Introducing our WXXV Student Athletes of the Week, Ocean Springs’ Hayden and Chalmers Berglind!
In one of the biggest coast show downs of the year, the Ocean Springs Greyhounds demonstrated consistency and grit and their offense truly couldn’t be stopped in their 56-42 win over a competitive Picayune Maroon Tide team.
“All week at practice we did great. The effort was there from every single position group and really everything was there. We practiced all week for it,” Chalmers Berglind said. “Everyone especially the offensive line played great this last game. Sharroid is just so fast and so good. Ian’s route running is very good as well. They’re just all star players.”
“Everyone just worked so hard,” Hayden Berglind said. “The receivers, you can see that every single play we blocked hard. It doesn’t matter if the ball is going to our side or not. We work for every single rep we get and that’s what makes us so good.”
Out of the eight touchdowns scored on Friday, a guy with the last name Berglind contributed to half of them. Sophomore Quarterback Chalmers Berglind was 10 for 13 with four touchdowns and senior tight end Hayden Berglind caught three passes for 82 yards, two of those being in the endzone. From their backyard to Greyhound Stadium, the Berglind brothers are living the football dream.
“It’s crazy. We use to come out here and practice all the time when we were really little and it’s crazy we’re actually playing here together,” said Chalmers Berglind.
“He’s doing pretty well right now,” said Hayden Berglind. “At the start I didn’t think he’d be throwing that much with him being so young and not getting the rhythm, but he got the rhythm really early which really surprised me. Hopefully we can carry us through district, playoffs and the state championship.”
When asked if they think they have an advantage when it comes to being brothers, the two say there’s definitely a special connection.
“Yeah we’ve been throwing to each other since we were little, so there’s obviously a connection. He knows how I run my routes and how fast I am, so it’s an easy throw up,” Hayden Berglind said.
“Yeah, he’s big enough to where I can just throw up it up in there,” said Chalmers Berglind.
Trust me though, the tough, brotherly love is still there.
“I definitely get more mad than he gets mad at me,” Hayden Berglind said laughing. “If I drop it, he won’t say a word to me, but if makes a bad throw I’ll definitely say something to him.”
All jokes aside, with a two year age gap, the Berglind’s truly never knew if they’d ever share the gridiron under the Friday night lights. Now that they’re excelling together, their only goal is to win a State Championship together.
“We’ve just got to be 1-0 every week. It’s the same game plan every week. We just want to win and stay undefeated until playoffs and then win state,” Hayden Berglind said. “We have a really good team this year. We’re very talented and have a very good shot of going to state more than years before, so we’re really excited about this year. It’s what we’ve been talking about since last December.“
“As a sophomore, a lot of people think I have three years left, but I think since it’s my brother’s senior year, this means extra. I want to win a state championship with him and his grade. It means even more to me,” Chalmers Berglind said.
Their next step towards matching rings will take place Friday night as they open up district play against Biloxi!
