Football
Favorite athlete: Claude Giroux
Favorite team: Any team from Philadelphia
Favorite memory competing in sports: Throwing the game-winning TD pass in the Thanksgiving game last year in double OT on fourth-and-goal.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: One time I called the play, everyone ran it right, and I went the opposite way of my team.
Music on iPod: There’s a little bit of music from all genres on there.
Future plans: Go to college and go into the field of sports medicine or physical therapy.
Words to live by: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
One goal before turning 30: Graduate from college and start making some money
One thing people don’t know about me: I don’t really like getting “hyped up” before a game. I like to sit back, close my eyes and visualize the game and what I have to do to win.”
By Mary Jane Souder
Jake Zolna is hardly an imposing presence behind center.
The Harry S Truman senior is 5-7 and weighs in at 150 pounds, but what he may lack in size, Zolna more than makes up for in smarts and strength. The Tigers’ quarterback can bench over 200 pounds and squat over 300 pounds, and orchestrating an option offense where quick reads are paramount, it certainly doesn’t hurt that Zolna is ranked near the top of his class academically.
“He’s one of the mainstays in the weight room, and he’s one of our stronger kids despite being a little guy,” coach Ed Cubbage said.“With our offense, he’s making decisions on every play. He’s a kid who’s always looking to learn and pick up new things.
“He puts the time in to study, and he always wants more. Being a kid who’s good academically, who puts the time and effort in, it just translates into football as well. It makes it easy on me having a kid who’s that bright who can pick up everything we’re trying to teach him.”
So talented is Zolna pound for pound that his coach strongly believes his senior quarterback could compete in the sprint football league that includes several Ivy League schools. Players competing in sprint football must maintain a weight of 172 pounds or less and a minimum of 5 percent body fat.
“He might not be able to play football for the big teams, but I told him, ‘If you get into one of these schools, you can play sprint ball,’” Cubbage said. “I want him to apply to these Ivy League schools because I want to be able to point to him and say, ‘There goes Jake Zolna, Harry S Truman starting quarterback.’”
The fact that Truman still has a football program is a tribute to Cubbage and his coaching staff as well as determined student-athletes like Zolna. It was during Zolna’s freshman year that then head coach John Ianucci quit the team the week prior to the season opener.
“It made my heart sink,” Zolna said. “We were at practice. It was the week of our very first game, and at the time, I was down there practicing with all the other freshmen.
“None of us knew what was going on. He (Ianucci) walked off. After practice that day, we started hearing we might not have a team anymore, and that’s when I started getting scared.”
That’s when Cubbage came to the program’s rescue, stepping in to take over the team.
“Thanks to him, we still have a team, and it’s been growing ever since,” Zolna said. “He makes sure he gets down to the middle schools and gets those young guys to come up.
“Me and our other captains, we try our best to make sure they’re doing everything right so they can have better seasons as the numbers continue to grow.”
Zolna remembers the low point of that 2010 season when the Tigers had only 25 players dressed, and several injuries forced the team to forfeit their game against Council Rock South at halftime.
This year, the Tigers have around 60 players out for the team, and Zolna is hoping the team can improve on last year’s 3-8 record. They were 0-7 in the tough National Conference.
“Being the underdog, no one really expects anything from you but to lose, so going out there and knowing we’re better this year, it’s a great feeling,” Zolna said. “Hopefully, we can surprise some teams and pull out some wins.”
Zolna has been playing football for as long as he can remember, joining a flag league in Levittown when he was five and then moving through the ranks. In those early years, Zolna played defensive end and guard.
“I wasn’t so little compared to everyone else, and I always loved hitting,” he said. “Back then, I didn’t even talk about quarterback.”
By the time he was in fifth or sixth grade, Zolna began gravitating to the quarterback position.
“I liked being in charge of everything,” he said. “From there, I’ve been working harder and harder at it, just trying to make myself better.”
Zolna played lacrosse through his freshman year, and he continues to play for Truman’s ice hockey team, but football is his passion. He’s been a regular in the weight room since he was in eighth grade.
“In eighth grade, the head coach came to our middle school and talked to us about it,” he said. “I immediately jumped on board and was there at every single session to lift.
“I think the only weight room lifts I’ve missed were from a week of vacation. I was always in there pushing myself harder and harder. Seeing my progress over the years is definitely fulfilling.”
Zolna also excels in the classroom where he takes all honors classes, but he admits it isn’t always easy.
“It takes a toll on you – coming home at six o’clock after a long day at school and then working out, you’re just physically exhausted,” he said. “Having to actually push yourself to not go to bed and then do homework is pretty tough.
“There have been some long nights, but I’ve gotten through it with some good grades.”
Zolna says he is in the top 10 of his class, his coach says he’s in the top five. In either case, he’s a top-flight student.
“He’s without a doubt a role model for the other guys,” Cubbage said. “I think the kids have a high level of respect for him because he’s a little guy, and they know he’s one of the hardest workers we have.
“He’s one of those natural leader types. He leads by example, and he’s more of a positive vocal guy than anything else.”
As for his future, Zolna hopes to pursue a career in the field of physical therapy and sports medicine.
“I see people all the time with injuries,” he said. “When they start the recovery process – just knowing what to do to re-strengthen, that just fascinates me.”
Zolna, who has been the Tigers’ quarterback since midway through his sophomore season, hopes to continue his career at the collegiate level. Whatever the future might hold, playing football has been a significant part of Zolna’s high school experience.
“I would say more than half my friends I gained through high school have been through football,” he said. “Even if you’re not the best of friends, you still have that buddy in class, and we share that common thing in football.”
A sport that is alive and well at Truman thanks to athletes like Zolna and his teammates.
