At any given time there are generally 11 players on the field for a team.
Those 11 different parts all play their roles in the outcome of a game and the course of a season. It’s hard to say one makes all the difference but that’s been the case with Shady Spring’s unheralded senior Jacob Showalter.
Whenever the Tigers have needed a big play to keep their season alive, he’s been there to deliver.
“I’ve just been trying to work my butt off for the last four years and it’s finally paying off,” Showalter said. “I always try to get open on offense and give Cameron (Manns) an opportunity to throw the ball to me.”
The results have been undeniable.
An instinctive player, Showalter saved the season in Week 10 against Liberty. With the Tigers trailing Liberty 26-23 and needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive it was Showalter who bailed them out. With Shady electing to kick a field goal late in the fourth to tie the game, Showalter, the holder, caught the high snap and was unable to get it down.
What did he do? He made a play.
The 5-foot-7 senior corralled the snap at the 15 and bolted to his right, extending to the pylon for the winning score.
He had an encore performance the following week against PikeView.
With the Tigers trailing 20-7 in the second half and facing a fourth-and-8, Shady QB Cameron Manns was flushed to his right. Needing a conversion to keep the play alive, he lobbed the ball up for grabs and it sailed over the hands of a PikeView player and into those of Showalter who caught it near the sideline for the conversion. The played provided the spark Shady needed as it scored two plays later.
Huge completion by Cam Manns, hitting Jacob Showalter. #wvprepfb pic.twitter.com/rwZPAYmjrZ
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) November 2, 2021
“Oh yeah, he’s got a nose for the ball” Shady head coach Vince Culicerto said. “Since he was a sophomore and we started him, he tends to be around interceptions, fumbles, caused fumbles, big plays. He’s always around there and he’s got great football sense and he’s a kid that doesn’t give up. He’s just a little fella, ya know? He’s already outmanned a little bit but he still makes plays and does a super job. He’s done it since he’s been here and football smart is one of the best things to say about him. He’s made some big plays for us here like he’s been doing, especially here towards the end. He’s made some really big plays. I’m just proud of him and what he’s done.”
From the jump Culicerto knew he had a ball magnet on his hands. With an older player struggling in a game in 2019, the veteran head coach made the call to see what he had in Showalter and it paid off.
“He got to get a taste of the playoffs his sophomore year,” Culicerto said. “The first game we brought him in, we were down at PikeView in the regular season and one of our starters on a real good defense was not playing well. We just yanked him out and put in Showalter and he gets an interception like three plays in. We play him even more and he gets one or two more and he was just a little fella then – a 10th grader. But it’s big. It’s huge and you know you can count on him to come up with something – a turnover or a big play and ya know it spreads to the rest of the team that he’s not giving up.”
Showalter’s propensity for making plays doesn’t stem from luck. He’s a student of the game that lives and breathes it. His preparation and study puts him in the right spot as he awaits opportunity.
“Football’s probably the No. 1 thing in my life,” he said. “I’m constantly watching it all the time, playing Madden all the time and talking about it with my friends. It’s my whole life. At corner you can watch the whole field and see what’s going on. I always try to play off the receiver and bait quarterbacks into throwing the ball to them and try to jump the route. I’ve been doing that since that first interception I had on varsity.”
An interception against PikeView was what jumpstarted his varsity career so it was only appropriate his last regular season play was also against the Panthers.
In the regular season finale last Tuesday, the senior intercepted two balls on the final drive. The first was overturned and ruled a catch on offense but when given another opportunity he was prepared, intercepting PikeView QB Peyton Greer to ice the game and send the Tigers to the playoffs for the third time in his career.
As his high school career winds down with a playoff game against county rival Independence on tap for Friday he’s hoping he has a couple more big plays left as the Tigers look to pull off the upset.
“I think we’re a completely different team than we were when we played them earlier in the year,” Showalter said. “We’ve developed a lot. It’s going to be tough but we’re going to have to play almost perfect.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94.
