HOUSTON, Minn. (KTTC) – Houston football’s Lee Klunder runs the ball with a specific attitude.
“I run angry,” Klunder said. “I don’t like to go down on first contact, and I’ll run through arm tackles all game.”
If Lee usually runs angry, then on Saturday he was furious.
262 yards on 16 carries for the junior, finding the endzone four times in a 50-6 homecoming win for the Hurricanes. It’s a performance that is as impressive as it was energizing.
“The linemen get fired up because they know if they make their blocks, that he has a chance to take every one of them,” head coach Cody Hungerholt said.
That feeling is reciprocated.
“I’m a product of my line,” he said. “They believe in me, I believe in them. When we get together, special things happen I guess.”
Special things like a special performance; a game made more special by the fact that it was a return to action for Klunder after missing the previous week with an injury.
“It’s a night and day difference when we have him out there and he’s able to run the ball for us,” Hungerholt said.
Klunder has dealt with bumps and bruises in his junior season, but whatever pain he’s felt is outweighed by his desire.
“I want to be out there for my boys,” Klunder said. “I’ve played football with them since fourth grade, and we’ve done a lot of things together and I want to make those memories with them before they go.”
Making memories in the sport he loves.
“He just loves football. He loves the grind of it. He loves working year-round for it,” Hungerholt said. “Just seeing him in the weight room, how hard he works year-round to be able do this is probably the thing that sticks out the most.”
Klunder aspires to play college football — a goal he’ll continue to chase with his work ethic and runs that are angry. But with performances like he had on Saturday, he’s learning to gain maybe the most important trait of all.
“Confidence for me has kind of been one of those things that I’ve always just kind of lacked,” he said. “When it comes to sports, I’m always hard on myself. But that (his performance), I feel like just really sets the momentum. I’m ready to bring that into the next couple games and the playoffs and continue on with that.”
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