TEMPLE, Texas — Most of the time when you see playmakers on the field, you see them making big catches or big tackles, but for Central Texas Christian junior Ike Klimchuk, you see him play on every side of the ball.
"He's a great kid," said head coach Leif Johnston. "He's a great student. You'll see him playing on Saturday somewhere."
Klimchuk is a three-sport athlete who plays baseball and hockey on top of football. On the field he plays tight end, middle linebacker, safety and he's a punter. On top of all of his different positions, he is a captain for the football team too.
"He's very versatile in what he can do," Johnston continued. "He's our middle linebacker and he's the quarterback of that side of the ball. He makes a ton of plays and gets us lined up and then offensively he plays tight end and flexes out as a receiver. So just right there that's three positions. We can get the ball to him in a lot of different ways knowing that he's capable of making a big play anytime he gets a chance."
Last Friday Klimchuk helped the Lions pick up a 35-0 shut out victory over Conroe and had two touchdowns in that game. He also made a lot of big tackles including tackles for loss. He is the Lions leading tackler this season with over a hundred on the season.
"At a small school you get to play, we call it Gridiron football," said Johnston. "You're playing both ways and then he's on, he's the punter. So he's playing on all three facets of the game and does all of them really well, which is not common. He's got potential to not just be successful here but be successful at the next level too."
Last Friday's win was huge for the Lions after they dropped their first game of the season to Brazos Christian 29-12 a week prior. Central Texas Christian knew that they would need to come into their game against Conroe with a clean slate.
"All of our coaches have been preaching the point that we feel like this is a team of destiny, that, you know, we've got a really legitimate chance of making a deep run, and playing for a state championship, winning the state championship, they believe that, and that's a huge part of it is that mental component, believing that you can do it," Johnston told 6 News.
"We realized it's a pretty special year," said Klimchuk. "We have a great team and so I just, every game is more important. So, we just, we're ready for it and we're gonna keep going."
The Lions will take on Halletsville Sacred Heart on Friday night with a first round bye in the playoffs on the line. The Lions have never beat Halletsville in their history. KCEN will have highlights from that game on Friday Night Lights.