Submitted Photo Eisenhower quarterback Owen Trumbull, flanked by his parents Mark and Wendy Trumbull, has completed 49 of 74 passes for 933 yards and 15 touchdowns this season.

For Owen Trumbull, it’s all about family, on and off the football field.

Judging from his performance this season, the 6-foot-4 quarterback of undefeated Region 5 champion Eisenhower has certainly felt right at home. The son of Mark and Wendy Trumbull of Lottsville, Owen has put up some eye-popping numbers this season and his teammates have followed his lead.

“I felt at the end of last year, especially after the Cambridge Springs and Cochranton games (both come-from-behind, fourth-quarter wins), that this team could be special,” Owen said.

Knights coach Jim Penley acknowledges that the reason for the team’s success so far this season falls largely on Trumbull, but that’s where he wants it.

“Owen is a competitor,” he said. “He wants the ball in his hands when the game is on the line.”

Nobody could have done it better than Owen did in Eisenhower’s 61-8 win over Iroquois last week. By halftime, he had thrown six touchdown passes, breaking the old school record of four.

“I didn’t even know until someone told me I threw six in the first half,” he said with a smile. “I was just happy we were winning.”

He’s equally happy to brag on his offensive line.

“Those guys — Brodie Porter, Jared Beers, Caleb Penley, Gannon Jaquay, Mike Jones and my center Conner Younger — are just amazing,” he said. “One sack through five games? Incredible. … They make me feel at home in the pocket. … They just have the attitude to make sure I don’t get hit.

Owen’s success and that of his fellow seniors has been developed ever so slowly after they posted four-, two- and three-win seasons.

“From third grade on we’ve been together, we hang out, we are close,” he said. “Some day I’m sure we’ll be sitting around a fire with kids of our own remembering this season and laughing about the funny stuff. I’m sure we will be close for life. We are family.”

Through the last few tough seasons Trumbull kept improving and worked at doing the little things to perfection.

“Owen is a great leader,” Penley said. “The work he puts in, he just commands respect. He talks the talk and walks the walk.”

The numbers don’t lie. So far he has completed 49 of 74 passes for 933 yards and 15 touchdowns, which is just six away from the single-season school record with the career passing mark also in sight. In addition, he’s rushed for 247 yards on just 18 carries and three more TDs.

But records don’t mean much to Owen.

“I’m sure there will be a time in the offseason where I’ll sit down and look back at the season, but now we have a lot of season left.”

Having already clinched the Region 5 title, the Knights, have more for which to play. At stake in Saturday’s game against Seneca is getting the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage through the District 10 playoffs.

“The chance to play for a D-10 title, that’s what we have wanted since last spring,” Owen said. “One practice at a time, one game at a time. That’s our thing, maximum effort in everything we do.”

The thought of playing in college is not lost on him.

“I want to play at a school that I can have an impact on the team,” said Owen, who’d like to pursue a degree in environmental science to ultimately land a job in forestry. “I just want to keep living my dream of playing four more years.”

As he once told his dad, “I can do this. I can be the quarterback.”