‘Emotional engine’
Gonzaga Prep defensive end Ian Orlando is a football player whose motor redlines the tachometer, but a viral infection left him a spectator for the Bullpups’ first round state playoff game with Moses Lake.
“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do because I worked all season to get to this point and I’m sick,” said Orlando. “There’s nothing I can really do because I’m at the point where I was so sick, if I were to play, I’d probably come down with pneumonia and be out for the next game.”
While Orlando rested, Gonzaga Prep overcame a 26-10 deficit to defeat Moses Lake in overtime 32-26. This past Saturday, with Orlando back in the lineup, G-Prep again staged a second-half miracle comeback, scoring three touchdowns in the final five minutes to beat Eastlake 21-20.
Now the Bullpups will play for a berth in the state title game Saturday when they host Oak Harbor at 4 p.m. at Joe Albi Stadium.
“Ever since our freshman year, when we were GSL champs, we’ve always dreamed about our senior year and how good we were going to be on defense,” Orlando said.
“We’re all brutal players and love to fly to the ball and knock kids out. That’s everybody on the defense; it’s not just one person. It’s the whole defense.
“Knowing that everyone has that mentality, you’re confident in the ability of the defense.”
With senior line mates Cam McMillan and Spencer Savage inside, and A.J. Allen on the outside with Orlando, the Bullpups limited teams to an average of just 8 points a game this season. While the 265-pound Savage is likely to be the Greater Spokane League defensive player of the year, it’s the 6-feet 200-pound Orlando who makes the group tick.
“He’s kind of like the emotional engine of the group,” says Bullpup head coach Dave Carson. “He has great energy and great emotion.
“He’s able to utilize that, and everyone feeds off of it. He’s the fastest guy on the defensive line, and we moved him last year down from linebacker.
“We call him the ‘energizer bunny’ sometimes because he energizes everybody.”
Orlando is a G-Prep prodigy of sorts too, as his older brother Luke, aka Big O, manned the offensive line for the Bullpups for three seasons until his graduation in 2001.
“He played high school football, and I was always looking up to him,” Orlando said. “He was a big kid (290 pounds).
“He definitely made me how tough I am because I was always wrestling with him. … My speed – I’m used to running away from my older brother.”
“They’re about as different as night and day,” Carson said.
“Big O was much taller and heftier than Ian, but more stoic, more cerebral, more of an offensive guy.
“Ian, on the other hand, is a wild hare. He’s just Ian.
“He runs at a different beat, a different warp speed, and he’s just got a motor. While Ian Orlando may not be as big as Luke, he does enjoy eating as much as his older brother.
“My mom makes some pretty hearty breakfasts and gives me some pretty big lunches,” Orlando said. “Just ask any of my classmates, and they’ll say Mrs. O’s lunches are pretty dang big.
“When I come home, she always has something on the grill. If I’m not over at Cam’s house with his mom cooking, we’re over at my house.”
One thing Orlando would love to polish off this season is a state title for Gonzaga Prep, which would cap a highlight-filled four years for the Bullpup senior class.
“Someone asked me how you replace them. I said you don’t,” Carson said. “You can’t.
“The list goes on; they’re all there. They have definitely set the high-water mark for the program.
“These kids have definitely learned from everybody else and taken the program back to the level we were trying to get it to.”