Ollila repeats as All-Front Range League selection

January 21, 2009

By Brenda Rader Mross

The Wellington

 

What normal, red-blooded, all-American kid — big or little — hasn’t fantasized about being a football star, scoring the winning touchdown, forcing the game-changing turnover?

Poudre High School senior Tony Ollila has been living that dream.

The Impala center was recently named to the All-Front Range League football squad for the second consecutive year. Teammate and senior running back Josh Morton was honored as the conference offensive player of the year.

It was a season to remember for Poudre football fans, with the Impalas making it to the Final Four in the state playoffs. PHS lost 48-21 to Mullen on Nov. 22, and Mullen went on to win the Colorado 5A championship at Invesco Field.

Right after their season-ending game, Tony said most of his fellow players were crying. It didn’t hit him right away that this was the career-ending game for him.

“I was fine up until I saw my mom and dad,” Tony said. “I cried when I hugged them and then I realized, ‘It’s over.’ I’m also kind of relieved in a way.”

Tony is the son of Cindy and Mike Ollila. Tony jokes that he’s heard everything when it comes to their unusual surname, pronounced OH-luh-lah. Tony said they’re not completely sure but think it is Finnish. Cindy works in the Poudre School District payroll department, and Mike is an employee at Anheuser-Busch brewery. Tony’s 19-year-old sister, Cadie, graduated from Poudre last year and is in her first year at Front Range Community College.

Tony said his parents tell him he “always, always” adored football, and that he loved to have them drive by the Colorado State University practice field so he could see the Rams scrimmaging.

“I really liked (former Broncos running back) Terrell Davis. I had the fake shoulder pads and plastic helmet, the whole outfit,” Tony said. “I never really had an idol, but I think Tom Nalen is pretty cool.”

Denver’s center from 1994-2008, Nalen was the last active link to the Broncos’ Super Bowl titles until he retired Jan. 6.

Another big influence on Tony was fellow Impala Sean Hawley. Sean was a senior when Tony was a sophomore.

“Holy cow, Sean was like my big brother,” Tony said. “I think Sean was honored that I wore his number, 62, after he graduated in 2007.”

Perhaps Tony’s biggest inspiration, though, came from the Impala’s postgame prayer circle.

“It was awesome,” Tony said, almost reverently. “It quiets down; everything’s all calm and peaceful. We held hands and it was just us guys and God.”

Spirituality isn’t relegated to weekends for this former Vineyard preschooler; spirituality is Tony’s life.

“I have a very solid foundation,” he said. “God provides. As long as I trust, I don’t have anything to worry about.”

Tony calls Poudre coaches Steve Bradley, Rich “Yonks” Yonker and George Osborne “great guys.” One thing he’ll never forget is the latter’s laser pointer picking out an occasional player during films, a motion Osborne accentuated with a head shake and a single word: “Knucklehead.”

Osborne called Tony “quiet and very intelligent; a stalwart, one of our character guys.”

“Tony quickly went from ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ to captain and leader of our offensive line,” Osborne said. “He took over the position. It was an amazing transformation. We’ll miss him and for a lot of reasons.”

Tony started out as a quarterback playing flag football in the third grade at Eyestone Elementary School (in Wellington, Colorado). While he excelled at several sports, Tony said he was built for football. It was his size — 6-feet, 1-inch and 250 pounds — that eventually determined his status, front and center, on the offensive line.

“I didn’t care what position I played,” Tony said. “I do kind of miss quarterbacking, though. Being a receiver would be cool, too. I love catching balls. I love throwing things, too, but that gets me into trouble sometimes.”

Despite his lifelong devotion and the accolades, Tony said he’s pretty much done with football.

“It’s been a great run, but I’m not sure if my body will take it anymore,” Tony said. “And I don’t want to give up nine months of the year dedicated to football.”

A starter on the Poudre offensive line as a sophomore, Tony has suffered more than his share of injuries. A fractured hip kept him out his entire freshman year. He battled a partially torn medial collateral ligament the next two years and developed tendonitis in his left knee this year.

“I’m in constant pain,” he admitted.

Not good, especially since Tony is only 17 years old and looking forward to a nice, long career in construction management. He and his family are in the process of checking out Montana State University. Ultimately Tony would like to graduate from Colorado State.

“I love the Rams,” Tony said. “They are like number two in the country for construction management. I heard about Montana State at a college fair and thought it’d be a good place to take my gen ed (general education) courses. Man, it’s beautiful up there (in Bozeman).”

“Wellington will always be home to me,” he said. “It’s exciting to think about seeing what else is out there, too. I feel ready. I’m sure I’ll get homesick, but I do fine by myself.”

Tony does well in social studies, history and government at school, and owns up to a case of “senioritis to the max.” An experienced outdoorsman, Tony enjoys hunting, camping, and fishing for “anything” but preferably while on a lake at sunset on a calm night. He cites “Dumb and Dumber” as his all-time favorite show.

Tony said he’s been busy filling out job applications, hoping to gain some “real” experience and some money for a post-graduation road trip to visit his aunt in Los Angeles.

Wherever Tony ends up, he says he’ll never forget being an Eyestone first-grader, “when girls loved to chase me around. It was the coolest thing.”

To young boys who aspire to be the greatest on the gridiron, he offered this advice: “Go for it. Everything is totally possible with dedication and hard work, faith and trust.”