By John Raffel
Jase Anderson has been a spark at running back for the St. Louis Sharks this season, despite fighting injuries.
Anderson (5’10”, 160 pounds), a senior, also plays linebacker but has focused on offense this year, his second varsity season.
He feels that there has been significant improvement in his running game this season. “Our new backs coach, Brandon Hayes, has been a large part of it,” Anderson said. “He trained us hard. We do more footwork type of stuff, different moves, a lot of different stuff he tries to teach you.”
Anderson had shoulder surgery last year after the season was completed, and he’s still not 100 percent healthy. “This year, I have a torn meniscus that I’ve been playing all my games on,” he said.
But it’s still been a good season for him. A highlight was defeating Beaverton, 31-0, to open the season. In that game, “we came in strong and didn’t give up,” Anderson said.
The Sharks started out 3-0, then lost narrowly to Carrollton, 21-20, and haven’t been able to get that fourth win.
As a ball carrier, Anderson tries to use power and make himself harder to take down.
Coach Aaron Munderloh, who has been head coach three years, appreciates how hard Anderson works. “Jase suffered that shoulder injury last year and didn’t compete like he probably wanted to. He rehabbed hard with it and got himself ready to go in pretty good shape. He’s been our workhorse at running back all year long. He’s the main back there.”
After nine games, Anderson had rushed 99 times for 317 yards and had caught three passes for 62 yards.
“Those are hard yards,” Munderloh said. “He’s a hard-running kid. He goes to the hole and runs hard. He’s a very determined runner. There’s times I don’t think he should have gotten the yards that he was able to achieve.”