Record-setting Jake Johnson leaves mark at Burlington Central

Tardy to a senior night photo op on Burlington’s Central basketball court, Jake Johnson hustled out of the locker room.

“Come on, Jake!” a teammate said.

Johnson stormed through a door and ran back onto the court where the Rockets had just won another game, placating teammates, friends and families, the latter two of which had cellphone cameras ready to fire.

Of course he obliged.

Johnson never disappointed anyone in his four seasons of varsity basketball. With his high school career over after Central’s 56-52 loss to Cary-Grove in Wednesday’s Class 3A Prairie Ridge Regional semifinal, the multi-sport athlete has left his mark not only the Rockets' record board, but off the court, as well.

“You see everyone out there,” Johnson said looking at the court after scoring 16 points in Central’s 64-58 win over visiting Hampshire on senior night last week. “Those are my friends I’ve grown up playing with my whole life. People played hard before me, showed me what that was like, so that’s just the standard here at Central. We just like to play as hard as we can all the time.”

Johnson grabbed 607 rebounds in his career, leaving him one shy of Andrew Scharnowski (2019-23) for most in program history. Johnson did eclipse the program records for career steals with 238 (Gavin Sarvis, 230, 2018-22), career 3-pointers with 199 (Zach Schutta, 194, 2014-18) and career wins with 103 (Scharnowski, 99).

Johnson scored his 1,000th career point in a win over Lake Park on Dec. 16 and finished with 1,304 points (eighth most in program history).

Impressive accomplishments for a guy who plans to play Division II college baseball at Missouri Southern State University. Johnson, a catcher, also will be a four-year varsity player in baseball.

“I think his biggest skill is that he cares,” Central basketball coach Brett Porto said of his 6-foot-4 forward. “He cares a lot about this program, he cares a lot about the guys in the locker room, and he has all four years. It starts there. When people see how hard you’re going to try and the amount of effort you put into everything, that feeds out to everyone else.”

Johnson said he’s been playing basketball with LJ Kerr and Caden West since the fourth grade. Patrick Shell joined them about seventh grade. They were the only four seniors on this season’s team.

And they won. Johnson was a freshman on the Rockets' 2021-22 team that captured 31 wins. Kerr, West and Shell joined the varsity as sophomores, as Central won 29 games and a regional title for the second year in a row. The Rockets had 21 wins last season and 22 this season.

It’s the career-wins record that means most to Johnson.

“It’s my favorite one because that’s the only one that’s not individualized,” he said. “It’s shows the success of the four teams that I’ve been on.”

The program record that Johnson is surprised that he owns is career steals. He says he credits, in part, “longevity” and instincts. He is, after all, a catcher, often cutting down base runners trying to steal.

“I’m not like a defensive player [in basketball],” Johnson said with a laugh. “I’m not out there for my defense. I do what I can, but that’s not what I do.”

Porto gives Johnson more credit than that. Whether it’s basketball or baseball, Johnson is a student of the game, savvy and committed to being the best he can be. Johnson ended the season averaging 13.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.4 steals a game.

“He reads scouting reports real well, plays with active hands and gets a lot of tips, deflections and steals,” Porto said. “It’s something we emphasize in our program, and he does it at a high level. And then offensively, he’s really learned how to seal well, be a good screener, and that allows him to get a lot of his open looks for 3s, too, off that action.”

A career is complete for a complete player.