Olander brought attitude to C-I 'D'

Reed Olander plays with a passion fitting an inside linebacker.

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It stems from a personal philosophy created in junior high. It helped the junior lead the Crosby-Ironton Rangers to a school-record 10-1 season and appearance in the Section 6-2A final this fall.

"I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but I'm not afraid to hurt you, or myself, in the process of making a tackle," said the two-year varsity starter. "I will smash the ball carrier every time. All it takes is one big hit and the rest of the defense and the entire team gets fired up. Once that happens and everyone is fired up you are going to be one tough team to stop. You make that one big hit and anything can happen."

Not all of Olander's 176 tackles this season were big hits, but they did help C-I hold opponents to 13.2 points and 231.9 yards a game, which led to C-I's perfect 8-0 regular season and the No. 1 seed in the section playoffs.

Reed Olander

"His hitting provided a lot of attitude for our defense," said Rangers head coach Mike Gindorff. "He and our other linebacker, Brady Hallin, applied a lot of pressure on opposing offenses.

"Reed is physical and he's quick and he reads his keys exceptionally well. We would get questioned about our blitzing linebackers a lot, but we rarely blitzed our linebackers. They were just reading their keys so fast and knew were the ball was going that it looked like they were blitzing."

Along with his team-leading tackle total, Olander added two hurries, two sacks, two pass breakups and one interception.

As a backup fullback he added six carries for 43 yards. With teammate Nathan Hudrlik rumbling for 965 yards and 12 touchdowns, Olander wasn't needed on offense. While he was ready, he saw the value in being able to focus on defense.

"I think I have the capability to withstand the pounding on both sides of the ball," he said. "Every athlete trains for that.

"I think it's beneficial for the defense that I can stay fresh and focused on every single drive, though. I can concentrate on memorizing everything the opposing offense is doing and not have to worry about the new stuff on our offensive side of the ball. Every defensive series I was 100-percent ready every time."

Reed Olander

Year: Junior

School: Crosby-Ironton

Sport: Football

Position: Linebacker, fullback

Key stat: Led the Rangers with 176 tackles

As a sophomore Olander led the Rangers with 120 tackles and 5.5 sacks to go with two fumble recoveries and one pass break up. He also rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries and caught two passes for seven yards.

"This year I expected he would lead us in tackles again, but I didn't think he would get to the number that he did," Gindorff said. "He was around 170 tackles, with 22 coming against Aitkin.

"He has that attitude you need in football. He brings the intensity to every practice. If you're fooling around and not doing what you are supposed to, he'll get on you. He gets on our scout team if they're not delivering a good look for him.

"He's not a big guy, but he's physical and he delivers the mail hard-core."

Olander will spend the winter lifting weights and training for baseball next spring and football next fall. He'll also look back on one of the best seasons in Ranger football history.

"As a whole, it was just unbelievable," he said. "The crowds being as supportive as they were, everything was perfect. The team was great. Everybody stepped up. It was a good season."

Other notable performances:

Football: Matt Michaelson, Pequot Lakes, rushed for 127 yards against Perham.

Logan Lange, Pequot Lakes, rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns against Perham.

Cody Chambers, Pequot Lakes, ran for 83 yards and three touchdowns against Perham.

Nathan Hudrlik, Crosby-Ironton, rushed for 109 yards against Pierz.

Mark Hoge, Crosby-Ironton, caught two passes for 115 yards and a touchdown, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble against Pierz.

Brady Hallin, Crosby-Ironton, finished with 27 total tackles against Pierz.

John Omann, Pierz, rushed for 131 yards against Crosby-Ironton.

Amos Schmidt, Verndale, rushed for 203 yards and three touchdowns against Bertha-Hewitt.

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.