From football field to family get-togethers

GOODHUE, Minn. — The O’Reilly boys have been tossing a football around since they could walk. Today, Cayden and Jack O’Reilly, along with their cousin, Patrick O’Reilly, have more than tossed the football together. They have just completed a season at Goodhue High School as members of the state’s No. 2 football team for Class 2A.

The three athletes live on dairy farms. Cayden and Jack’s parents, Casey and Kim O’Reilly, milk 100 organic cows and Patrick’s parents, Tony and Carrie O’Reilly, milk 180 organic cows. In addition to playing football, the trio also are wrestlers.

“There’s always some wrestling matches that go on, while we’re milking sometimes or when we’re in the house,” Jack said. “(For) football, Dad’s always saying something about that too, and there’s usually a football getting thrown around all the time.”

The O’Reillys are part of a defense-oriented football program at Goodhue. Cayden and Patrick play on the offensive and defensive line, and Jack is a linebacker as well as a running back.

“We always try and be the most physical team on the field, and go 28 and zero,” Jack said. “(That means) score 28 points and have zero turnovers, and that usually does the job to win the game.”

Cayden agreed.

“(We want to) hit the hardest and make the other kids start slowing down towards the end of the game, so then we can just run our game,” he said.

Kim said she is glad that her sons have seen success this year.

“I’m happy that all their hard work is showing,” she said. “(As defensive players they’re) not the ones that get the fame and glory, (they’re) the ones that do the hits … so people can get through.”

During the state semifinals game versus Holdingford, the Goodhue team’s defense held Holdingford to seven points in a 24-7 victory.

“We knew they were good, and they had some good players, and we had to play our best game,” Cayden said. “That’s exactly what we did, was had our best game of the season.”

Defense is not the only area of strength on the team, Cayden said.

“We like to go out and have the ball right away and be able to start the game with a good offensive drive,” he said. “We have a solid offense.”

The only loss for the Goodhue team’s season came during the state finals. The team had a disappointing loss to Jackson County Central 20-15 after leading by three points in the fourth quarter.

As dairy farm kids, the O’Reillys balance farm work with football responsibilities. Monday through Friday during the season, the boys have football practice or a game every evening. The trio help out on the dairy after practice and on weekends.

“We do pretty much everything, drive tractors, feed calves, milk cows,” Jack said.

On Thursday nights, the team gets together after practice for a team meal to carbohydrate load for the game the next day. The O’Reillys and one other family band together to provide 11 gallons of milk each meal to refuel the team with dairy.

Adding to their busy schedule, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 52 weeks a year, the O’Reillys have weight lifting from 6:30-8 a.m. Cayden is an early riser, so he gets up at 4:30 a.m. to help with chores before he leaves to lift. Cayden said being a dairy farm kid is helpful as a football player.

“You get to practice and you work even harder, just because you know how far you can go,” he said.

The O’Reillys come by their athletic skills honestly. Both their dads played football and wrestled, and their grandpa was undefeated during his senior year of football.

“It’s been a lot of fun … learning different moves and stuff from Dad,” Cayden said. “He’ll show (us) something that he tried, or show (us) something that his dad taught him, that he used to do when he played.”

One of their cousins was a 2-time high school state wrestling champion and wrestled as a Gopher in college for the University of Minnesota.

Playing football or wrestling is part of extended family get-togethers and life at home.

“Sometimes there’d be some wrestling matches in the kitchen and Mom wouldn’t be too happy with us,” Cayden said. “There are a few picture frames in the basement that are broken and super-glued back together because we hit them with a football or hit them while we were wrestling. (There are) maybe a few holes in the walls.”

Cayden, Jack and Patrick wrestle at 189, 160 and 133 pounds, respectively. The group said their second sport helps them with football.

“Wrestlers are the best tacklers on the team,” Jack said. “(That is) because they know how to do some nice blast doubles and shoot on people’s legs and everything.”

Patrick said the winning success of the football team has been his favorite part of playing, while Jack said he wants to play football so he has no regrets later.

“You only get so much time to do it, and (you) can’t ever go back and do it again,” he said.

For Cayden, as a senior, the winning season was his final year playing high school football alongside his family. However, he expects the family sports legacy to continue after him.

“I have some good cousins that are going to come up behind me and keep the O’Reilly name going,” he said.