IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Lake Forest High School linebacker Bryan Ooms sacks Glenbard East quarterback Bret Bushka in first-half action. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
In a postgame interview, pragmatic Lake Forest High School head football coach Chuck Spagnoli kept it real.
He usually does.
He loves his players. He appreciates how hard they play.
But the veteran coach said that he wasn’t ready to “place an order for granite” just yet.
Not quite ready to erect any statues.
Such a statement is Spagnoli’s way of pumping the brakes a little.
Lake Forest’s 38-23 season-opening victory over visiting Glenbard East on Aug. 25 was a good win.
Just not a monumental one.
But maybe the time has come to pump up the volume on one of LF’s top players: Bryan Ooms. Feel free to crank the hype machine.
Sculpted and shredded, the previously unheralded senior linebacker, who is nicknamed “The Ox”, has developed into one of LF’s defensive pillars.
Moving from “Sam” linebacker to “Jack” (hybrid linebacker/defensive end) this season, Ooms is ready for that breakout season. He’s licensed to roam. Licensed to get after it. He’s been turned loose.
Thus, he wreaked havoc in Glenbard East’s backfield. Heaps of it.
The indefatigable Ooms was un-re-lent-ing.
Combining speed with power, the 6-foot, 218-pounder with the ripped frame came up with two of his team’s eight quarterback sacks.
Sack No. 1, with seven minutes left in the second quarter, was of the Big League variety. He bulled in and took down Rams quarterback Bret Bushka for a 12-yard loss.
And then, in Glenbard East’s final series of the first half, Ooms blasted through for a seven-yard sack.
Meanwhile, Ooms just missed getting a third sack, when he pressured Bushka and forced an intentional grounding penalty.
Perhaps, his most showy play came midway through the fourth quarter, when he raced downfield and made a solo open-field form tackle on a punt.
“My mindset is to play fast, play smart,” says Ooms. “Go full speed on every play.
“I love the physicality of football. The ruthlessness of it,” he adds.
He’s in the business of stacking sacks. Last year, Ooms compiled seven sacks to go along with five tackles for loss.
Not.
Enough.
He’d like nothing more than to raise his stock — and those sack totals — this fall.
“I want to be somewhere in the teens. Thirteen, maybe 14,” said Ooms, not afraid to make a prediction. “Dropping the quarterback behind the line is one of the greatest feelings. There’s nothing like it.”
The 1-2 punch of Ooms and senior inside linebacker John Deering can cause high anxiety — for opposing offensive coordinators. This duo doesn’t dally. No dawdling allowed.
“Bryan is totally invested in the team,” says Deering, an all-North Suburban Conference returner who already has received Division I offers from Air Force Academy and Dayton. “He gets hyped up. Plays with a lot of intensity.
“We feed off each other,” adds Deering, who finished Friday’s opener with 12 tackles and a 10-yard sack. “It’s been a gift to play on the same the team with him.”
Ooms came into this season ready. He’s a specimen with some pretty special specs. A former sprinter on the LF track team, he runs the 100 in 11.47.
In the weight room, he’s a mad man. He benches 300 pounds, squats 395 and hang cleans 290.
“I’ve tried to get as strong as possible,” says Ooms, who, as a sophomore, was moved up to the varsity midway through the season. “I’ve worked real hard in the weight room.”
That 290 hang clean puts him in some elite company. Over the years, only two ex-players at LF — Chris Meng and Owen Williams — have exceeded 290.
That kind of strength also plays well on the other side of the ball. Thus, getting a chance to line up at running back — on occasion — makes Ooms darn near giddy.
In the second half against Glenbard East, he rushed the ball four times for 32 yards, including a three-yard TD run with 4:05 left in regulation.
“So much fun,” Ooms says. “On defense, you just react. But, on offense, you have the whole deck of cards. There are a lot of things you can do.
“There’s nothing like having the football in your hands,” he adds.
Ooms’ best carry of the night came early in the third quarter, when he got to the edge and busted outside on an 18-yard gain, setting up a 17-yard TD run for LF quarterback Jack Mislinski.
“That’s what he can do,” says Mislinski. “He’s an athlete. He’s got a lot of speed.”
The kid can move. And he did plenty of that — moving — during the first 13 years of his life.
Born in the Netherlands, he lived in five different locales, including one year in Colorado, two years in Switzerland and one year in Wyoming, before his family settled in Lake Forest four years ago.
“My dad,” says Ooms, “works for a moving company.
“I was pretty excited, when we moved back to the states and I was able to speak the language that I know,” he adds. “And playing football at Lake Forest is the best thing that I’ve ever been a part of.”
Notable: Swim enthusiasts will recall the surname, Ooms. Bryan’s brother, Symen, was a star sprinter at Lake Forest, a 2015 grad who took ninth in the 50 freestyle (20.99) at state during his senior season. He went on to swim one season at the Air Force Academy. … Bryan Ooms, on coach Chuck Spagnoli: “He puts it out there straight. He’s always honest. He says what he thinks. I respect that.” … In addition to Ooms, LF’s other standouts in the win over Glenbard East included quarterback Jack Mislinski, defensive back Chris Cavalaris, linebacker John Deering, wide receiver Ryan Cekay and defensive lineman Rylie Mills. … Mislinski, making his first varsity start at quarterback, completed 14 of 22 passes for 152 yards. He tossed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Cekay (5 catches, 78 yards) in the second quarter. He also ran the ball 11 times for 93 yards. He opened the second half with a 57-yard TD run. He added a 17-yard TD run in the fourth period. … Cavalaris intercepted two passes, made four tackles and shared a sack with Mills on the final play of the first quarter. … Mills made a bid to be the team’s “Newcomer of the Year”. The kid with the unique first name has unique ability. The 6-foot-5, 250-pounder, who plays with a ton of enthusiasm, was hard to miss. He had five tackles and batted down two passes. He also blocked a PAT attempt in the second quarter. … And, keep an eye on this guy. Senior Caleb Durbin, a standout baseball player and wrestler for the school who hasn’t played football since his freshman year, saw action at cornerback in the final series of the game. No. 26 had two pass breakups and two tackles. … Another big guy, junior offensive lineman Chase Bahr, also turned some heads. On the seventh play of LF’s second series of the second half, the 6-4, 260-pound Bahr came up with consecutive monster blocks in an attempt to spring Mislinski. “I didn’t see the blocks when I was out there [he was too busy scrambling], but I heard about them after I got off the field,” said Mislinski. “Some guys got into my ear to tell me about them. So I went over to Chase and thanked him personally.”
Bryan Ooms (right) looks on as teammate John Deering records a sack against Glenbard East. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
Bryan Ooms runs the ball in the season opener. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER