By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Ryan Zitkus’ offensive numbers dropped a bit during his senior season, but the Central Catholic standout’s performance on defense more than made up for it.
Zitkus has been named the WJBC Ron Smith Printing Intercity Football Player of the Year.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to achieve ever since I went through high school,” Zitkus said. “I was a little surprised.”
Coach Mike Moews called Zitkus the ‘heart and soul’ of the Saints.
“We require our seniors to accept a lot of responsibility, but I would point to him to the other players and say ‘There goes one of our best players, but he’s also our hardest working player,’ ” Moews said.
Zitkus rushed for 788 yards on 125 carries and scored eight touchdowns. He also caught seven passes for 87 yards. Perhaps his biggest contribution was on defense. He led the Saints with 122 tackles, including 15 tackles for loss and five sacks. He also intercepted one pass in leading the Saints to a Class 3A quarterfinal appearance.
“Defensively, he was so dominant,” Moews said. “Watching teams in the playoffs against us, they were not blocking the line of scrimmage to get to him because they knew he was such a playmaker for us. But in the playoffs, he still averaged 14 tackles per game.”
Zitkus said he is proud to follow in the footsteps of previous Saints who have won the award, including Michael Hoohmanawanui, Shane Powe, Ryan Waldron and Adam Rebholz.
“There’s a lot of great names on that trophy,” Zitkus said. “It’s something I’m really proud of but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my coaches and teammates. They really helped me accomplish this.”
Zitkus, a senior, said he hopes to play football for a Division I school, adding he has visits scheduled to the University of Illinois and Memphis.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
