When first-year Oberlin head coach Durell Peloquin took charge of the Tigers earlier this year, he didn’t really know what to expect.
He had to implement a new system with a team that won four games last season full of skeptical kids he had never coached before.
But it didn’t take him long to realize he had something special in quarterback James Kirklin.
“James Kirklin is a diamond in the rough,” Peloquin said prior to the season. “He’s going to a special player for Oberlin High School for the next couple years. We’re expecting a lot out of him.”
Kirklin has lived up to his new coach’s expectations this season, rushing for 770 yards on 112 carries and nine touchdowns while leading the Tigers to wins in their first five District 4-1A games, including a 30-22 victory against East Beauregard this past Friday that gave them sole possession of the top spot in the district with two games remaining in the regular season.
But it’s not Kirklin’s statistics that have impressed Peloquin. It’s his leadership, his willingness to buy into the system and his ability to get his teammates to buy in with him.
“We have 11 seniors that could have easily packed it in and said ‘We’re through with football. We’re going to focus on something else,’ ” Peloquin said. “It’s a true testament to them to accept a new coach in with open arms and be coachable.
“(Kirklin) has been tremendous. The position he’s in, you have to have a level head. You have to lead not only vocally, but by example. I think it (buying into a new system) starts with a quarterback and then it filters out to the seniors and the rest of the team. But you’re quarterback has to be the key.”
Kirklin said it wasn’t easy at first.
The Tigers lost their first two games of the season, including a heart-breaking 28-25 season-opening loss to Class 2A rival from down the road Oakdale.
“With a new coach coming in, we weren’t expecting to group together the way we have,” Kirklin said. “I know (Peloquin) has only been here one year and we’ve been playing him for just two or three months, but it feels like he’s been here for a good two or three years. He feels right at home.”
While Oberlin walked away from the Oakdale game with a number in the loss column, Kirklin said they walked away from that game a different team; one that knew if it listened to Peloquin and played his style of football, it could surprise opponents, fans and even itself by winning District 4-1A for the first time since 2012.
The Tigers now look back at that loss as inspiration. Something to remind them that even after defeating a team like East Beauregard, they still have work to do.
“We look at that game and how hard we fought, and we know we’re not about to lose another game we know we can have,” Kirklin said. “We knew we had it, and we let it slip out of our hands. We knew from then on that we were going to do this.
“As long as we work together and have our mindset on success and commit to it, then we’re going to be successful.”
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