Independence’s Tate Wood has been a tackling machine

CEDAR RAPIDS — You wonder just how high he can go. How many he can get.

How many he’ll get Friday night.

Tate Wood had 22 tackles in his Independence football team’s win two weeks ago over Crestwood. Last week in a loss to Waukon, the junior inside linebacker had 23.

Decorah is the opponent this week, a team that uses the rush a lot offensively. So are there 24 on the immediate horizon for this tackling machine?

More than that?

“He’s going to have a chance, because Decorah is going to run the ball. They’re going to come right at us,” said Independence Coach Justin Putz. “So he’s going to be really important for us to rebound and get back to where we want to be. We’re going to need him to play at a high level. That’s going to be bringing down good backs, that’s going to be getting off of blocks, that’s going to be making good reads and playing fast. He’s capable of doing that. We’re going to need 20 out of him this week.”

Wood leads the state in tackles through three full weeks of the season with 54. Somehow he didn’t even record double digits in Indee’s opener against North Fayette Valley, picking up a mere mortal nine.

And if you think these totals are inflated, forget about it. Independence stats guru Matt Shannon craves accuracy.

“He has the entire history of Independence football catalogued on my desk. Every game ever played. His game notes are extensive,” Putz said. “He is an absolute statistics stickler. We’re never near the leaderboard in 3A in tackles. So when Tate had 16 solos and 22, I asked him about it, and he said he made every play. Then you turn the tape on, and, yeah, he made every play.”

“I’ve kind of always just loved playing football,” Wood said. “Last year, I was leading the team in tackles, and I was like ‘I want to do that again.’ I just always want to be that person who makes the plays, you know?”

Play after play he makes out of Indee’s 4-4 defensive alignment. As Putz eluded, 16 of Wood’s 23 tackles (which tied a school record) last week against Waukon were solo.

Incredibly, all 22 against Crestwood were solo. Every single one.

“During the game, I’m thinking ‘Yeah, I’m getting quite a bit of tackles,’” Wood said. “Then after the game, my coach was like ‘Do you realize how many tackles you just had?’ I was like ‘No, why?’ He was just like ‘Well, you got at least 20.’ Then the stats come out, and I was like ‘Gee, I guess I did have some tackles.’”

“Crestwood ran a lot, and we brought a few, maybe another defensive lineman and mixed our linebackers, so he was in position to make a lot of plays,” Putz said. “But he still made those plays. He was all over the field, just did a great job for us.”

Wood comes from a linebacker family, as his brothers Mason and Justin also played the position. The 5-foot-10, 205-pounder also plays guard on offense for the Mustangs, so he rarely leaves the field.

Despite being an underclassman, teammates named him one of five captains this season.

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“It’s a huge honor that people look up to me that way on the team and stuff. It feels really good to be a leader,” Wood said. “I feel like I am 100-percent better (as a player). I feel like I can just fly to the ball faster this year, read my guards better. I’m making more tackles, not missing any.”

“He’s really strong. In junior high school, he was one of the strongest kids we’ve ever had, (considering) per capita body weight,” Putz said. “He moves really well, he’s pretty instinctive. He gets off blocks, he’s physical.”

Independence hopes to rebound from what it considered a subpar overall performance last week. This is the last non-district game for the Mustangs, who are in what appears to be a good Class 3A, District 3 with Center Point-Urbana, DeWitt Central, Dubuque Wahlert, Maquoketa and West Delaware.

“We know we kind of beat ourselves last week,” Wood said. “We just need to lock it in at practice and not screw around. Lift each other up after a bad play. We’re all kind of hurting from that loss, so I think we can bounce back against Decorah. I think we’ve got a solid group.”

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