Pioneer’s Rans wins mental attitude award, reveals painful injury

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Micah Rans the 2025 Class 1A Blake Ress Mental Attitude award winner

INDIANAPOLIS — Pioneer quarterback Micah Rans won the Blake Ress Mental Attitude Award at the IHSAA football state finals Friday.

Rans also revealed he suffered a fractured fibula during the Panthers’ regular season finale against North Judson Oct. 17 and gutted out the injury during the team’s state tournament run, which ended with a 55-29 loss to South Putnam in the Class 1A state championship game at

Micah Rans with his parents Kyle and Stacy Rans

Lucas Oil Stadium.

The two newsworthy events – Rans winning the mental attitude award and Rans revealing his injury – might be unrelated. A football player is not required to endure physical hardship to win the award, but Rans’ determination to play through the injury might reveal Rans’ “excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability during his four years of high school” that are the criteria for winning the award.

“It happened in Week 9 against North Judson,” Rans said. “It was a couple minutes before the end of the first half.”

Rans said he dealt with “a lot” of pain during the last six weeks.

Rans set the school record for rushing yards in a game against North Miami with 325 in a 41-22 win over North Miami Sept. 19. He broke his own record of 322 set against Carroll (Flora) in the 2024 sectional semifinals.

“It’s hard to say,” Pioneer coach Adam Berry said when asked if Rans' injury hindered the team. “Your most explosive player, you definitely don’t want to see him injured, but a lot of guys probably would have just said, ‘Hey, I’m going to sit these next weeks out,’ but he wanted to be out there.

“And my gosh, he battled. I couldn’t be prouder of that guy. The grit and the mental attitude award and I think battling through that injury through six-and-a-half games shows he deserves that mental attitude because he wanted to be out there. You couldn’t hold him back.”

Pioneer had 31 players listed on its roster while South Putnam had 59. Football is a sport known for its close-knit bonds, and Pioneer having so few players might have only strengthened their bond. Rans said its togetherness “meant everything.”

“I was dead set on doing whatever I could to be on the field with my brothers,” Rans said.

Pioneer had 314 yards rushing and 350 yards of offense against South Putnam. Rans also completed two passes on back-to-back plays in the second quarter to Phillip McFathridge that netted 36 yards.

Rans said South Putnam’s run defense improved as the game progressed. He called the Eagles’ defense “fast and physical.”

“They defended our midline pretty well, and at the end of the half, when they knew we were passing, it was easier to defend,” Rans said. “But they defended our inside run pretty well.”

Rans averaged 9.7 carries per game and 101 yards rushing per game during the regular season. He averaged 5.8 carries and 30 yards per game during the postseason.

He had 11 carries for 20 yards and a touchdown against South Putnam.

“It’s no surprise we were holding him off running the ball,” Berry said. “He still looked pretty good today running our midline. … Extremely proud of him being the mental attitude award winner. Very few at Pioneer have done that.”

Rans is the 13th athlete from Pioneer and the sixth football player to win the award. He joins Tayt Odom in 1997, Parker Englert in 2014, Austin Harmon in 2016, Garrett Schroder in 2017 and Dustin Sparks in 2018 as other Pioneer football players to win the award.

He is the first Pioneer athlete to win the award since both basketball player Olivia Brooke and softball player Hailey Gotshall won the award in 2021.

“It’s really cool,” Rans said of the award. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. But it's a great honor. I was really excited.”

Rans ranks ninth currently in the Pioneer senior class. He has been a member of the Pioneer Athletic Council, Student Council and Pep Club. He also volunteers at Big Creek Missions in Eastern Kentucky and serves as a youth league flag football coach.

Rans also plays basketball and golf. He was honorable mention all-Hoosier North in basketball last winter, and he was an all-conference player and the No. 1 golfer on the Pioneer team that qualified for regionals for the first time in school history in May. 

Rans is the son of Kyle and Stacy Rans of Logansport. He plans to attend Purdue University with plans on obtaining a degree in finance.

The award is named in honor of IHSAA Commissioner Emeritus Blake Ress, who was the IHSAA Commissioner from 2000-11.

The Indianapolis Colts, the presenting sponsor of the state tournament, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Pioneer’s general scholarship fund in Rans’ name.