When Garrison Higgins took a recruiting trip to Ohio Northern, the former Konawaena quarterback quickly discovered why the Division III football team’s nickname is the Polar Bears.
“It was my first visit about a week and a half ago. It was 13 degrees. It was pretty cold,” he said. “It’s a low area, all flat land, a lot of farm area, surrounded by snow.”
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound quarterback played his senior year at Westlake High in Utah’s 6A Division and led the Thunder to a 4-8 record, including a 58-14 loss to Skyridge in the second round on Oct. 29.
He received an academic and merit scholarship to Ohio Northern, where the school mascot is a polar bear named Klondike.
The private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Ada, Ohio has an enrollment of just over 3,000 and an endowment of $160.3 million, according to Wikipedia.
Two of Ada’s most notable people are former NFL player Mark Gastineau, who went to East Central University in Ada, of the New York Jets, and Oral Roberts, the evangelist and founder of Oral Roberts University.
“I’m super excited, glad to be offered and have a chance to play at the next level,” Higgins said. “I applied to the school and got accepted. I sent in my film, they liked it, and were interested, and it went from there.
“It’s a nice campus. I toured the school and talked to the head coach (Dean Paul). I talked to some of the players. They all loved the school.”
On last season’s roster, there were seven quarterbacks, including four seniors. Brody Hahn was the starter and led the Polar Bears to a 4-6 record.
Higgins was unbothered by ONU’s QB depth. For a player who missed his junior season at Konawaena due to COVID-19, he welcomed the challenge of battling for a starting spot.
“I’m always up for competition. I’m never afraid,” he said. “I don’t assume the job is mine. I’m confident in myself. They liked my style of play, my reads, how I throw the ball
“Our offense in high school is similar to their offense. I fit their scheme pretty well. We went over my film, and I showed my favorite plays, and we saw their film, and it was the exact same play we ran in high school.”
Higgins plans to major in mechanical engineering with a focus on aeronautics.
There aren’t any players from Hawaii, but the roster is stocked from players all over the country. There’s one player from Japan and two from Ada, Ohio.
The Polar Bears play in the Ohio Athletic Conference, where Mount Union lords over the 10-team league. The Purple Raiders won the conference title but fell in the NCAA semifinals to North Central (Illinois) 26-13.
Higgins only played on the Konawaena JV team as a sophomore, but he watched online the Wildcats’ 13-12 victory over Hilo for the BIIF Division I championship.
“I was watching that game. Great for them,” he said.
The journey continues for the one-time Konawaena Wildcat and Westlake Thunder, who’s now an Ohio Northern Polar Bear.