Battle Ground football is built on Brick

“Anything that has to do with Lincoln. He’s the most ‘man of the people’ president we’ve ever had,” Brick said.

Lincoln was a wrestler. Perhaps he would have been a football player, too.

“That’s cool. He was just a regular dude,” Brick said.

Leadership matters in all successful campaigns. Brick takes what he has learned with him on the football field.

“I’m trying to have the same attributes as some of our best U.S. leaders,” Brick said. “Like (Franklin Delano Roosevelt). His radio sitdowns made the country a family. One of the keys to football is trying to make it a family. The more you trust, the more you have a family feel, the better you’ll play on Friday nights.”

These days, the Tigers are a brotherhood. In 2010, the team won one game. But through a commitment in the weight room, to studying video, to accountability on the practice field, Battle Ground is a contender.

The team won eight games in 2015, the most since the Tigers went 9-0 in 1955.

The Tigers also won a playoff game for the first time last year, advancing to state.

Now, they have started the 2016 season with four consecutive wins headed into Friday’s 4A Greater St. Helens League matchup with No. 2 Camas.

Gunner Talkington has more than 60 touchdown passes in his career. Max Randle, one of the best wide receivers in the region, was named co-defensive player of the year in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League a year ago.

Of course, individual success for a quarterback or a defensive back can really only happen with a quality offensive and defensive line.

And a leader.

“He’s really been the rock for that linemen group for three years now,” Battle Ground coach Larry Peck said of Brick. “We’re real proud of him.”

All the Tigers were at team camp this summer when Brick had to leave for a day to go to a lineman camp at Portland State. His teammates flooded social media when video was released of Brick dominating during one of the drills.

“I’m not going to brag about myself, but it was fun,” Brick said of that specific drill.

“Most fun I’ve ever had at a football camp. This was for linemen. Not for wide receivers to show dog or quarterbacks to be the masters of football. It was put you in the trenches and do what linemen do and go at it.”

Later that day, Portland State made an offer. A few days later, Brick said yes. He expects to sign with the Vikings in February.

Going to PSU reminds Brick of his time at Battle Ground.

“My group, we’ve done a lot of building,” Brick said, adding that the best part of football is “to be part of something to build, to make better.”

That, too, goes with his life’s philosophy.

Brick has twice traveled with his church members to Mexico to build homes for the poor.

“You see all the poverty. You just want to do something. You want to help,” Brick said. “The people are the nicest, most caring people I’ve met in my life.”

The church members build concrete structures with a locked door and a roof. Simple.

“For those people, that’s everything,” Brick said. “When you hand them the keys, the tears in their eyes, it’s really an amazing feeling.”

Clearly, Brick is more than just a quality football player. Still, that is what he is most associated with this time of year.

Friday night, Battle Ground will try to make more history. The Tigers take a Camas team that will try to extend a 45 game winning streak of regular-season games.

It’s a big game. In fact, with only two teams from the 4A GSHL advancing to the postseason this year, every league game is huge.

Brick is trying to provide the right type of leadership for this outing.

“It’s just another week. We have to prepare for it like any other team,” he said. “We know Camas is good. We’re going to prepare for a very good team. We gotta play our game and do the best that we can.”

If the Tigers do that, regardless of the result, Brick will be able to look back at his own history with no regrets on the high school football field.