PORTLAND, Mich. (WLNS) – Keeping Caden Thelen out of the end zone has not been an easy task for Portland’s opponents this season, and week seven of the high school football season was no different. The senior racked up 149 yards and five touchdowns in the Raiders 35-8 win over Charlotte.
“If they’re going to block for me, if they’re going to make tackles for me, make plays on defense, I’m going to do all I can to run the ball for them,” Thelen said.
“He’s a strong kid,” John Novara, Head Coach of Portland football said. “He’s a fiery kid and he’s got some decent speed. He just likes contact and he runs through contact. He’s had that little knee issue, so we’ve been kind of keeping him bottled up on games we don’t need him, but we had to turn him loose the other night, and he had a great game.”
When watching Thelen, someone who has over 500 yards rushing and is nearing 20 touchdowns on the season, you would think football is something he’s taken super seriously his entire life, but really, his passion for the sport didn’t start until more recently.
“I was never really a big football guy last year,” Thelen said. “I have best friends in the grade above me and I just connected with football and it was on a personal level. It’s just my heart has it right now. I like being physical and I think that’s the way we’re brought up just hit hard and they’ll back down. Doing that often, there is just something about it just makes me want more and more of it.”
