By Christian Giggenbach
UNION — In the original 1978 Superman movie, a young Clark Kent laments to Pa Kent, portrayed by Glenn Ford, after being teased by football players for being the school waterboy.
“But I could score a touchdown on every play if you would just let me play football,” Superboy said.
Some people in the area are wondering if the Kent family has moved to Monroe County, because a second-grader playing in a Union Pee Wee Football League this year posted numbers that are absolutely out of this world.
Eight-year-old Grant Mohler, playing quarterback for the Union Bulldogs, rushed for 1,884 yards on 97 carries, scored 32 touchdowns, averaged 205 yards per game and over 19 yards per carry. All in a nine-game season. Somebody must have hidden the kryptonite.
Mohler also scored five rushing touchdowns in two separate games while helping his teammates capture a Super Bowl title during an undefeated season. All that, plus having the nickname “Bruiser,” might combine for a swelled head for some youngsters, but not for Mohler. When asked why he did so well this year, Mohler eased into the question like a seasoned veteran.
“I think I just had a really good offensive line and a good offense and that’s how I got good,” Mohler said in his first — but probably not his last — newspaper interview.
Mohler’s defensive efforts were just as impressive, averaging nearly nine tackles per game at middle linebacker. Overall, the Bulldogs had a dream season, outscoring their opponents 298-34. That’s an average of nearly 40 points a game and giving up less than four points a game. Second-year head coach L.J. Robinson of Lewisburg said the team also recorded seven shutouts on the season.
“Grant is a great team player. He’s a great kid and very coachable,” Robinson, who is 1-1 in back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, said. “Every team had a plan to shut him down and nobody did it.”
Robinson ran a shotgun formation offense most of the year, and the quarterback bootleg was Mohler’s favorite and most deadly play. Many of his touchdown’s came from runs of 50 yards or more, he said.
And the team’s success came from what most sports fans would consider a rebuilding year for the Bulldogs and assistant coaches David “Turkey” Pitzer, Jeff Lewis and Jamie Crislip. Because of a change in the league’s age requirements, Grant was the only returning player from the 2006 Super Bowl squad. The league is made up of only first and second-graders.
“In the Super Bowl, it was late in the fourth quarter and we had a fourth down. Grant came up to me and asked how many yards we needed for a first down in order to keep the clock running,” Robinson said. “And that’s coming from a second-grader.”
Mohler’s father, longtime Monroe County prosecutor Rod Mohler, who recorded all of the rushing statistics, said sports and football run in the family. Grant’s two older brothers play at James Monroe High School and his younger brother plays organized flag football. It’s probably a product of good genes as well — Rod played four years of college baseball at Bluefield State.
“All four of my sons get out and like to toss the football around,” Rod said. “But we are trying hard to keep Grant well grounded. Kids develop at different ages, and while he’s no bigger than everybody else, he’s faster and stronger than some of the kids who have not played before. But, I tell you, it was amazing and certainly a joy to watch your kid do something that even shocks me.”
His mother, Reba, said Grant also worked hard with a lot of the kids who were first-year players during practice. Her son has been playing organized football for four years.
“I’m very proud of him; he’s always been very responsible and helped others,” she said.
But don’t think Mohler is too serious about football, because at heart he’s still just a regular 8-year-old. When asked what his friends thought about his football prowess, the kid in him immediately jumped out.
“They think it’s sweet,” he said.
— E-mail:
cgiggenbach@register-herald.com
