Hiley Mazda Key Athlete of the Week: New Hope’s Layton Pohl

NEW HOPE, Ala. ( WHNT ) — New Hope Football scored nearly 70 points in their week 6 victory over JPII, and Indians running back Layton Pohl played a huge role in that.

The junior scored five touchdowns including a 71-yard run and a 95-yard kickoff return.

“Every day it starts out here just practicing, practicing hard every day, it’s just a grind,” Pohl said.

The standout football star has scored in 18 consecutive games for the New Hope Football program.

As a multi-sport athlete, he owns a state championship in wrestling too, and has earned an offer to play college baseball.

New Hope Football Head Coach Michael Harper said Pohl’s unique abilities fuel their offense.

“He just has fun playing the game, has fun with life and that’s part of the reason he’s so successful because he doesn’t get phased by anything and his emotions never get too high and they never get too low,” Harper explained.

Coaches describe him as a humble student-athlete who doesn’t like the attention and often deflects the praise. As for his 22 touchdowns on the season, Pohl credits his teammates for his success.

“Just everybody trying out here in practice, giving it their best just so we can keep continuing to get better like at blocking running the plays right,” Pohl said. “It definitely helps knowing that some of my touchdowns are helping us win our games, but it’s more about blocking and the blocking we get helps me score.”

The Indians will be back under the Friday night lights this week when they take on Madison Academy in a region showdown.

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