Olympus football: Nick Christensen profile

In early May, I interviewed Olympus High School football/soccer player Nick Christensen. This is the article that will appear in Oly's 2011 football yearbook.

Nick

Christensen:

He shared his talents with soccer team

and played big role in Oly’s success

By Bruce Smith

Matchup

             Nick Christensen is a soccer player. He started when he was six years old.
            When he was in ninth grade, his good friend, Seth Konopasek, asked him to consider using his strong right leg for football. That ended up being a huge event in his life.
            “I always wanted to play football, but never got around to it,” Christensen said. “Seth convinced me to give it a try.”
            Christensen joined the football program as a sophomore and now he can’t decide if he’ll be remembered for his football exploits, or all that he has accomplished on the Olympus soccer team.
            “The high point of my high-school career was this football season, but the soccer year is starting to be really worth it,” he said. “When it’s football season, all I think about is football. When it’s soccer season, that’s what I think about. We’ll see where it goes.”
            The boys soccer team endured a 5-8-3 season last year, but was challenging for the Region 7 title this season. Christensen said if the team kept advancing, it might supersede what the football team accomplished.
            That will take some doing. The Olympus football team outperformed virtually all prognosticators in 2011, and Christensen played a big part. He stood out because he was a big (6-foot, 195-pound) placekicker that also earned playing time on the offensive line, a place he had detested earlier.
            “On JV (junior varsity), I was the offensive left tackle and I hated it,” he said. “I despised getting hit, but since I was playing varsity on Friday night, it was OK.”
            Oly had a strong kicker in Buck Howard, but used Christensen for kickoffs. As a senior, he took over the kicking duties. He nailed 33 extra points and a couple of field goals, including a booming 49-yarder in the Titans’ 17-12 playoff victory over Box Elder that was a big factor in that game.
            “The high point of my season was making that 49-yarder,” he said. “I finally had a chance to show my skills, and I made it with a yard to spare.”
            Another high point came two weeks earlier in the Titans’ 42-35 victory at Skyline that decided the Region 7 championship. Christensen made all six of his extra-point attempts, but his best memory was saving a Skyline touchdown on a kickoff return.
            “I was the last person,” he recalled. “The guy went through everyone. A huge hole opened up. He had a blocker coming to me, but the blocker ran past me and I wrapped up the runner. I was crazy with excitement because I stopped a touchdown.”
            Shortly afterward, Christensen joined the rest of the Olympus team in celebrating the victory.
            “Beating Skyline was definitely our team’s high point,” he said. “It was such a hard-fought game. It went to overtime and we finally won it. There’s nothing I could do except celebrate.”
            Ironically, it was blocked field goal by Skyline that helped the Eagles rally to force the extra session. Oly coach Aaron Whitehead said he had confidence in his kicker, and the extra three points would likely have clinched the victory.
            “The field goal was the key, and it was blocked, which created some stress,” he said. “I hit the ball perfectly. When I saw the film afterward, the (Skyline) guy was a good four feet above the line. I give the kid major props.”
            The ball was deflected and recovered by Christensen, but Skyline took control and eventually tied the game. That play, and the Titans’ early season loss at Sky View, were the low points of the year, Christensen said.
            “That Sky View game was our turning point,” he said. “We were so hyped up and we got our asses kicked. We knew we couldn’t complete a perfect season, so we just worked harder.”
            When the football season ended, Christensen began preparing for soccer, which is a spring sport. While he is a talented athlete, he didn’t plan on playing either sport in college. He said he wanted to attend the University of Utah and eventually become a physical therapist.