For most children of the ‘90s, there was one college football linebacker that stood above the rest. Sure, Andy Katzenmoyer was a dominant force for John Cooper’s teams at Ohio State and LaVar Arrington was the head of his class at “Linebacker U” (Penn State), but nobody had as loyal of a following as the fictional character played by Adam Sandler in the 1998 film Waterboy.

Bobby Boucher loved knocking the stuffing out of people, just as long as he imagined them as someone who had wronged him in his life. Before each play, Boucher would turn the opposing team into his worst enemy.

Everyone goes through hardships and everyone needs an outlet to get through them. Ashland senior defensive tackle Jamie Meder deals with his hardships – which include having watched those he loves fight cancer – on the football field.

“You have to play for something bigger than yourself,” Ashland head football coach Lee Owens said. “If you’re just playing because of ego or you’re just playing because you want to be popular or you want all the recognition, it doesn’t sustain you when it’s hot in the summer and you’re running and it’s 100 degrees out or you have to fight through a tough fourth quarter and bow up on the goal line.”

As hilarious as that process of turning ordinary players into vaunted enemies was in Waterboy, the tragedies that are transferred from real players’ lives onto that week’s opponent are rarely as light and fluffy. Just ask Meder, who has seen his grandfather, mother and girlfriend of six years battle cancer.

“I just think of everything bad that’s every happened to me in my life,” Meder said. “In my own head, I just make (the opposing team) the cause of everything bad that’s ever happened to me.”

Meder was in fifth grade when his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the same time, his grandfather was fighting a losing battle against lung cancer. Meder’s own father, who coached him growing up, was suddenly thrown into a position of supporting his family and taking care of his wife as he watched his own father pass away.

It was a lot for Meder to take in.

“It’s terrible when you see someone sick that you love and you can’t do anything for them to make them better,” he said.

After two years of treatments that caused her to lose her hair, lose weight and, as Meder put it, become “a shell of what she was at the time,” his mother won her fight.

It was during that time that Meder was starting to cement his place as a dominant athlete in his hometown of Parma, Ohio. He became a starting lineman on the high school football team and was one of the top wrestlers in the state. Through every workout, practice, game and match, he kept his grandpa and mom in the back of his head. When the going got tough, he pictured himself beating his opponent just like his mom had beaten breast cancer.

He was a state placer as a heavyweight wrestler his junior year and got all the way to the final the next year before placing second. As a senior, he pinned every opponent he faced in sectionals and districts in less than a minute. After the season ended, he entered a Cleveland area boxing competition and knocked his first opponent out in 54 seconds.

He was set to face a 28-year-old in the championship, but his opponent showed up three hours late and Meder was handed the title by default. An effort to set up a private match to determine the “true champion” never panned out.

Despite his success in hand-to-hand combat and the fact that he never played on a winning team in high school, Meder decided to pursue college football. He never got a shot at playing Division I because of poor grades, so he went for the next best thing and accepted an offer to play at Ashland.

“I always wanted to play pro football and just thinking about how (former AU quarterback) Billy Cundiff was an NFL prospect at the time I thought that was awesome,” Meder said.

In his first game against nationally ranked Bloomsburg in 2010, he splashed onto the scene with seven tackles (three solo), three tackles for loss and two sacks. At the end of the season, he was the first Eagle to be named GLIAC freshman of the year.

He also developed a partnership with fellow defensive lineman Jeris Pendleton, a non-traditional student from inner city Chicago with two kids who was drafted in 2012 by the Jacksonville Jaguars and is currently in camp with the Dallas Cowboys.

“Just the domination factor,” Meder said when asked about what he remembers from playing with Pendleton. “Just having fun together. It’s great when you can team up with other kids and have that much fun when you’re making great plays and tearing other offenses up.”

It is perhaps notable that even though he is eight years younger than Pendleton he still refers to the NFL lineman as “kid.” He does this when talking about all of his teammates, and even though he is extremely humble and means it harmlessly, he has a point.

At 6-foot, 2-inches and near 300 pounds with surprising quickness and agility, Meder defines the phrase “man among boys.” As Pendleton put together the season that vaulted him into the pros in 2011, Meder’s was arguably better. He had more tackles (54), more tackles for loss (10.5), three sacks and two forced fumbles.

In 2012, he upped his tackles to 61 and had three sacks. He went from being all-conference to an All-American while helping to lead the Eagles to one of their best seasons ever with an 11-0 regular season record and a first-ever outright Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

“It was just amazing,” he said. “It was living a dream being undefeated. It was just awesome. Game plans were working and we were beating teams in a dominant way.”

While the numbers say the last few years have been a fairytale for Meder, his success on the field was tempered in 2011 when his high school sweetheart Lindsey was diagnosed with nasal pharyngeal cancer. Meder was suddenly faced with the same uncertainty he dealt with as a child. In between a busy schedule of classes and workouts, he would go to the hospital with Lindsey as she underwent chemotherapy and radiation.

Finally, in December, she went into remission and was able to graduate this spring with a degree in special education from Notre Dame College. She just got a job.

Like so many people, Meder has had to watch his loved ones suffer from cancer. This summer, he took part in his first Relay for Life and plans to do more for cancer patients in the future.

“Once I get more time and money when I’m older I’d like to help out in any way I can because it’s such a huge thing that affects everyone,” he said.

If everything goes according to plan, Meder may have a big payday coming in April. Close to ten NFL scouts came to see him practice during Ashland’s preseason camp, and Owens believes he has a good chance at being drafted.

“I know we haven’t ever had that kind of attention in camp,” Owens said.

Right now though, Meder has his eyes set on one thing and one thing only: Indianapolis. Ashland travels to play the Greyhounds Sept. 6. As Meder counts down the days and grows his signature beard out to knew lengths, he is already taking those demons of his past and placing the blame on Indy.