SPORTS

from The Mesa Tribune - Zone 2 - 12.12.2021

by Times Media Group

OPINION

TheMesaTribune.com

@EVTNow /EVTNow

Germaines brighten Mountain View football’s future

BY NICK BORGIA

Tribune Contributing Writer

The Mountain View High School football team proved this season it has a promising future ahead, especially at the quarterback position.

Sophomore quarterback Jack Germaine took charge of the Toros this season, becoming the primary quarterback after a

dominant 37-7 win over Mica Mountain on Oct. 14. Jack has turned heads with his stellar season stat line, going 124 of 180 for 2,341 yards and 22 touchdowns. Those numbers, along with zero interceptions earned, him a passer rating of 151.2, the highest in the state. This was the first high school season that Jack actually competed in, as he was sidelined with an injury for his freshman year. “It was a pretty smooth transition,” Jack said. “Good practices and getting a feel for the tempo of the game, and how much faster it is compared to younger years of football, it has all kind of started coming in.” The mastermind behind the Mountain View football team is Jack’s own father, Joe. Joe took the head coaching job at his alma mater in April and has quickly propelled the program to success. The dedication that his team demonstrated during the season is something that stood out to Joe. “The most special thing for me this year was the buy-in from the players in our program. Especially the seniors,” Joe Germaine, Jack’s father, returned to Mountain View this sea- Joe said. “To be able to son as head coach. He won the 1993 state title with the Toros go out there with this at quarterback before going on to start at Ohio State. Now, he new era of Mountain hopes to coach the program in a successful manner alongside Jack. (David Minton/Tribune Staff) View football, for them to be accepting of that and for them to take that on will always be special to me.”

Joe is no stranger to success by any means. Nearly three decades ago, Joe led the Toros to the 1993 state championship and went on to play at Ohio State, where he led the Buckeyes to win the 1997 Rose Bowl. Joe was named the Big Ten Conference Most Valuable Player and got drafted to the St. Louis Rams in 1999.

After Joe’s professional career, he stuck with football as a coach. In 2012, he led Queen Creek High School to a 4A state championship.

During his time at Queen Creek, Joe coached alongside Travis Schureman, who was also a part of the 1993 Mountain View state champion squad. Schureman, who has been an incredibly close family-friend of the Germaines over the years, has the utmost respect for Joe and his family.

“It’s a pleasure for me to call them friends. I love them like family,” Schureman said. “Joe’s been my best friend for many years. We’ve been through a lot. It’s sure neat to see him go back to Mountain View and be successful and turn that program around.”

On top of that, Jack has a very close relationship with Shureman’s son, Griffin, who

Mountain View sophomore quarterback Jack Germaine helped lead the Toros to an 8-3 overall season this year and a spot in the 6A playoffs. With him under center, the future is bright for the program. (David Minton/Tribune Staff) is a junior lineman at Queen Creek. Jack and Griffin grew up playing flag football and Pop Warner with their fathers watching every step of the way. Schureman had the chance to watch Jack play at the high school level for the first time in Mountain View’s 6A playoff loss, where they fell 40-35 to Mountain Ridge. Despite the loss, Jack went 30 of 37, throwing for 483 yards and recording five seeGERMAINE page 25

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total touchdowns.

“It was really neat for me to see Jack,” said Schureman. “To see him go out and just play at a high level, I mean, he is a special player. He’s a special young man who is going to do great things. I think we are just seeing the surface of what Jack Germaine is going to do.”

The father-son-coach dynamic is not unusual in youth sports, but at the high school level, it’s a little more uncommon. Finding that middle ground on being a coach and a parent, or at least choosing the right time to be one or the other, is something that Joe focuses on. “It’s a really fine balance,” Joe said. “That’s something that I hope I am okay at, and something I hope I can improve at.”

The Germaines keep their football lives on the gridiron and in the film room. Joe feels that it’s extremely important to his relationship with Jack to have a separate home and athletic life.

“We have a really strong relationship,” Joe said. “What happens on the field stays on the field. When we are at home, we are able to separate that, which is healthy.”

Joe’s wife, Natalie, has the luxury of viewing the relationship that Joe has with their son from a different point of view. As Jack grows and matures into a young man, Natalie has started to see traits emerge in Jack that are also major characteristics of her husband.

“Joe is a very humble man who has many accolades, many of which I didn’t know about until after we were engaged,” Natalie said. “I didn’t learn about any of them from him. They both do not like being in the spotlight, unless they have to be as a team player.”

Natalie notes how important Joe’s calm and collected demeanor is when it comes to parenting and disciplining their children, and she believes that the mutual respect that is demonstrated throughout the family is something that is brought to the football field.

“I think there is also a sense of comfort for Jack knowing that when he goes onto the field, he knows that his dad has probably experienced the same feelings and scenarios, so he trusts his dad that things will be okay,” Natalie said.

The Germaine duo will return to Mountain View next season, as Joe enters his second year as the head coach of the program, and Jack will work to add to his college recruitment resume as a junior. After such a successful first season together, the two have gathered a lot of attention around the community, especially from people close to them who have been able to watch their story develop from the beginning.

“I think that Jack is going to be a big-time football player when this is all said and done,” Schureman said. “It’s neat for me to see him carry some of the qualities that he has from his dad. The toughness in him, the way that he gets up and goes to work, not a big rah-rah guy, he’s just a leader. We’re excited to watch Jack’s journey continue and see where it takes him.” ■