Lisbon quarterback Chris Kates has an uncanny knack for making the big plays.
LISBON FALLS – If Lisbon quarterback and cornerback Chris Kates played professional football (or even collegiate football at some universities, the cynic might say) he’d make his money on guts and guile.
Alas, Kates plays football at Lisbon High School, so rather than cash, he’ll have to settle for a perfect record and a Gold Ball symbolic of the Class C state championship.
The Greyhounds continue their pursuit of that goal today in their Western Class C title clash with Boothbay Game time at Thompson Field is 12:30 p.m.
Regardless of whether or not he gets to clutch the championship trophy in his arms, Kates will have helped Lisbon get as far as it could using his brain as skillfully as his legs and arm.
“I watched him his freshman year, and (even then) he was making great decisions back there at quarterback,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan. “His decisions were always geared toward winning a game or making a big play.”
The junior had to wait until this year to showcase his quarterbacking skills at the varsity level. Mynahan didn’t wait until this year to install him in the defensive secondary, where he’s started since his sophomore year.
“He’s probably the slowest guy in our backfield, but he’s probably the most instinctive,” Mynahan said. “He’s always guessing what the play is going to be. He’s always thinking ahead.”
Kates must have been seeing into the future as a sophomore, when he learned much about what he’d have to do this year on offense by paying attention to what he was doing last year on defense.
“That helped me at quarterback, because I learned the coverages and I know what other corners are going to do,” he said.
The 6-1, 185-pound Kates doesn’t have frequent opportunities to read pass coverages in his role as QB. His primary job in Lisbon’s ball-control offense is to hand the ball to fullback Tony Walker or pitch it to tailback John Tefft on the option. Occasionally, he’ll tuck the ball under his own arm.
“Whoever is hot, they keep getting the ball,” Kates said.
That sounds pretty simple, but Kates’ QB duties require him to think a lot more quickly on his feet than most realize, according to Mynahan.
“We send a lot of plays in and our plays sometimes are fairly complicated, and Chris is in the huddle and out of the huddle,” the coach said. “You don’t have to tell him twice. Instinctively, he know what we’re going to say. If we sometimes send it in wrong, he straightens it out for us. When he’s in the game, he’s in control of himself.”
“He’s been wanting to make big plays since his freshman year,” Mynahan added. “He’s not timid on the football field. There’s been many times when we’ve had people open short and he’s gone deep. Sometimes we might (dislike) that a little bit, but we don’t want to rob him of that ability to go for the deep ball.”
As someone who prefers defense to offense (he says he’d rather hit than be hit), Kates has robbed the opposition of the ability to go for the deep ball on a number of occasions this season.
The best example came during the Greyhounds’ first meeting with Boothbay, when Kates picked off three passes.
Kates also is capable of delivering a big hit, as he proved in last week’s quarterfinal win over Livermore Falls, when he forced one fumble and recovered another. The Greyhounds have taken advantage of Kates’ brawn and nose for the ball by moving him to linebacker in key games.
“Whatever they need me to do, that’s usually what I do,” Kates said.
Smart kid.
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