×

All-Journal Defense: Nothing slows down Merseth

Photo illustration by Steve Muscatello Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Myles Merseth was named the All-Journal Defensive Player of the Year.

NEW ULM — In just the second game of the high school football season, Myles Merseth broke his right hand, his dominant hand, in a game against Wabasso.

For most, such an injury would mean an extended absence on the field. For Merseth, it meant a change in his tackling mindset and it made him a better football player on the defensive side of the ball.

At that point, Merseth knew that he had to get himself into better position to tackle the ball carrier. Instead of relying on his arms and hands, he had to rely on his legs. It was different at first, but once he shed the cast, he was a better player all-around.

Merseth’s ability on the defensive side of the ball was one of the reasons why Minnesota Valley Lutheran finished the season strong. In the end, the team was one game away from the state tournament.

Merseth was named the 2016 All-Journal Defensive Player of the Year as voted on by the sports writing staff at The Journal. He has one year left to play varsity football, a scary thought for other offenses in the area.

He finished the year with 113 tackles, including five sacks and 27 tackles for loss. He was very disruptive in many ways, forcing four fumbles and he even blocked two punts. Having just finished his junior season, he will build on his career numbers that include 247 tackles, 10 sacks and seven forced fumbles.

Merseth is one of only four players in MVL history to have started as a freshman. That small list includes Galen Holzhueter, Sam Genelin, Merseth and Colton Collum. Genelin just completed his senior year of football while Merseth completed his junior year and Collum his freshman year.

Merseth’s 2016 offseason was busy and by all means it was big for his growth in the sport.

“I’ve been working a lot of construction with my dad and I’ve been lifting, but I did a lot of football camps and went to some college camps,” he said. “It was a lot of physical work and a lot of time for that.”

What was looking to be a promising season for him took a quick turn against Wabasso. He broke his right hand in a 48-14 loss, putting the Chargers at 0-2 at that point.

With two early losses on the season and their three-year starter out, panic mode was starting to set in for the Chargers.

“Yeah definitely, we had no idea where the break was at, we were up at Wabasso, we played a good first half and he got hurt in the beginning of the second half and we got rolled,” MVL coach Jim Buboltz said. “We’re just wondering, we’re  0-2 and here arguably our best defensive player has gone down. We didn’t know what to expect.”

If anything, the injury made him a better, more aware tackler.

“The first game after I had it [the cast], I had a lot of trouble with chase down tackles, but what I had to give myself more time and recover back,” he said. “I had to give myself a wider angle because I can get more of my arm into it.

“I really had to go through technique again, because a lot of it was I get the tackle, I get the hit, I’d grab them and pull them down,” he said. “I had to make sure I was getting them by the legs instead of getting them at the chest, because I used to tackle that way. It was tough, but it definitely helped me in the long run because in the second to last game when I did get it off, I was tackling that way and I had that grabbing ability and that definitely helped.”

The taste of playing in the section finals is one that won’t go away anytime soon. Merseth’s goal is to obviously get back to that point and then some next year and Buboltz knows that Merseth is one player that can accomplish anything.

“There’s a lot of things that have helped him get focused for next season and he and the other two captains for next year have already started talking about what they’re going to do,” Buboltz said. “I’m never going to tell this kid that there’s something he can’t do. If you tell him there’s something he can’t do, he’ll just do it just to show you that he can.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today