By: Korbyn denDrijver-Kahl
Kaedan Hermanutz, a junior at Lynden High School.
He is the Lynden Lion’s starting quarterback, and his stat line reads like this: 63/116 for 901 yards though the air for 14 passing touchdowns, Kaedan’s rushing stat line is 81 carries for 309 yards with 4 rushing touchdowns. I was able to sit down with him for an interview on his mindset and the team’s mindset.
The first question I asked him was, “I read in the Lynden Tribune that you had to get shoulder surgery. Did you comeback from that?”
“We have a thing called the green gold camp. It’s like off-season camps for the team,” Hermanutz said “And I couldn’t really participate in any of that. I could just throw the ball around. So it’s a little discouraging, but I knew when the season came that I’d have to be ready. So whatever I could do to help it heal, without trying to get down on myself.”
Kaedan has been able to lead the Lynden Lions to a 8-1 record with the only loss coming at the hands of the Golden Eagles of Ferndale.
“I think it’s great, coach VanDalen loves having two quarterbacks out there just to give other defenses of other teams a hard look, it’s really hard to plan for two quarterbacks” Kaedan stated about the subject of the QB battle that happened over the off-season.
“I think it made me and Max (Moore) both better. Just because we knew that we were not comfortable sitting on our spot thinking that we’re gonna have it every week.” Hermanutz continued about the quarterback battle.
“Coach VanDalen does love to have a rotation of quarterbacks he did it with James Marsh, Brock Heppner and Baylor Ayers in the 2017 season along with the 2018 football season as well.”
I asked Kaeden if that quarterback battle made the team better as a whole.
“Oh, Yeah, it totally made it better.” Hermanutz responded. “I think having two guys to lead the team just makes the team unity stronger…if you’re a one quarterback team, and I think some would think that maybe having two would break the team apart somehow. But, to our team it doesn’t matter who’s behind center. The receivers trust that ball is going to get to them no matter what. And so I think there is just a level of unity throughout the whole team, it’s not just between one quarterback and the receivers.”
When I got to sit down with Kaedan I was able to ask him more about the atmosphere, what it means to him playing at Lynden High School, and how he think that will help out the team heading into playoffs. I asked Kaeden “what is the atmosphere like at Lynden High School for a football game?”
“When I’m standing on the sideline after a big play, and you hear the crowd erupt, when the band plays songs and stuff like that. You’re so into it,” Kaedan added. “There isn’t a better feeling in the world than being out there or being on the sidelines and just hearing our entire school behind your back on whatever happens. So, it’s awesome.”
Another question that I asked Kaeden about the atmosphere is “how does the football team feed off of the student section’s energy and the band’s energy?”
Hermanutz said “You’re so into it. And you just want to make the big hits so the crowd goes crazy. But, knowing that every time you make a big play, there’s an eruption from the crowd. It’s…. it’s crazy, people just play so well. And every time you play, you just remember who you’re playing for. When you’re playing at home, it’s like, this is Lynden. This is what it’s all about. This is what we’ve been dreaming about. Since we were kids.”
I also asked Kaeden about what the team’s mindset, and how the team is set up to be successful in the playoffs. The first question I asked him was “what is that mindset going into playoffs?”
“I’m just starting to realize that our team is on WIAA right now ranked number two in the state. And I think that holds us to a really high standard. But that means we need to meet it and not shy away from it,” Kaedan said.
At the time of this interview the Lynden Lions were ranked number 1 in the northwest conference and ranked #2 in 2A right under Tumwater High School.
“We just need to be very serious and focused. Obviously, we have fun, but fun is gonna come from succeeding. And if we don’t take practice and such seriously, then we might not succeed the way we want to.” Hermanutz continued to say about the mindset of the team going into the first round of the playoffs against the Fife Trojans.
“I think the biggest thing that our team has an advantage over other teams is how strong our unity is, and how much we would do for one another. You can’t coach to have love for the teammate, you know, that you’re playing out there with. I think compared to some of the schools that we’ve played, where they just get in fights and yell at each other, we could never do that. So I think trying to lead a team in this scenario, it’s going to be important just to remind them that we have the skill. If we just have the heart, we can get stuff done.” Hermanutz said on the question on how he will lead a team in the playoffs this year.
The next question I asked Kaeden was, “How do you think the team is structured to put you and the team in the most optimal position to win a big game in the playoffs?”
“Kaleo Jandoc (WR, Senior), said this all year, our hardest opponent is ourselves. We have the athletic ability to beat any team. And we have the heart to beat any team. But the only way we can lose the game is if we get in our own heads and build their best game. So I think that is what pushes us to be successful,” Hermanutz answered.
To wrap up this interview I asked Kaedan a couple more questions about the playoffs.
I asked him “Does the team this year like their chances?”
He quickly answered with, “Heck yeah, you could probably ask anybody on our team and ask him how far we’re going to go and everybody could agree that we believe that we could make it super deep…it’s my first time but I think we just have such heart and talent on our team that I think anybody on our team would agree that we should make a deep run this year.”
“I would say we hold ourselves to a standard that we always need to score,” Hermanutz said on the subject what the identity of the team is on the offensive side of the football. “Every week coach VanDalen says that we need to score every quarter. And last game, we didn’t necessarily deliver on that. But, usually that’s our purpose, is either to get the special teams in a position to where Troy (Petz) can kick a field goal, or we just take care of the job ourselves and do it.”
To conclude I think Kaedan Hermanutz is a great leader of this Lynden Lions football team, even though this is his first time going into the playoffs as the starting quarterback. I also think, just like Kaedan mentioned, that the unity the team has, and the athletic ability that this team has, they could be poised to make a run at the state championship this year. The Lions will have to start their state championship hopes tonight at 7:00 at Civic Stadium against the 4-5 Fife Trojans.
