Hilltops have a O-line ox in big Mason Ochs
Mason Ochs is, fittingly, a big ox.
That’s right, Ochs is big and strong as an ox. Athletic, too.
He’s a first-year starter on the offensive line and first-time Prairie Football Conference all-star for the Saskatoon Hilltops, who play host to the provincial rival Regina Thunder in the PFC championship final Sunday afternoon (3 p.m., SMF Field). Initially, Ochs’ parents were reluctant to have their son give football a try. They weren’t too crazy about the whole idea, but he was obviously onto something.
“My parents weren’t exactly a fan of me starting football,” admits Ochs, a six-foot-four, 270-pound Tommy Douglas Tigers product, “but I joined anyways and came home in Grade 9 and told them I was on the team.”
Ochs is one of three O-linemen from the Toppers named to the PFC all-star team. The others are Taylon Elderkin and Kirk Simonson. They are joined on a revamped O-line this season — which saw Saskatoon replace three graduating starters — by fifth-year veteran Jack Sloboda and Pat Arno.
“He (Ochs) is your blind side; he’s the left tackle,” explained Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant. “He’s got to play some high-end football with Taylor and Kirk. He’s certainly stepped up. In our view, that group of five, with those three and Jack Sloboda and Pat Arno, have been terrific.
“The league voted and told us that we lead the league (in all-stars) and we’re excited about that, but Hilltop football is really measured by wins and losses. We’ve got to be game-ready and take on all challenges. To take 10 all-stars on the field Sunday should give us lots of confidence.”
Ochs said he was caught off guard by the PFC all-star nod.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but it feels all right,” he said, shrugging it off. “The running backs are making us look pretty good. We just do our jobs, hopefully, week to week.”
Ochs played four years of football at Tommy Douglas, two years of junior and two with the senior squad.
“Offensive line right from the start,” he recalls. “Didn’t stray.”
He had been playing a “whole bunch of other sports” but made the switch over to the gridiron, much to his parents’ chagrin at the start, he said. “They were just afraid of injuries, but once I got used to it, it was all right.”
It was more than all right. Ochs has developed a true passion for football.
“The fact that you can hit every play,” he points out. “You get to go out and compete every play. It’s a whole bunch of teammates rallying together.”
Hilltops coach Donnie Davidsen heaps praise on the collective O line unit, but stresses that all-star recognition means little when compared to a PFC championship and Canadian Bowl.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good player for us, but he’s got a lot to learn,” Davidsen said of Ochs. “We’re still coaching him hard and he’s still playing hard. He’s six-footwhatever and 280 pounds. You can’t beat that. And he’s strong as an ox. For sure, those are all good things. And he’s athletic, too.
“The thing about him is he wants to be good and he wants to learn and he’s eager to learn, so that helps.”
Ochs, as a second-year Hilltop, has learned to deflect the praise to his running backs. Overall, he sees a strong contender.
“I think we had a lot of veterans from last year but we’re doing pretty good this year,” he said. “We’re playing awesome. (Logan) Fischer and Macker (Adam Machart) are carrying the load. Chewy (Josh Ewanchyna) is running like a madman.”
Ochs said the key to victory on Sunday comes down to “just doing our jobs and executing every play — stop them from the get-go.”
And you can’t take the Thunder lightly.
“We did that once,” Ochs points out, referring to an earlier 29-26 loss to Regina this season, “and it didn’t work out too well.” Football for Ochs, however, surely has.