By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer
Despite a hearing impairment, running back Tyler Green is flourishing on the gridiron for Leavitt.

TURNER – Every high school football game is a symphony of sound. It’s the driving drumbeat of the marching band, the peal of a whistle, the echo of a facemask-to-shoulder pad collision, the collective hand clap at the end of every huddle, and the roar of the home crowd in response to a touchdown ramble or a timely quarterback sack.

Tyler Green hears almost none of it.

Coupled with that, the fact that he’s a wide-eyed freshman seems a minor limitation. To think that Green frequently is the kid coaxing that triumphant howl from the appreciative home crowd at Leavitt Area High School is mind-boggling.

“He’s just a great kid with a really strong work ethic,” said Leavitt head coach and former quarterback Mike Hathaway. “He’s the first kid in my four years here who’s seen any legitimate playing time as a freshman.”

Green also is the first player in Hathaway’s tenure, and quite possibly will be the last, to overcome such a significant handicap.

Almost completely deaf since he was 2, Green was learning to speak right around the time he was learning the basics in youth football. Forsaking sign language, Green thrives in the classroom and on the gridiron with the help of friends, hearing aids and keen eyesight.

In class, Green sits up front and reads the teacher’s lips. In the huddle, he fixes his eyes on senior quarterback Tyler Angell’s facemask and carries out his role on every play without a hitch, customarily exhibiting the poise of a player two or three years older.

“It’s different. I don’t get to hear what’s going on around me like everyone else, so I just concentrate on the game,” Green said. “I’ve always depended on my eyes. It’s been that way all my life.”

Even though he is a solidly built 5-foot-10, 165-pound student of the game, Green was expected to navigate the typical first-year learning curve, playing on special teams and perhaps mopping up with a carry or two in one-sided contests.

Then senior Chris Brewer hurt his knee, and Green found himself on the field for just about every meaningful offensive play the last two weeks.

In Saturday’s Homecoming game against Maranacook, Green lugged the ball 10 times for 86 yards and his first two varsity touchdowns.

“That was a great feeling,” Green said. “I think it’s pretty cool getting to play with the big boys. There’s an open hole every time I run the ball.”

And when there isn’t room to roam, the same sixth sense that gives Green the ability to read lips helps him see space and think several moves ahead of the defense.

“He does see the field more clearly because he can’t hear. He makes cuts that a ninth-grader doesn’t make,” Hathaway said. “That’s one reason he has been able to make the transition from eighth grade to varsity, which is not an easy one. It was actually some of the older kids after they saw him practice this summer who said, Man, this kid can play. He’s going to help us out on Fridays.'”

Green’s family believes he lost his hearing after a serious illness as a toddler, but his deafness wasn’t diagnosed until it was nearly time for him to enter kindergarten.

Nobody knew why the child never spoke and didn’t seem to obey grown-ups.

“People thought I wasn’t listening. I had no idea they were talking to me,” said Green, who now speaks clearly.

Green has been raised by his grandparents, Steve and Pam Green of Turner. While they initially were reluctant to see Tyler playing against juniors and seniors, Hathaway said the way Angell, Brewer and other seniors took him under their wing alleviated many of those concerns.

Between the usual Friday night cacophony and the moisture affecting his hearing aids, Green’s hearing is most limited in the heat of a game.

Neither the opposition nor the crowd would ever know it.

“There are a few key terms in our offense, and he has a good handle on those. Angell helps him make sure he knows the play,” Hathaway said. “Tyler is a mature kid, and football is kind of his thing. We think he could become a pretty good one.”

At Leavitt, which graduated all-state backs Jim Ray and Jeff Dube in the 1990s, that’s high praise. For now, Green is simply soaking up his terrific head start and basking in a Friday night ritual most of us take for granted: Watching a crowd rise to its feet in celebration.

“I’m very surprised,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever be in there this quickly.”