Waite’s six-foot tall junior quarterback Phoutasak “Johnny” Douanglee may have a shot at playing college football, but it looks like he will have a college degree before he gets that chance.

Douanglee attends Toledo Public School’s Early Learning High School, maintaining a 3.58 grade point average. When he gets his high school diploma he will also earn an associate’s degree from the University of Toledo. He plans on majoring in computer science after high school.

On the football field this year, he completed 109-of-196 passes (56 percent) for 1,270 yards with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran for 408 yards on 69 carries with two touchdowns while Waite finished 4-6 overall and 3-2 in the Toledo City League.

Johnny Douanglee attemps a pass in the Indians' loss to Maumee at Kazmaier Stadium. (Press photo by John Pollack www.pollack.smugmug.com)

His sophomore year as an Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press honorable mention quarterback, Douanglee split time at quarterback with now-graduated Mike Kachmarik, but the job was all his this year. Douanglee completed 53-of-101 passes (52.5 percent) for 620 yards and seven touchdowns two years ago and is approaching the 3,000 total yards mark heading into his senior season.

“This was his second year starting, but it’s his third year in our system,” Coach Gardner Howard said. “He has stepped up tremendously, taking on responsibility to lead on and off the field.  He is a dual threat as a passer and a runner and he’s really worked hard improving his ability and his mechanics throwing the football.”

Douanglee loves it when his offense is on all cylinders.

“It feels good and you feel like you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, what everybody else is supposed to be doing, and everybody is doing their job,” Douanglee said.

Howard said, “Johnny was a tremendous asset. Johnny puts a lot of pressure on himself, and he did a good job. He’s the type of kid who leads by example, so he’s the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. He plays through all kinds of ups and downs and pains and aches, and he never complains. The last couple weeks he wasn’t running that much. He got bumped up a bit and dinged up a bit, and there wasn’t enough there.

“He just goes out there and competes and it gives it 100 percent. He’s the type of teammate that guys love because he’s always looking to help make you better and he’s always looking to help lift you up. He rarely says a negative thing to anyone.”

Douanglee says his favorite target was Earnest Sanders, who caught 18 passes for 190 yards.

“He’s always one of those go-to guys. He would always catch the ball. On one play, he had to dive five yards to catch it. He caught it and scored a touchdown against Scott,” Douanglee said.

Sanders wasn’t his top receiver — he had a plethora of athletes to choose from, including DaVonte Hughes (42 receptions for 568 yards with five touchdowns), Anjel Lerma (14 for 261), Jermaine Walker (11 for 156 with two touchdowns), and Kevin Carter (18 for 125). Carter also ran for 1,074 yards on 136 points, scored 13 rushing touchdowns and had two 2-point conversion runs, and Hughes had a 78-yard kickoff return for six points.

Only Lerma and Walker return next season. Howard says he is looking forward to having Douanglee return next season.

“I’m very much excited (to get him back). At this time next year, he’ll do what he does now but even more so. He’ll have a complete understanding of what we try to do offensively, the things that we are trying to accomplish. Next year, we hope to be able to use him a little bit more defensively and in other positions,” Howard said.

The Indians were hoping to get the school’s first City League championship in over five decades this year. With the new alignment of six teams, everyone thought it could happen.

“We like our chances,” Howard said. “We came up short. Congratulations to Rogers. We had too many mistakes and bad snaps, but we played well, especially in the second half (in 28-6 loss to Rogers).

“It was definitely exciting because every week, you know, kids are kids, and they look in the paper and they see the standings. They see how the statistics and standings are, and it makes them excited that you are a game or two out, or a play or two here or there, and we’re competing for that championship. It does motivate you, it does factor in. We’ve just got to find a better way to just win and compete in our non-conference schedule.”

Douanglee believes that maybe next year it could happen, even though Waite is losing an experienced class of seniors. He and Coach Howard will inherit players from a junior varsity team that went 3-3. Douanglee knows he will have to be a leader.

“. There’s going to be a lot more pressure on me but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be able to take it,” Douanglee said, adding that he promises to spend time in the offseason studying game film.

After his senior season, with his associates degree in hand, is there college football in the mix for Douanglee?

“I’m looking for him to play at the next level,” Howard said. “If it’s not, obviously, a type of system that runs a spread offense or runs the quarterback, he’ll be more of an asset as an athlete. We’ll look forward to using him even more that way, too, because he’s a very good corner, he can play safety. He has very good speed and is one of the fastest guys on our team.”

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