'Youngest brothers are always the toughest.' Luke Ohler, a captain regardless of status
SUDBURY – The pre-game discussion played out on Friday night. The subject: Luke Ohler. The question: What makes him a good captain?
Lincoln-Sudbury football coach Jim Girard laid it all out during a Thursday-morning phone conversation.
Ohler, an L-S senior fullback/linebacker, is beloved by players and coaches, the coach explained. He is highly respected, even while injured and unable to play. Teammates naturally rally around him.
The roots of a feature story took hold. Then, it happened.
Ohler, after a number of first-down runs in the first half of Friday’s overtime win over Brockton, was injured and missed much of the latter stages. After the Warriors stormed off the field following the game-deciding play, many circled Ohler, who was on crutches with a bag of ice on his wounded knee.
With assistance from classmates Louie Stephan and Jenson Martin, Ohler was helped from a sideline cart onto the field with the rest of his teammates for the weekly post-game gathering. The same type of boost Ohler provided the team last year when he was unable to play a single down, yet still helped the Warriors conclude the season with five consecutive wins.
Beloved? The scene Friday night told the story.
“That’s one of my best buddies,” fellow captain Cooper Tarantino said. “I’ve been playing with him for a really long time. Seeing him go down like that was definitely tough.”
The third Ohler brother to serve as an L-S captain over the past five seasons, Luke talked in a pre-game conversation about how he loves seeing players, “not necessarily the guys who are starters,” work hard every day to make the team better. How it felt to run onto the home field for the first time as a varsity player, when he was a sophomore. How he tries to set an example for teammates by outworking everyone else.
But three days after suffering his latest season-ending injury, Luke was asked how it felt to be swarmed by his fellow Warriors; to be shown the same love he does for them.
“It was awesome,” he said in a text on Monday, the day before an MRI revealed a torn ACL and MCL. “They’re like family to me. The constant support those guys have showed me is truly amazing. I think 20+ guys texted me after the game.”
“Shows what I already knew about him,” said Girard, also in a text on Monday. “That he commands the utmost respect from his teammates because of the way he treats people.”
Ohler steps in when coach called away
Last season started poorly for Ohler and the Warriors. He tore labrum cartilage in one of his shoulders during a preseason scrimmage against Marlborough in August, had surgery a month later and missed the season. L-S opened September with three consecutive losses.
Ohler wasn’t able to play, but was still able to contribute.
When the team is broken into position groups at practice, Girard coaches running backs and linebackers – Ohler's positions. When Girard was called away, Ohler, who also plays lacrosse at L-S, stepped in.
“If I was dealing with an issue, he was so good at understanding everything that we were doing,” Girard said. “He would be in a position to coach up the guys, knowing exactly what we were trying to accomplish and what was needed out of each individual session. He would actually be coaching kids in drills. He was constantly encouraging kids and still asking questions and still learning schemes. He’d still take a vested interest in all of those things, even though he knew he would never get on the field.”
“That was a goal of mine,” Ohler said of staying involved. “I didn’t want to be the guy that just sat back. I just thought: I have to do whatever I can to help this team. I just wanted to see our team succeed because I knew we could do it.”
That 0-3 start turned into a 7-4 ending.
“His level of interest, his encouragement of the players and the fact that he would remain committed every single day just spoke to a lot about his character,” Girard said.
The commitment did not go unnoticed. When the vote for captains came up, Ohler, after a season in which he did not play a down, was one of five chosen.
“Just knowing that it wasn’t based on my play - it just meant the world to me,” he said. “I love all those guys and I’d do anything for them. We have four other great captains (Tarantino, Darius Braithwaite, Peter Abair and Jake Haarde) on the team. I’m just proud to be among them.”
Ohler brothers started the captain progression
The first Ohler brother to captain the Warriors was Ben, who helped L-S reach the Super Bowl in 2019. He wore No. 6, the same as Luke. Ben Ohler played lacrosse at Ithaca College and currently is in a “Prime” position as a student at the University of Colorado.
Will Ohler captained the team during the ‘20-21 COVID year and is a junior defensive lineman at Bucknell University. While taking mid-term exams, Will tapped out a text detailing the importance of being a captain and how Luke will continue to be a leader despite his football career likely ending.
“It’s the greatest individual honor one may acquire,” Will said. “Bigger than any all star or all state selection. No injury has ever stopped Luke from stepping up to the plate and overcoming any task. I know he will continue to own his role as a captain from the sidelines just as he did on the field.
“The youngest brothers are always the toughest.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Injured again, Luke Ohler the third brother to captain L-S football
