There he is, popping out from his hiding place behind the Buhl offensive line and leaving defenders grasping at air with an ankle-breaking juke or spin.

Or maybe he's picking off the quarterback and leaving offensive players grasping at air with the same set of moves - ones some of his teammates joke would leave Reggie Bush (the original human video game) chuckling.

The bottom line is that Eric Sengvanhpheng is tough not to miss. And not just because he's 5-7 and 150 pounds.

"He's not real big so if someone can get a hold of him he'll sometimes go down pretty quick," said Buhl head coach Stacy Wilson. "But he's so quick, and he makes great cuts running with the ball that people just miss him. You can tell him where to run when he gets the ball, but you can't coach (field vision).

"As Eric goes, so goes our team most of the time."

Last season Sengvanhpheng split carries with Ryon Sirucek, a bigger, more bruising back. This time around, the little senior is the featured back, and perhaps the biggest cog in Buhl's drive toward recapturing the Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference title.

In the Indians' 45-0 spoiling of Gooding's homecoming last week, he laid his versatility, elusiveness and importance bare for all to see with a five-touchdown performance. Wilson said it was one of the best games he's seen from his senior tailback.

"I might have scored three in a game before, but never five," said Sengvanhpheng of his career night. "That was a really fun night, and I want to have more of them."

Four of those TDs came on the ground and the fifth on an electrifying interception return. He caught the ball, slammed on the brakes, pivoted, spun and then raced the other way for the score.

"That might have been his best run of the night," Wilson said of the pick-six.

In addition to carrying the bulk of the load for Buhl's run-oriented offense, Sengvanhpheng is something of a ball-hawk in the secondary.

He echoes Wilson's assessment that he "doesn't really have a choice."

"When you look at the top teams in 3A, that's what they do," Wilson said. "All those kids play both ways because it's important to keep your best players on the field at all times."

It might be easy to overlook the shifty senior based on stature, but it's impossible to quantify his value to his team's fortunes.

David Bashore may be reached at 208-735-3230 or dbashore@magicvalley.com.