Whenever Dashawn Stovall steps onto a football field, he is fueled by flesh, bone and a full tank of emotion.

He carries the pigskin and makes tackles for Thomas Jefferson High School, but also for his slain brother, Davonte, who was murdered in 2019 in a shooting on Selden Street.

Davonte Stovall, then 23, had two sons and was working on construction jobs at the time to support his family.

“Each time I score a touchdown, it’s for him,” said Dashawn Stovall, who has helped the Vikings to a 7-0 start and No. 2 ranking in State Class 3 (behind only Liberty Christian of Lynchburg).

“I know he’s in a safe place now and looking after me.”

Davonte Stovall was a talented football player (and certainly a beloved role model for Dashawn) at Armstrong. Dashawn Stovall describes him as “very great ... he was Chris Johnson before Chris Johnson.” Johnson was at one time one of the NFL’s fastest ball carriers.

The youngest of Shamus Sr. and Felicia Stovall’s three sons is cut from the same cloth as Davonte. Shamus Sr. was a star ball carrier at Randolph- Henry High, where he was known as “The Bull.”

Another older brother, Shamus Jr. played for TJ several seasons ago.

Wearing jersey No. 2 for TJ, Dashawn Stovall earned All-Region honors last year as a running back and linebacker and his senior encore season has been a farewell celebration.

“My goal is just to do better than last year,” said the muscular senior, who is as meek and unassuming in street clothes as he is dynamic in pads.

The bespectacled Stovall is hard to catch and difficult to bring down, if corralled.

Through six games he rushed 611 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 8.5 yards per tote. His yard- age could be much higher if Coach Eric Harris hadn’t cleared the bench in several lopsided wins.

In TJ’s stiffest test, he amassed 100 yards overland in the Class 3 Vikings’ 24-14 win over Class 6 Mills Godwin. Stovall added 48 yards on just six carries in the one-sided win over Deep Run.

Volunteering for double duty, he’s also among the squad’s most rugged linebackers despite, modest 5-foot-9, 185-pound dimensions.

Stovall is the epitome of the strong silent type. Coach Harris puts it like this:

“Dashawn is one of our hardest working and quietest players. He doesn’t tell what he’s going to do. He just goes out and does it.”

The best may be yet to come for the Vikings, TJ will be the favorite in its final three games – at J.R. Tucker Oct. 19, versus John Marshall Oct. 27 at Hovey Field, and at Colonial Heights Nov. 3.

There’s a strong chance TJ will finish 9-0 and fly into the region playoffs as a high seed.

A key factor offensively and defensively will be Stovall, wearing jersey No. 2.

There’s a story behind that.

“My brother wore No. 22 at Armstrong,” he said. “I didn’t think I deserved to wear his number, so I chose No. 2.

“Every game I want to be as good as my brother ... that’s hard to do.”