One would be hard-pressed to find a high school student-athlete who has more fun playing football than Jarde Stormer, and why shouldn’t he have fun, he’s earned the right.
From not playing his sophomore year, to playing just special teams on kickoffs his junior year, to being one of MacArthur High School’s go-to guy when it comes to running the football, the 5-6 senior running back-linebacker has shown coaches, teammates and Highlander fans what hard work and dedication will lead to.
“He’s been very positive from day one,” said Mac head coach Ernie Manning. “He has given great effort, and I’m very pleased. He’s contributed tremendously at running back and outside linebacker, but especially running back. I think he enjoys carrying the ball. He does a good job of blocking so I’m extremely happy with his progress and play this year.”
Stormer’s bid for a starting spot in the Highlanders’ offense wasn’t given to him. Although he knew he had what it took, it was the Mac coaching staff he had to convince. So he set out to do just that.
“I came here my junior year so I didn’t get to play my first year,” the soft-spoken Stormer said. “My junior year I spent most of the time on kickoffs. This year Coach Manning and Coach Fish (running backs coach Rod Fisher) gave me a shot at running back. They told me I was working hard so they let me play a little running back the first two games so I could get some experience. Now I’m in there every other series.
“It just took hard work and proving to them that I could play, that’s just what happened. I felt like I could play, could contribute to this team. I just had to prove it to the coaches that I was ready and that I could take the pressure. I think I got my point across to them. The Ike game is really where I broke out. I scored the first TD and had a couple of pretty good runs that game. I think that proved to them that I could step up and play.”
Stormer admits he’s not the fastest of running backs, but what he lacks in speed he more than makes up with his tenaciousness.
“To be 5-6 and not having long legs, you can’t really just break a big stride,” said Stormer with a wide grin plastered on his face. “I make up for that by ducking my shoulder, cutting up at the first daylight, running hard right at them and then trying to gain as much yardage as I can after first contact.”
Case in point came last week in Mac’s Class 5A first-round playoff win over Woodward. Stormer gained 59 yards on just five carries. One of those carries was a 26-yard scoring run in which he dismissed his own admission of not having a lot of speed by showing that he does indeed have some speed.
This week Stormer and the Highlanders take on McAlester in the second round of the playoffs Friday night at Cameron Stadium. Last week against the Boomers, the Highlanders came out a bit lethargic, knowing that they had better talent to fall back on. Stormer says that can’t do that this week against a talented Buffaloes team.
“We can’t come into Friday’s game like we did last week,” Stormer said. “We have to play mistake free football from the start. We can’t get big headed and think we’re just gong to take it. We’re going to forget about last game because the last game in the first half we didn’t do very well. We made too many mistakes. Everybody has to be on the same page, focused and ready to go.
You can bet Stormer will be focused. You can also bet he’s going to have fun.”
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