H-S Athlete of the Week: Jarett Garn, Mount Pleasant
Name: Jarett Garn
School: Mount Pleasant
Class: Senior
Sport: Football/Soccer
Garn’s week: The do-everything Garn scored one of the Vikings’ three touchdowns in a 22-19 Interstate Conference win at Yough, out-leaping triple coverage by the Cougars for a 56-yard reception on a pass from Cole Chatfield that was impressive enough to be tabbed No. 2 on ESPN’s Plays of the Day last Friday night. Garn also played in three boys soccer games over the past week, all victories, over Derry, 6-0, Brownsville, 5-1, and Yough, 5-0.
Garn wound up with two catches for 60 yards and also contributed nine carries for 40 yards, five tackles, two extra-point kicks and two touchbacks on his four kickoffs in the football victory against Yough. The touchdown came with 4:08 left in the second quarter of a tie game on a third-and-14 play from the Mount Pleasant 44-yard line with Chatfield rolling to his left before lofting a pass to the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Garn who jumped and made the catch while surrounded by three defenders at the Yough 22 before turning and running into the end zone to give Mount Pleasant a 14-7 lead after he kicked the extra point.
Garn wasn’t the primary receiver on the play. “The play wasn’t intended for me but Cole just chucked it up there and took a chance,” Garn said. “I saw the throw was a little bit short so I slowed up and just jumped and caught it. We all hit each other and they all landed off-balance so I was able to run it into the end zone and score.”
Mount Pleasant coach Jason Fazekas was amazed by the play.
“To see it in the moment as it happened was pretty special,” Fazekas said. “I could see the coverage but then to see him elevate to make that catch then land and stay up and go in and score the touchdown, that was just phenomenal.”
The game was broadcast on Westmoreland Sports Network which sent the clip of the catch to ESPN and the network decided to use it.
Garn didn’t realize how impressive the play was until afterwards.
“It wasn’t until I went back and watched the film that I saw how high I jumped and that there were three other players there,” Garn said.
Stephen Predajna’s 1-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left was the winning score as Mount Pleasant improved to 1-0 in the conference and 3-3 overall with the win.
Versatile asset: The 18-year-old son of Jeffrey and Jennifer Garn of Acme is a running back/defensive back/kicker/punter/kick returner for the Vikings. So far this season he has 49 carries for 367 yards and three touchdowns, eight receptions for 175 yards and the one spectacular TD, 19 tackles with one fumble recovery and one interception along with 14 extra points and an area-leading four field goals. He’s been used as a punter three times with a 35.6 yard average.
“Jarett is a heck of a player for us,” Fazekas said. “He rarely comes off the field on offense or defense and obviously he’s a great kicker. He’s a pretty big part of what we do.”
Garn ranks fifth among area players in scoring with 50 points. He joined the football team as a freshman with the intent of only being a kicker but has since evolved into an integral part of Fazekas’ squad.
“Last year I started to play defense and they put me at receiver because I’m kind of tall and pretty fast,” Garn said. “This year we lost almost our whole backfield to graduation so they allowed me to switch to running back.
“I’m always glad to kick because I enjoy it. I’m pretty good at it but I think I can get a lot better at it and potentially go to college as a kicker if possible.”
Big plays: Garn has had a big impact in several other games this season for the Vikings. He had touchdown runs of 41 and 62 yards, made a 39-yard field goal and kicked two extra points in a 23-13 win over Burrell on Sept. 6. In a 36-35 overtime win over Greensburg Central Catholic on Aug. 30 Garn had a 41-yard TD run and made all four of his PATs which proved to be critical to the outcome.
Getting his kicks: Garn also plays for the Vikings soccer team which is 10-4 overall and 9-1 in Section 4-AA where it sits in second place. “I’ve been to probably about 85 percent of the soccer games so far this year,” Garn said. “Our coach told me to stay home from some of our non-conference games, like Saturday after a Friday night football game. I enjoy playing both football and soccer. I admit I get tired at times but the coaches work with me. Our soccer coach is very understanding about the circumstances I’m in with football.
“I’ve played soccer almost 13 years now. I can play anywhere but goalie. I do C-D-M, which is center defensive mid. Striker was probably my primary position for 10 of the 13 years that I’ve played. I’ve scored about five or six goals so far this year. Being that we’re 9-1 in the section, I’m excited. I think we still have a chance to win the section.”
Compiled by Rob Burchianti