HAMMOND | Feet were chopping and hearts were racing last Thursday afternoon at Morton, where the Governors were practicing in preparation of playing their biggest postseason nemesis, Griffith, in a sectional semifinal. But Morton's best defensive player, Eddie Malatinka, was not there.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker was gutting a house on a lake in Monticello.
Work boots and a tool belt mean as much to him as a sack or a bone-crunching tackle.
Malatinka is the modern-day embodiment of an early Bruce Springsteen song about a salt-of-the-earth boy. Born to run. Tougher than the rest. No surrender. The E Street Band would fit just as easily around Malatinka as his Governor teammates.
"My uncle needed help, so I went down there to get some work done and make a few dollars," Malatinka said of missing last Thursday's practice. "I'm a jack-of-all-trades. I can fix windows and doors. One uncle is a mechanic, I have three more who are in construction. I love working with my hands. I love working on cars. I always have and I always will.
"But I love drilling the (heck) out of people (on the football field), too."
This dilemma will weigh on Malatinka's mind tonight as Morton travels to Hobart for the Class 4A Sectional 9 championship game. The Governors have never won a sectional championship.
Morton coach Roy Richards said Cincinnati, Louisville, Ball State and Northern Illinois have shown great interest in recruiting Malatinka. Richards, however, isn't so sure Malatinka's calling involves a Division I campus.
"Eddie just isn't passionate enough about going to college to pursue it," Richards said. "He's a blue-collar kid with a mohawk. He's talked to me more about becoming a mechanic and working on cars than he has about playing college football."
Other Governors receive recruiting letters daily, and they stop in to look at the offers and take them home. Malatinka, who works on cars at the Hammond Career Center during the school day, has letters, too.
"He's never opened them," Richards said. "They're still sitting on my desk."
That doesn't mean Malatinka isn't a big part of Morton's run to a school record-tying win total. He leads Morton with 88 tackles and 12 sacks. And that doesn't count last Friday's Griffith game that he had to sit out because he was ejected from the sectional opener at Highland for head-butting a Trojan player.
According to IHSAA rules, Malatinka had to watch the 34-20 win from the sidelines.
Whether he has grease on his knuckles or sweat on his brow, Malatinka knows he made a mistake that can't happen again.
"It was selfish by me, even though I thought it was a bad call," Malatinka said. "I can't do anything stupid like that again. I'm not the type of player who disrespects my opponents. I have to keep my head straight and show good sportsmanship. It was selfish and it ain't going to happen again."
Like former Lowell standout Jeff Barker, who is at Ball State now, Malatinka has speed, strength and ferociousness that set him apart from average defenders.
Against Munster in Week 5, Malatinka blew by two blockers and tackled the Mustangs' quarterback for a safety, ending the play by throwing him out of the end zone. That kind of athleticism is usually followed by Saturday games. But this isn't your typical story.
Malatinka started working on go-karts when he was 5. He helped his father work on the family's Chevy van. Malatinka is also proud of his 1972 Chevy truck.
"I've got 42-inch tires on it, too," he said.
He listens to Metallica. He hunts ducks, pheasants and deer, among other things.
The Morton players dedicated last Friday's game to their leader, hoping to give him at least one more game. When Morton beat the Brickies 49-13 on Oct. 9, Malatinka didn't play because he had the flu. Getting back on the field has his, well, motor running hot and fast.
"I want to introduce myself to all those Hobart players who didn't get to meet me last time, and 'Big Daddy,' too," Malatinka said, referencing teammate Darius Taylor, who was not eligible for the last Hobart game. "We're planning on having the game ended by halftime. Then they can just pass the trophy over to us."
Such blue-collar bravado doesn't fit everywhere. Whether it will fit at a university remains to be seen. Malatinka said he would be happy working underneath a car. Or stripping dry wall. Or any other lunch-bucket kind of job.
"When this season ends, there'll be kids all over the Region who will go nuts because they can't play anymore," he said. "I'm not so sure about Eddie. I don't see him as the kind of kid who will walk through the quad with his book bag. He's like those movies about high school football. He loves playing and he loves his team, and he loves his teammates.
"But the mill is still calling his name. I can see him putting down his football helmet, picking up his hard hat, working hard and telling football stories with his buddies at work."
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