Wood’s Olaes is athlete of the week
Senior ran for 193 yards, 3 TDs to beat Rodriguez
Sometimes, the best laid plans of mice, men… and football coaches… go awry.
Take, for example, the Will C. Wood High football team in its game against undefeated Rodriguez High School on Friday night.
Going in, head coach Jacob Wright knew his quarterback situation was a bit dicey. The Wildcats passing game, much like QB Ken Tilford’s gimpy right ankle, was hobbled. Enter running back Jayjay Olaes.
The senior running back picked up 193 yards and scored three touchdowns on an incredible 38 carries to lead the Wildcats to a 33-25, come-from-behind win. That effort has earned Olaes The Reporter Athlete of the Week honors. Wood is now 5-2 on the season, 1-1 in Monticello Empire League play.
“You gotta go with what’s working,” said Wright of the situation his team faced last week. “Jayjay works hard. We have a lot of confidence in him, and he’s a good leader in the huddle. That helps a lot.”
Olaes had a feeling he was in for a heavy workload against the Mustangs… but not that heavy.
“I could see it coming,” the senior said of the situation at kickoff. “Our quarterback was supposed to be out. But I didn’t expect that many carries.”
At 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, Olaes has the physical stature to be a good high school running back. For the season, he’s averaging a little over 100 yards a game and 5.4 yards a carry. And he’s smart, too, making sure to thank the people who helped him gain all those yards on Friday night.
“I need to thank my linemen,” Olaes said. “Each and every one of them. And our defense, that stop on the goal line, that was big for us.”
Wright echoed Olaes comments about his offensive line, citing their experience playing together as a factor in the win.
“It always feels good when your line can dominate,” Wright said. “Ray Lane, Charlie Horton, Avery Beale, Joe Lopez, Vincent Derfuss.”
Of those five, three are juniors, one is a sophomore, and the fifth is a senior transfer from American Canyon. Three of them — Lane, Horton, and Beale — are in their second year as starters.
“Having three returners helps a lot,” Wright said.
Especially when you need to rely on your running game. Olaes scored on touchdown runs of one, 45 and 17 yards. The 45-yarder put the Wildcats up 23-19 — a lead they never relinquished.
“We called our play, I read the defense, their linebacker wasn’t there, and I took advantage of that,” Olaes said of his 45-yard dash into the end zone, virtually untouched.
Of course, Olaes wasn’t always a running back, but he always wanted to be one as a kid.
“I’ve been playing (football) since the second grade,” Olaes said of his gridiron career. “I was a quarterback, then at high school I played cornerback and safety.”
He switched to running back as a junior but didn’t get many carries until his senior season. So why the switch?
“I always looked up to Saquon Barkley,” Olaes said of the running back for the New York Giants. “That’s why I switched to running back.”
And why he wears number 26 when he takes the field for the Wildcats.