Barrington senior defensive tackle Charlie Ploder once thought he’d be a baseball star by now.
Until high school, Ploder had dreamed about baseball, not football.
“Baseball was my main sport,” he said. “I wanted to play college baseball. I loved the game. I thought baseball was my road.
“I was a first baseman and a pitcher. My strength was hitting. I had a lot of power at the plate. The big thing I was known for was hitting home runs.”
But Ploder isn’t crushing baseballs anymore. He’s crushing quarterbacks for a defense that has held four opponents to 14 points or less this season.
Ploder quit baseball after his freshman season, and he doesn’t regret that decision.
“I had an all-right freshman season in baseball, but I fell in love with working out for football,” he said. “The stronger I got, I saw how weightlifting translated onto the field, so I fell in love with the game of football. I saw how all my hard work in the weight room paid off.”
Barrington football coach Joe Sanchez is happy Ploder has dedicated his time and energy to the sport. A first-year starter and captain, Ploder is a key cog on the defensive line for the second-seeded Broncos (9-1), who thumped 31st-seeded Elgin 72-13 in the first round of the Class 8A playoffs on Oct. 31 and will play 15th-seeded Glenbrook South at home on Nov. 8.
Through the end of the regular season, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Ploder led Mid-Suburban West champion Barrington in tackles with 54, sacks with three, tackles for a loss with seven, quarterback hurries with 12 and forced fumbles with three.
“Last year, he turned himself into a really important piece along our defensive line,” Sanchez said. “This year, he’s seen it all come together. Everything is clicking for him, and he’s peaking and having his best season so far.
“He can play anywhere on the line, just wherever he fits and is the best matchup for us. He takes on double teams and has earned everything he’s gotten. He’s been a difference-maker for us.”
Ploder, a third-year varsity player who moved from linebacker as a sophomore, said he attacked his workouts this past offseason to prove he should start on the defensive line.
“I was in the gym every day trying to get bigger and doing D-line training,” he said. “I worked a lot on my craft and felt confident I was competitive with the other D-linemen.
“I’m not always going to be the biggest, strongest or fastest on the field. I took that into account and knew I had to work to earn my spot.”
Barrington senior offensive lineman Owen Fors, a Northwestern recruit, said Ploder left no doubt.
“He’s an extremely hard worker,” Fors said. “He’s always one of the first guys in and one of the last guys out. He’s perfected his craft extremely well at defensive tackle. It’s always fun watching him dominate in games.”
Barrington senior linebacker Jett Kohanzo, who also is a captain, said Ploder’s hard work inspires teammates.
“He leads by example and is always putting in the extra effort during practice or morning lifts,” Kohanzo said. “His work ethic is outstanding, and he never quits. He’s relentless during the game and has become someone the whole defense can rely on during games.”
Ploder said his older sister, Berkeley, helped him understand what it takes to succeed in high school sports. A sophomore middle hitter at Georgetown, Berkeley Ploder led the Barrington girls volleyball team to the Class 4A state semifinals three times.
“I saw how hard she worked every single day,” Charlie Ploder said. “She was my mentor going into high school. I learned to work hard and that there will be times things don’t go your way. You have to learn from it and don’t let those things hold you back.”
Berkeley Ploder said she did what she could.
“Because our schedules rarely aligned — if I was home, he was at the gym, and if he was home, I was at practice — we would only see each other for short periods of time each day,” she said.
“During those moments, I would always make it a point to check in with him, to ask how he’s doing academically and athletically. Even when he didn’t share much, I’d still offer bits of advice or perspective that might help him down the line.”
Charlie Ploder, who also plays lacrosse, said he and the Broncos have more to accomplish.
“I set a lot of goals following my junior year for my senior year,” he said. “Every day, I was striving to get closer and closer to those goals. I’m completed some of them. I still have more to reach.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter.
