By Rich Winter

605 Sports

Emmitt Maher took the long road — literally — to all-state football honors. 

Maher, a Lemmon/McIntosh High School football senior, wakes up at 5 a.m. every morning to start a 136-mile run trip for school, weightlifting and practice. At 5:30 a.m., he jumps in his 2008 Dodge Avenger and drives the 28 miles from McLaughlin to McIntosh High School to lift weights.

After saying hello to the school lunch ladies, who also get to school at 6 a.m., Maher goes to work in the McIntosh weight room. After lifting he has breakfast at the school, goes through his school day and then hops back in the car and drives 42 miles to Lemmon High School for football practice.

And then drives home to complete a 136-mile round trip, every day during football and wrestling seasons. 

“We tried to add this up one time and we think he’s put on over 32,000 miles just in football during his high school years,” Lemmon/McIntosh football coach Josh Anderson said. 

That kind of dedication is what Anderson pitched to all-state football voters about Maher, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound offensive lineman/linebacker. When it came time for Anderson to talk about Maher in front of those voters he told them of a young man who made sacrifices and drove incredible distances to pursue his passion. 

“The further you make it in the playoffs the more all-state football players you get, so for us to get an all-stater was huge,” said Anderson about the 3-6 Cowboys. “I told those voters the distances Maher puts in just to make practice and every day he showed his commitment and he put in the work.”

Maher, the son of Craig and Hope Maher, was awarded with all-state football honors after his many years of dedication to his athletic endeavors. 

“I got into lifting last year,” Maher said. “This year I talked to the athletic director and asked if I could come to school early to lift weights.” 

Those early morning lifting sessions have sculpted Maher into a specimen. Maher said he can bench-press 289 pounds, deadlift 405 pounds and squat 395 pounds. 

“It’s pretty peaceful that early in the weight room,” Maher said. “It’s just me and kinda my cup of coffee and helps me wake up.” 

Maher has been a starter at offensive line for the past three seasons for Lemmon/McIntosh. In each of those years he was an all-conference performer. Every now and then Anderson lets Maher play fullback, and on occasion Maher is the recipient of a guard dump-pass where he had 69 yards receiving and three touchdown receptions during his high school career. 

On defense, Maher plays wherever he’s needed, playing linebacker, defensive tackle and defensive end. 

“He’s pretty fast and we were able to pull him. When we needed two yards or five yards guess who we ran behind,” Anderson said. “He’s one of those kids that every coach would love to have on their team. We’re going to miss him a great deal next season.” 

While football season is over Maher still has plenty of drive time as he is also a member of the Lemmon/McIntosh wrestling team. A state qualifier as a sophomore (182), Maher cut weight last year, all the way to (170) and finished one match short of the state tournament. 

“I cut all that weight last year and I was too skinny and just didn’t feel like I had any strength,” Maher said. “I told myself after wrestling season that I was going to bulk up to 220 and then slim down to 210-215 for football season and I did that.”

This year, Maher intends to continue to lift weights throughout the season and stay near his current 215 pounds for the entire wrestling season.

“This year I’m not cutting weight and I’m just going to go out and have fun and hopefully make the state tournament again,” he said.