Leader for Freeman

Leaders are a lot like great art. You can write volumes about them and still not capture what it is that makes them who they are, but you know them when you see them.

Andrew Dresback is a leader.

The 6-feet-1-inch, 200-pound senior at Freeman High School has been the Scotties’ starting quarterback since his sophomore year, and he’s guided the football team into the playoffs each year. Freeman opened the postseason at home Friday night against Omak.

This year, he’s doing it with one arm tied behind his back.

In the first quarter of Freeman’s home game against Lakeside, Dresback rolled out and headed up the sidelines for a 15-yard gain.

“I made a nice gain out of the play, but one of the Lakeside guys caught me from behind,” Dresback said. “When I landed, I landed on the football and then he landed on top of me. I heard something go crunch and found out later that my shoulder had dislocated and popped back in.”

Dresback said he knew something was wrong, but stayed in the game long enough to throw two first-quarter touchdown passes before the shoulder tightened up.

“We have a great trainer, and I had him take a look at it,” Dresback said. “By then it was starting to swell up, and he was concerned.”

Last week, in the regular season finale against Colfax – which clinched Friday’s home playoff game with Omak – Dresback was still in the starting lineup, directing the Freeman offense despite orders from his doctor not to throw a single pass.

The only pass the Scotties threw in their 45-14 victory over the Bulldogs was thrown by running back Chris Davis, and it went for a first-quarter touchdown.

Freeman kept Dresback’s condition a secret, and early in the game the threat of his powerful arm throwing downfield kept Colfax’ defensive secondary on its toes, helping to open running lanes for Davis, who rushed for 335 yards and four touchdowns.

“Coach Wood would signal in the formation, and I would read the defense at the line of scrimmage and decide what hole we needed to run in,” Dresback said. “Our offensive line just dominated, and Chris did a great job hitting the hole and getting into the secondary.”

Dresback’s strong right arm was still sidelined in practice this week. His doctors cleared him to begin limited throwing in Thursday’s practice.

“We’re thinking that we will probably go with the same game plan this week that we had against Colfax,” Freeman offensive coordinator Kelly Neely said. “The way our offensive line is playing right now, I don’t think anyone could stop our running game anyway. We may have Andrew throw one pass just to show that he can do it – maybe a screen pass or something like that early.

“Our idea is to see if we can give Andrew another week to heal up before we turn him loose. He’s already at about 80 percent.”

Either way, Dresback’s days as a middle linebacker are over at Freeman.

“I didn’t play defense my sophomore or junior years,” Dresback said. “We had plenty of linebackers, and coach Wood figured I needed to focus on playing quarterback. This year I’ve started every game at inside linebacker, and I love it. I think it makes me a better quarterback. It lets me not dwell on the offense and just go out and hit someone.”

Freeman doesn’t keep complete records of past football teams, so Neely isn’t certain of his quarterback’s historical standing, but he’s certain Dresback is one of the school’s best to ever play the position.

“He has to be right up there at the top of the all-time list for passing and touchdowns,” Neely said. “He’s been a productive three-year starter.

“From what I understand, Freeman has never really had that many wide-open offenses in the past, and I’m not sure what the standard is. I just know Andrew has been a great leader and a terrific kid for this program.”

Even with a strong right arm, Dresback has worked hard to improve his passing. Over the summer he spent countless hours running sprints while dragging a used tire to improve his speed.

“Andrew dropped his 40-yard dash time by three-tenths of a second this year,” Neely said. “That’s pretty incredible.”

Neely sees a college career in Dresback’s future.

“I’d love to see him at Whitworth,” Neely said. “I think he’d look good in black. Linfield is also interested in him.”

Two former teammates, Dan Sanders and Michael Whittwer, play for the Pirates and Dresback’s brother, Jon, played two seasons at Whitworth.