turning it into a touchdown,” Houghton said of the Canadian fields.
Houghton has started the Hoyas’ last three games as the team’s primary running back, and although the team lost to Lafayette 45-14, he has continued to bring home the bacon. Late into his freshman season the running back has become Mr. Versatility, leading the team in rushing and receiving while also teaming up with speedy sophomore Kenny Mitchell to return kicks.
He has 53 carries for 388 yards and 10 catches for 156 yards since his first start back on October 28, against Charlestown Southern. For a team that has received its fair share of bruises this year, Houghton is willing to take many of those hits as long as he can keep providing some positive buzz for the future of Georgetown’s football program.
“I’ve learned to run inside and hit people as a running back instead of running around them,” Houghton said. “You can’t do that at higher levels.”
Houghton thought about joining a higher level program after he did a preparatory year at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts. He was recruited by several division 1-A schools but was closest to donning Harvard’s Crimson. After recruiting Houghton to play at Cambridge, Coach Luke Thompson took a job on the Hilltop. He immediately got in touch with the Toronto native.
“He called me up the first week he was here,” Houghton said. He enjoyed the campus enough, but there was a little divine intervention to make sure he knew this had to be his next home. “I came for my visit right away, and I was here for the Duke game, which really helped,” he said with a laugh.
Ever since Head Coach Kevin Kelly saw Houghton during summer workouts he knew this youngster, even though he was a freshman, could be a phenom.
“We saw signs early in the preseason,” Kelly said. “Now he’s starting to mature, getting used to being away from home and playing division 1 football. You can see he’s an excellent back.”
Thanks to his third consecutive week earning Patriot League honors, the rest of the league can see it now, too.
