A football game, at any level, is won and lost in the trenches.
The trench, as it pertains to football, is the line of scrimmage. The line of scrimmage is where the offensive, and defensive lines meet to start the play. Positions of such are offensive tackles, guards, centers, and sometimes a tight end. Defensively there are tackles, nose guards, defensive ends, and sometimes the linebacker stepping up to the line of scrimmage.
One La Center Wildcat may have opponents saying, “Oh man!” when they have to face him at multiple positions in the trenches.
In the Wildcats’ matchup against Seton Catholic on Friday, Oct. 16, La Center senior Connor Ohman occupied three positions in the trench. Ohman played both left and right tackle on offense, and nose guard on defense.
Ohman stands at over six-feet three-inches tall and weighs 285 pounds. He clearly enjoys spending time in the weight room. He occupies a lot of space on the field, especially when playing defense at the nose guard position. When Ohman is playing nose guard, there is rarely a play where the offense is not attempting to block him without at least two players, called a double team block.
With his stature, and ability to move with great agility, Ohman is accustomed to taking on those double teams. The football lineman does not often get the glory, and said glory is generally reserved for the quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers.
“Yeah, that kind of reflects on the entire idea of a lineman,” Ohman said. “Linemen do all the dirty work, my opinion of the glory side of it, I’m honestly totally fine without any of the glory.”
On offense, Ohman switches regularly between the left and right tackle position, depending on the formation and play call.
“We switch so I’m the quick tackle, which means I can be on the left side and the strong side depending on where we are on the field, and what down it is in our situation,” Ohman said. “It mostly revolves around our playbook.”
Ohman studies game film to better understand the game, and how he and the team’s linemen are doing, both positively and negatively to see where they can improve. He wants to instill good habits and more film study to the younger group of linemen coming up in the program, taking seriously the leadership responsibilities he has as a senior.
During school hours, Ohman has an obvious favorite class.
“My favorite class right now, honestly, is probably the weight room,” Ohman said. “It’s my favorite one. I get to work out every day, stay consistent, and weight train.”
After graduation with the class of 2027, Ohman has his sights set in the trades. He plans on applying for an electrical apprenticeship, with the goal of becoming a journeyman electrician.
