Raiders’ Reece rarely carries, but when he does he carries team

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Fullback Marcel Reece is apparently behind glass when it comes to the Raiders’ use of his ability to run the football. Break only in case of emergency.

Such was the case Thursday, when interim head coach Tony Sparano turned to Reece to help get the team’s first win of the season.

Reece had seven carries — more than his season total coming into the game — for 34 yards during the late game-winning drive against the Chiefs on Thursday night. He also had an 8-yard catch on the 80-yard drive.

“The thing that I’ve noticed is that he’s a guy who, when given the opportunity to run the football, makes yards that way, no matter when,” Sparano said.

Reece has shown he can run the ball well since he showed up, undrafted, in 2008. But the opportunities have been few and far between, even after he stepped in last season and ran for 123 yards and a touchdown against the Jets.

Reece got an opportunity Thursday only because Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew were ineffective and Latavius Murray left the game with a concussion after he had run for two touchdowns.

Fullback Marcel Reece, seldom used as a runner, carried seven times for 34 yards during Thursday’s game-winning drive. Fullback Marcel Reece, seldom used as a runner, carried seven times for 34 yards during Thursday’s game-winning drive. Photo: Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Raiders’ Reece rarely carries, but when he does he carries team 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Reece handled the ball the first four plays of the game-winning 17-play drive, gaining 28 yards, and he had a blast.

“Not so much just carrying the rock,” Reece, who does only paid interviews, told 95.7 FM. “But I think it was just being able to be on the field during crunch time and being able to give my team a spark.”

The Raiders have trouble getting the 6-foot-1, 240-pound Reece involved more because he’s a fullback, a dying position in the NFL. They try to move him around and take advantage of mismatches because of his size and speed, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

Sparano said he tried to get Reece more involved Nov. 16 in a 13-6 loss in San Diego, but was unable to.

“He is a fullback, but he can flex out, he can play outside — which we’ve used him out there in some situations,” Sparano said. “Then he can play in the backfield, but he can also carry the football. … So, that’s another way to get him the touches right now and to get him involved a little bit.”

Sparano noted that some criticized Oakland’s runs up the middle, and using the bigger back did seem to make them work.

“I felt like (Thursday) was an opportunity for a big back,” Sparano said. “The runs that we were going to make (then) were downhill runs. They were downhill, unpopular, in-between-the-tackles runs. At that point, I felt like Marcel could give us something there.”

Sparano could sense that Reece was “wired up” and “running the ball hard.”

Whether Reece gets another shot Sunday against the Rams remains to be seen. Murray is undergoing the league-mandated battery of concussion tests, and Sparano hasn’t given up on McFadden or Jones-Drew, despite their 3.4 and 1.9 yards-per-carry averages, respectively.

Reece now has 14 carries for 60 yards on the season (4.3 average) and Sparano knows he can break the glass again if need be.

“He did a heck of a job,” Sparano said. “I don’t think the guy took a handoff (last) week in practice, and he’s just always ready — a real Oakland Raider.”

Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur