Grand Meadow’s Olson has stepped up in first year as starting QB
Published 9:21 pm Wednesday, November 9, 2016
- Grand Meadow quarterback Brenn Olson gets a play from head coach Gary Sloan against Spring Grove in third quarter of the Section 1 Nine Man championship Friday night at Rochester Community and Technical College. Herald File Photo
GRAND MEADOW — The Grand Meadow football team has always been known for its power rushing attack, but part of what makes that running game so effective is that the Superlarks have a capable passing game to back it up.
Before this season began, GM head coach Gary Sloan had to make a call on who was going to replace Michael Stejskal, who was the quarterback on two state of the three state title teams for GM. After some consideration, Sloan picked senior Brenn Olson, who had been the back-up quarterback, but saw most of his time on offense as a wide receiver last year.
Since making that decision, Sloan hasn’t looked back with any regret.
“He’s done very well. He’s improved a lot as the season’s gone along,” Sloan said. “He’s really understood the position a lot in the latter half of the season and he’s made a lot of suggestions to me about plays that would work. He’s been right.”
Olson is 37-for-62 with 869 yards passing and 11 TDs to go with his 336 rushing yards and five TD. But perhaps the biggest stat that Olson has provided for the Superlarks is the zero interceptions he has thrown.
“One of the worst things you can do as a quarterback is throw an interception because it puts your whole team in a bad place,” Olson said. “With our backs as good as they are and our line, we always have wide open guys and it’s made my job a lot easier.”
Grand Meadow quarterback Brenn Olson carries on a keeper in the third quarter of Section 1 Nine Man championship Friday night at Rochester Community and Technical College. Herald File Photo
While he has delivered on the field, Olson has also proven himself as valuable field general. GM senior Christophor Bain said that Olson has been crucial to the team’s offensive success.
“It’s always helpful to have a vocal leader at quarterback telling you how to correct things, because he likes to correct people,” Bain said. “He’s been really good this year.”
Olson said he learned a lot from watching GM’s quarterbacks in years past.
“I’ve always kind of played quarterback, but we had a good quarterback in Michael Stejskal last year so I made the transition to play wide receiver,” Olson said. “The transition back to quarterback wasn’t too hard because I’ve grown up learning from Stejskal and Trenton Bleifus, who were great quarterbacks.”