Tyler Lee stands 5-foot-7 and might weigh 130 pounds, and of that 5 feet and at least 100 pounds must be heart.

“He’s not a real big player, no bigger than a minute, but he plays with a lot of heart,” Polk County coach Derrick Davis said after learning that his sophomore running back had been selected Times Free Press high school player of the week.

The Wildcats sophomore scored four touchdowns to lead his undefeated team to a 36-14 win over Sweetwater. His touchdowns came on runs of 19 and 23 yards, a 21-yard pass from Jared Allen and a 56-yard punt return. It was Polk’s first scoring punt return of the year.

Lee scored 26 of the 36 points including a two-point conversion run. It is also the first time a Polk player has scored four TDs in a game since Kevin Hamby did it against East Ridge in 2005, the first game in the Wildcats’ new stadium.

“I could fill up your newspaper with the good things I could say about Tyler,” Davis said. “He’s a great kid to coach and he’s deserving. I will say that. The best thing about him, though, is that we’ll have him for two more years.”

Lee didn’t figure into the Wildcats’ plans last spring. He was playing baseball, and the football team was preparing for the fall. On top of that he was a rising sophomore, and sophomores haven’t played much previously on Davis-coached teams.

That changed this season.

“It’s odd, I guess, in a way because neither our quarterback nor any of our running backs were in the plans when we went through spring, but because of injuries and because we had to let some kids go, Tyler and some others wound up in the mix,” Davis said. “None of the guys now in the backfield were there in the spring and they deserve a lot of credit for getting themselves ready to play.”

The Wildcats will have to spend extra time getting ready this week because they return to Region 3-3A play against Howard, which also is 5-0.

“I didn’t expect us to win like we did at Sweetwater,” said Davis, whose team was up 36-0 at one point. “It wasn’t a region game, but wins against Sweetwater are hard to come by. Now here comes Howard.”

Howard is a win ahead of Polk in the region standings, having already won four league games to the Wildcats’ three.

“This team has done a good job of staying focused and of buying into what we’re selling,” Davis said. “It’s a special group, one of those most unselfish groups I have been a part of. They want to do well for the community, the school and each other, and it has showed from the way the seniors help the freshmen to the way they listen to the way they practice. We may lose our next five games, but that won’t change the way we feel about this group. This team is no more talented than other teams we have had, but that team chemistry is there.”

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