The Carson Graham football coaches knew Tyler Nylander was a great athlete – it’s why they switched him to quarterback at the start of this season, after all – but seven touchdowns?
Seven touchdowns!?
On Saturday Nylander basically lived every dream any athlete can have, dominating a championship game to bring his team to victory. It was a three-pointer at the buzzer, a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth, a golden goal in sudden death overtime, a perfect game – all wrapped into one. It was unprecedented in a B.C. high school football championship game: 26 rushes, 368 yards, seven touchdowns. And of course the most important stat: one victory, 53-34 over the Abbotsford Panthers.
“It was unreal,” said Carson Graham head coach Brian Brady. “I didn’t even realize until after the game that it was seven. It’s unbelievable. He had touchdowns of 55 yards, 42 yards – I think his shortest touchdown run was 15.”
Nylander, who also lost track of how many touchdowns he scored, deflected praise onto his teammates.
“I had some huge holes to run through,” he told the North Shore News. “I just saw the guys up front get a good push off the ball and had some great running lanes to go through. It just all worked out for me following the guys into the end zone.”
Nylander’s feat is all the more incredible considering that if he had his choice, he probably wouldn’t have been playing quarterback. As a Grade 11 last season he was the backup quarterback but emerged as a star receiver. He was set to play receiver again this year but when he got to fall camp the coaches had a void to fill at quarterback so they asked him to try it full-time.
“He would have been one of the top (receivers) in the province this year but what we needed him to do was come in and be in there at quarterback,” said Brady, adding that the early returns weren’t great as the Eagles lost their opener – falling by one point to Handsworth in the Buchanan Bowl – and suffered a couple more lopsided defeats in the first month of the season.
“It was rough at the start of the year because he was learning a new offence,” said Brady. “The fact that he was resilient and he has such strong character and leadership skills helped him stick with it and helped him get success.”
Eventually Carson Graham’s no-huddle, spread offence started clicking. Based on the offence run by the University of Oregon, the Carson plan involves three options on each play: a handoff to the running back, a quarterback run, or a pass. As the Eagles started rolling, it was running back Flynn Heyes who did much of the damage, racking up 10 touchdowns and nearly 200 yards rushing per game in Carson’s three playoff games before the final.
Early in the final the Eagles noticed that Abbotsford was focusing a lot of attention on Heyes and so they moved on to option two, calling planned runs for Nylander. It worked.
“We called Tyler’s number a couple of times and our o-line blocked really well and he wasn’t getting touched until four or five yards downfield and even then he’s a slippery runner,” said Brady. “He was able to keep going and we were able to keep riding it to success. … It was impressive. He’s just so fast and he sees the field so well. It was great to see him do well.”
If Nylander’s offensive performance wasn’t enough, he also played most of the game on defence as well, something he’d rarely done throughout the season.
“This game we really let Tyler go,” said Brady. “I was concerned a little bit (about Nylander’s workload) but he’s such a good athlete. He’s a hard-nosed individual and a hard-working individual.”
Nylander teamed up with Michael Kulic to provide double coverage on Abbotsford’s superstar Chase Claypool, a six-foot-five, 220-pound receiver who is bound for the NCAA next season to play football at Notre Dame.
“We knew that we were putting our two best athletes on (Claypool), and our two best athletes were better than anyone else he would have faced through the year. He still did well,” Brady said with a laugh. “He’s an unbelievable athlete.”
Claypool was slowed by a hip injury he suffered near the end of the first quarter – he didn’t return to the field until the second half – but still managed to catch a touchdown and throw for another major. Nylander ended the game with two tackles and an interception.
It was the offence, however, that carried the day for Carson Graham. Nylander put up the jaw-dropping numbers, but Heyes was also strong, carrying 28 times for 194 yards and a touchdown.
“Flynn’s been a workhorse for us all year,” said Brady. “He ran really well. He got stronger as the game went on.”
The Carson offence may be based on the highly effective Oregon model, but the Eagles also make use of the rugby skills that many of their top players possess, including Nylander, who has suited up for the provincial team in rugby.
“Kids like Tyler, kids like Flynn Heyes, kids like Max Goodman, who is coming up next year and we’re going to lean on him next year, another player Harry Girdler – they’re all rugby players and they’re all football players,” said Brady, adding that the offence focuses on getting their athletes the ball in open space and letting them read and attack the defence. “We want to put them in situations where they can experience success. Those rugby skills are definitely helping with that … just getting the ball and having great vision.”
The runners also benefited from great blocking by the offensive line, said Brady.
“They were a strong point all year, and something that we could rely on week in and week out,” he said of his linemen. “Our two guards and our centre are all Grade 12s. (Tyler) was running right behind them.”
After the game the Carson Graham players hoisted their quarterback up onto their shoulders.
“I was just so proud of everyone on the field, all the guys I’ve been playing alongside all year,” said Nylander, who was an obvious choice as game MVP. Cristoph Stangl was named the top lineman of the championship final. The individual statistics, particularly Nylander’s, jump off the page, but Brady emphasized that his roster was loaded with talented, passionate players.
“We talk about Nylander and Flynn and Cristoph, but this is the strongest unit, the strongest team that I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “I think it was a great team win. It really shows that when a group of individuals comes together as a team and puts their minds to something, they can accomplish success.”
