After missing four games with a shoulder injury, Floyd Central quarterback Max Guenther returned to the Highlander lineup with something he didn’t have before.
Nerves.
Guenther suffered his injury in Week 3 and was forced to watch four games from the Highlander sidelines.
In Week 8, he returned on Floyd’s second offensive drive with a serious case of the butterflies.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous in a football game in my life. I don’t usually get nervous about football games,” the third-year senior signal-caller said.
On Guenther’s first pass attempt, the jitters showed as it went over the head of his intended target. On Guenther’s second heave, it landed in the arms of Aaron Sparks for a 25-yard touchdown.
“That got the jitters out and I was ready to go,” Guenther said.
Since that pass, Guenther has been making opposing coaches and defenses nervous.
Despite playing through shoulder and back pain, Guenther has put together a sensational playoff run that resulted in Floyd Central’s first sectional championship since 1998.
In sectional wins over Jennings County, New Albany and Castle, Guenther accounted for 11 touchdowns, six on the ground and five through the air. In the semifinal win over New Albany, Guenther threw for three first-half touchdowns. In the championship game, he ran for four.
“He has been outstanding,” Highlander coach Brian Glesing said of Guenther’s sectional run.
“He’s a great threat to have,” senior lineman Aaron Blair added. “He allows us to pass the ball, as well as run it.
“He’s a quarterback that can run the ball and throw the ball. He adds another threat to our offense and makes us more dangerous.”
As great of a multi-dimensional threat as he has been, Guenther’s coaches and teammates believe that his most admirable quality has nothing to do with his physical abilities.
“He’s a great leader to have because he’s experienced and he knows what he’s doing,” Blair said. “Having a guy out there who has been with you, a guy you can rely on, that makes him really important to us.”
“Max is a great leader for our team. He knows how to get everybody to do what they need to do,” Sparks said. “He knows our offense and what’s going on, and he understands our limitations, understands our strength and knows exactly what to do. He understands his role and what it takes to win a sectional and what it’s going to take to win a regional.”
Nothing showed Guenther’s leadership ability like the work ethic he put in during his rehabilitation.
“He’s put a lot of hard work in to get back and he’s helped us tremendously. I’m not sure we could have won (the sectional) without him,” Sparks said. “He’s played right through the pain and acts like nothing’s happened. He’s playing through the pain pretty well, I think.”
Floyd County Sports
Guenther making opponents nervous
- Floyd County Sports
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BOYS' GOLF: Floyd A-team fourth at Lafayette Jeff
