By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — Jordan Ermalovich is a thinking man.

The thinking quality is what makes the South Point Pointers’ All-Ohio quarterback perfect for his position and it’s easy to understand why when he talks about what he likes to do outside of playing football.

“I like chess and golf a lot,” said Ermalovich of two games that require thinking and strategy.

Ermalovich was 136-of-240 passes this past season for 18 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions as he racked up 1,885 yards. He knows it’ll be harder to reach those numbers in college but with time and work lightning can strike again.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a lot harder because of the classes and early morning practices, but I think I’ll be fine.

“I’ll be able to adjust to it pretty quickly,” he said.

Pointers head coach Chris Davis said Ermalovich has a very high ceiling and will progress quickly.

“He got better and better each year as it went on. His freshman and sophomore years played jayvee and I think that helped out a lot. He got the all his junior year to start and we kept working with him and he kept working and it panned out,” said Davis.

“I think if he does the work he has a good chance of getting some playing time. You’ve got to put the work in.”

Ermalovich narrowed his choices to Waynesburg (Pa.), Marietta and Ohio Northern before he picked Otterbein.

“Otterbein was the best all-around, so that’s why I picked it,” said Ermalovich. “They have a senior (quarterback) right now and he’s good. They have three backups who are all older and haven’t got much playing time, so I think the biggest competition will be the incoming freshmen with me.”

Ermalovich is confident he will get a chance to be the starting quarterback at some point in his career.

“I watched a little bit of them. Like I said, their quarterback is good. I think I can play pretty quickly. If I don’t play my freshman year, I think I can definitely play my sophomore year and hopefully get the starting job,” he said.

Ermalovich played football when he was young but quit to play soccer. His father James told him he’d miss high school football if he didn’t play, so he returned to the sport his freshman year.

“I’ve played basketball all my life. I like them all. They’re pretty equal, but I think I just want to do football in college because I think I can get better at it more than I can basketball right now,” said Ermalovich.

“Dad made me play and after I played, I fell in love with it and I kept playing. They’re both great. They’ve both helped me become a better leader for both of them.”

Ermalovich plans to major in broadcasting and communications.