Long before he became Esko's football coach, Bill Hudspith was the Eskomos' starting quarterback. But Hudspith admits he never could elude tacklers the way his current quarterback, Max Reinertsen, does.
"He's one of those talented athletes that comes around once every 10 years," Hudspith said of the rangy, 6-foot-1, 165-pound senior.
Reinertsen rushed for nearly 800 yards and threw for more than 900 as the Eskomos finished the regular season 4-4 against an extremely difficult schedule, which included games against once-beaten Braham, Deer River and Holy Family Catholic and concluded Wednesday against second-ranked Moose Lake-Willow River.
Despite being sacked several times, Reinertsen rushed for 119 yards and threw for 150 in a 54-20 loss to the unbeaten Rebels.
"Max Reinertsen is the kind of athlete that any coach would love to have as part of their team," MLWR coach Dave Louzek said. "He is a great leader on top of the tremendous physical ability he possesses. You have to game plan to contain him to have a chance of beating Esko."
ADVERTISEMENT
Opponents usually haven't fared very well. Reinertsen had a game for the ages against Deer River last year, rushing for 283 yards and seven touchdowns and scoring 46 points in a 63-49 victory, the state's highest-scoring game since 1919.
A three-year starter, Reinertsen's become proficient running the Eskomos' triple option and has authority to call audibles at the line of scrimmage whenever he sees fit.
"Running the ball probably is my best asset," he said. "If (defenses) bite on the fullback and take away the pitch, then I have free range to run. I think I've mastered the triple option pretty well."
Hudspith and assistant coach Scott Arntson, another former signal-caller, have worked closely with Reinertsen.
"We've been fortunate to have good quarterbacks the last nine, 10 years ... so I think we can produce a good quarterback and give them a lot of responsibility on the field," Hudspith said. "When you run the triple option, you have to read (the defense) and make decisions on the fly."
Reinertsen honed his skills at several camps, including at Nebraska, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown universities.
"I've seen plenty of the best players in the nation; that's helped me develop," he said. "Quite honestly, (recruiters) don't see many kids from this part of the country. So instead of them coming to me, I went out to them and tried to showcase myself."
The Ivy League schools come into play because of Reinertsen's 3.95 grade-point average -- he's never had below an A-minus in high school -- and his score of 30 on the ACT. After a visit to the University of Chicago this weekend, he'll look at other prestigious academic institutions such as Princeton, Carnegie-Mellon and Williams before making a final decision.
ADVERTISEMENT
A likely business management or psychology major, Reinertsen also hopes to play football at the next level.
