Larimore senior goes from zero career touchdowns to six in first career start as team snaps 19-game losing streak
Sep. 2—A year ago, Larimore senior Tysen Landeis went out for football for the first time in his life.
"I didn't really care for football that much," Landeis said. "I was just going to do my own thing and work. My friends talked me into it. Last year, I didn't really know what I was doing half the time so it made me not really like it that much."
Well, good thing for Larimore that Landeis has influential friends.
In his first career start, Landeis, who had no career touchdowns leading into the game, carried the ball 36 times for 228 yards and six touchdowns as Larimore beat Richland 42-12 last Friday to snap the Polar Bears' 19-game losing streak.
Larimore hadn't won a game since Sept. 21, 2018.
On the bus coming home from the game, Landeis started to receive texts and Snapchats from friends and family.
"I was, like, 'How the heck did they find out so fast?'" Landeis said.
Landeis had never been the Larimore feature running back before but a teammate was out sick last weekend.
"I was thinking, 'I wonder if I'll ever get a touchdown?'" Landeis said. "Then this game comes and there's six. So, that's pretty cool."
The 5-foot-9, 140-pound Landeis has a wrestling background. Polar Bears coach Kal Triplett said he uses that background to his benefit on the football field.
"He's aggressive and has that wrestling mentality where he's not afraid of contact," Triplett said.
Triplett said his team could sense an opportunity against Richland to snap the long losing streak.
"We finally had a heightened sense of urgency at practice," Triplett said.
Triplett estimated Landeis had never had more than 10 carries in a game in his career. Against Richland, the Polar Bears stuck to a power run game out of the pistol formation.
Larimore was 0-for-1 passing against Richland. The only pass attempt was a Hail Mary to end the first half.
"Everybody did their job, and I took it and ran up the gut pretty much," Landeis said. "Oh, God, it was very tiring."
Triplett said Landeis is a quiet leader.
"He doesn't like the attention, and he's not a rah-rah guy," Triplett said. "This week in practice and at the game, though, you can see him start to take more ownership in what we're trying to accomplish. He wants the ball so that was cool to see."
Triplett believes the six touchdowns in a game is a school record but the yardage isn't.
Triplett, who received a dunking of the Gatorade cooler in a postgame celebration, has been head coach at Larimore for six seasons.
The Polar Bears played the previous two seasons of an independent schedule. Based on enrollment, Larimore was slated to play 11-man football previously but didn't have the numbers to play at that level.
Larimore, which won eight games in every season from 2012-2016, is now in the program's first season in Region 2 9-man.
The Polar Bears won't be able to seek a second-straight win this Friday, though. The team's home game against Wyndmere-Lidgerwood was called off after about 10 players were sick and a couple of coronavirus tests came back positive.
