Your #1 source for Trucker Football

The Norwalk senior won't have the gaudy numbers the previous two players that wore #43 did, but he represents them proudly for all the right reasons.

NORWALK- Ask second-year Norwalk football head coach Jeff Cole who the one player he can't afford to lose in any way, shape, or form is for the 2006 season and there is no hesitation in his answer.

Cole returns 19 starters, including four all-league players, and another who was all-district. So which one is the most relied upon? Is it the league's leading passer in Kyle Kurtz? Or one of the top defenders in linebacker Josh Cook? Or how about receiver/safety Clay Duncan?

It's none of them. In fact, it's a role player who stands all of 5'11" 165lbs.

"We cannot lose Jake Vislay," Cole said. "He does all the things that no one reads about in the paper that are so important to success."

But the question is, what exactly makes Vislay so irreplaceable?

"He's a senior with a lot of experience at a number of positions," Cole explained. "He plays some tight end, outside linebacker, he's our long snapper, our short snapper...he's everywhere for us. He is a gusty kid that plays hard and aggressive. We like to see that kind of stuff."

*     *     *

There is something about the mystique that has to be said for the number Vislay chose to wear. It's been made evident the past ten years that not just anyone can choose to wear #43. It's a tradition that started back in 1995-98 when perhaps arguably the greatest defensive player of all-time at NHS chose the number. Tom Deluca is the school's all-time leading tackler, and became the first and only player to ever put on a Norwalk uniform that was a 2-time first team All-Ohio selection. His picture hangs in the halls of Norwalk High School with good reason, as he's the only player to have any kind of first team honor over the past 24 years.

When Deluca graduated, a freshman named Scott Gibson took the number in 1999 and wore it through 2002. Gibson went on to be a massive, bruising fullback/linebacker that finished fourth in career tackles at Norwalk. Like Deluca, Gibson also has a sole link to the past of Norwalk football, as he is the only player in school history to ever start all 40 games played over his four-year career.

And while Vislay may not be a safety that knocked opponents senseless when they came across the middle...or a linebacker that was a rugged, hard-hitting monster that played through pain and featured a 6'1", 240-pound frame...he still wears #43 for all the right reasons. He does all of the little things nobody notices, stands up as an unassuming leader, and plays with the same passion, tough-nosed, grittiness while being significantly smaller than Deluca or Gibson. It's something the two would appreciate and respect...its after all, the legacy they created.

#43 can't be anybody...and that's why it has to be Jake Vislay.

*     *     *

Leaning up against the wall of Norwalk High School after a scrimmage with Monroeville, Vislay can't help but be excited for his final season. When asked what his expectations were for the team, he was quick to answer.

"We expect to be a lot better," he said. "We have no choice but to think that. We feel we've improved and have to go out and show it. Everyone seems to be stepping up so far."

So far. As one of just seven seniors, Vislay answered with "so far" because he knows he'll have to get on some people throughout the course of a season.

"We're short on seniors," he said. "But the one's we have our good leaders. We help people out when we need it, show what's going on...we have good leadership out here even if most people can't see it."

The fact that most people can't see it is fitting. Most people haven't seen Vislay for his first three years, and as an invaluable player for the Norwalk Truckers, they'd have it no other way.