Jonas Emilsson
www.krammag.com

Have a conversation with Henry Wise Wood Warriors’ quarterback Tom Punt and you might just walk away telling yourself that you may have just had a conversation with a future Prime Minister of Canada.

The kid just seems to get it.

Now, whether or not the young man decides to pursue politics is another question, and chances are he’s never entertained the thought considering the amount of time he’s dedicated to athletics and education.

But, he leaves the impression that whatever he decides to do in life, he will succeed, and when it comes to athletics, Punt’s career has definitely been a success.

“When he was in grade 10 he won a city championship in football, he won a city championship in rugby, he won a city championship in hockey and he won a city championship in basketball,” said his football coach Cody Ehrmann.

Wherever the kid goes, championships follow, including the senior boys’ Div I football title he helped the Warriors win last year in an upset victory over the Notre Dame Pride.

In last week’s Kram Game of the Week, Punt and his teammates were in the dreaded win and you’re in – lose and you’re out scenarios against an equally desperate John G Diefenbaker Chiefs team.

And after the first half of play it appeared as if the Chiefs would be the team to grab the final playoff spot, and the Warriors would be left on the outside looking in as far as playoff action was concerned.

The Chiefs held a narrow 3-0 lead through three quarters of play, and the Warriors’ offense was stalling about as frequently as a student driver driving a five-speed up the hills of San Francisco for the first time.

But, like all champions do, Punt and his fellow gridironers found a way to win, scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown to narrowly scrape into the playoffs.

The thing is, the Warriors aren’t a ‘just scrape into the playoffs’ type of team. They have plenty of talent, plenty of experience, plenty of history, and not to mention quality coaching on their side. All the ingredients needed to make some post-season noise.

In the must-win game against the Chiefs, Punt ended up being a positive factor on both ends of the ball. As a quarterback, he kept several drives alive with his scrambling abilities. As a safety, he was a menace to the Chiefs’ receivers as he batted down potential completions.

“I came into high school never playing a down of football in my life,” said Punt. “I love the game. “I for sure love the game and I love working as a team.”

Unfortunately for the Warriors, their third and fourth quarter drives kept coming up short, but it was clear that they were gaining momentum and field position, and it was only a matter of time before they got some points on the board.

Which they did late in the game, capping of a methodical drive down the field, led by Punt the quarterback.

And now that they’re in, it’s up to leaders like him to ensure the team forgets about the sub-par regular season, and remind everyone that the post-season is a whole new ball game.

And just like last week’s game, Wednesday’s quarter final duel against a very tough St. Francis Browns team will be a do-or-die game.

It’s games like these that strong leadership plays a massive role, which is what will be expected of Punt come game time.

“He brings strong leadership,” says Ehrmann. “He truly knows what it means to be a champion, he represents the team with class and he’s always a constant competitor.”

Listening to Ehrmann talk about Punt as a football player, one assumes he’s played the game his entire life, but the surprising thing is that he had never thrown a football in a competitive environment prior to coming to Henry Wise Wood three years ago.

“I came into high school never playing a down of football in my life,” said Punt. “I love the game. “I for sure love the game and I love working as a team.”

Just like St. Francis, Wise Wood also has an accomplished history when it comes to football, which is why he decided to join the team.

“Wise Wood is such a football school and it seemed like the thing to do,” said Punt. “Once they moved me to quarterback in grade 10, right at the beginning, and taught me to throw a spiral for the first time in my life, I felt like I was a football player and I had to stick to it.”

“You almost treat it like a job at Wise Wood. You have to play with class, you have to play hard.”

He’s been communicating with Coach Ehrmann about playing football at the next level. The big question is, what position best suits his abilities on the football field?

Like all natural born athletes, Punts’ biggest hurdle may just be the need to focus in on mastering one position, and then use his natural abilities to dominate at that position.

The jack-of-all trades approach may be something that works at the high school level, but if Punt wants to excel at the university level, he’ll most likely need to focus on one position in the future.

“Tom is an all-around football player,” said Ehrmann. “I have had several conversations with Tom and I think he could play slotback at the university level and I think he could play safety at the university level.”

Which brings up the question, which position does he enjoy lining up in the most?

“That’ really tough to answer because I haven’t been playing safety for too long,” says Punt. “It’s fun playing quarterback and reading the defense, but it’s also fun being on defense and picking off your coach in practice. Both are totally different, you’re reading off one and then you’re reading off the other.

One thing is for sure, whatever the young man decides to focus on, he’ll no doubt be great at it.

Posterize yourself – Action photos from the Warriors vs Chiefs game will soon be available HERE.

Sign up to Kram Interactive to see more action photos.

Kram 5 with Tom Punt
Who is your favourite NFL team? Arizona Cardinals
Who is your favourite NFL player? Tom Brady
What is your favourite movie? Step Brothers
What are your cleats of choice? Under Armour
What is your favourite pre-game meal? Water and Spaghetti