2017 Male Athlete of the Year: Thompson Valley's Mike Berg was the ultimate competitor
Sibling rivalry fueled three-sport athlete to always give maximum effort
By Sean Star
Reporter-Herald Sports Writer
POSTED: 06/23/2017 07:00:00 AM MDT
Mike Berg, the RH Male Athlete of the Year, celebrates with his Thompson Valley teammates after beating Evergreen in the state final four last month in Denver. Normally the team's catcher, Berg came in and earned the save in his first-career pitching appearance that day to extend the Eagles' season. (
Michael Brian / For the Reporter-Herald)
Berg's Bio
Baseball
Hit .491, slugged .859 and had a .544 on-base percentage in his career
Drove in 88 runs in 67 career games
Totaled 54 extra-base hits, including 36 doubles and 12 home runs
Ended senior season on a 16-game hitting streak, had a 4A-best 43 RBI in 25 games to lead Eagles to a third-place finish in the state tournament
Football
Had 374 total tackles in his career, including at least 99 solos each of the past two seasons
Finished with 10.5 career sacks and 8 quarterback hurries
Added two interceptions, five passes defensed, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles
Averaged 4.2 yards a carry, made 32 receptions and scored 8 total touchdowns
Wrestling
State tournament runner-up as a sophomore at 170 pounds
Finished 21-1 in 2014-15, won a regional title and earned a No. 2 seed at state
Went 21-5 as a freshman at 152 pounds, winning a pair of invite titles and finishing sixth at state
For Mike Berg, the lines on a field aren't just there for judging fair of foul, in bounds or out. They also separate his two personalities — Mike the Competitor and Mike the Gentleman.
Mike the Competitor is cutthroat. The type of athlete you love if he's on your team and can't stand if he's not. The type that hates to lose more than he likes to win.
Mike the Gentleman will kill you with kindness. Always polite, always looking you in the eye, always deflecting credit to his teammates and coaches.
The two sides are so different, it's hard to believe they're part of the same person unless you see it for yourself. Cut from the same cloth, his twin brother, Matt, is the same way.
"When they get in between the lines in competitive situations, there's a switch that flips. It's the mentality of 'I don't care what it takes, I'm going to beat you at whatever,'" TVHS baseball coach Jay Denning said. "Even in practice. You watch batting practice, and they want to be better than everyone else at batting practice. They want to be better than everyone else at base running. They don't take pitches off. They don't take plays off. It's an all-go, no-quit mentality until it's over.
"And as soon as it's over, you won't meet a better group of people than the Bergs."
Mike's competitive drive served him quite well during his time as a Thompson Valley Eagle. While most of his peers were still developing at the junior varsity level, he quickly became a household name not long into his high school career.
He earned his way onto three all-area teams in 2014-15, becoming an instant difference maker for the Eagles on the gridiron, wrestling mat and baseball diamond as just a sophomore. He stuck with football and baseball for his junior and senior years, and he only got better at both, making him the Reporter-Herald's 2017 Male Athlete of the Year.
Considering they're identical twins, it's hard separating the Bergs — and not just because they look so much alike. Understanding their relationship also goes a long way in explaining why Mike is so obsessed with winning and why, when he crosses those white lines, his alter ego comes out.
"I think he only knew one way. Growing up with his brother, and those two battling each other all the time with wrestling and everything, he only knew one way to go, and that's all out," said TVHS football coach Matt Smith, who also coached the Bergs as wrestlers going back to their days in middle school.
"I've heard stories about them when they were little kids. ... It was the same way. They were just on the edge of being in a brawl all the time between the two of them."
Mike Berg, right, looks for running room around the edge against Northridge last October. (
Michael Brian / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Denning said their sibling rivalry even carried over into classroom. It didn't matter what it was, being the better Berg at something, anything, meant everything. Their battles were trivial at times, but in the grand scheme of things, they both benefitted from their never-ending competitions.
"Watching them compete in class and compete on the field every day, and in the wrestling room, they both drove each other," Denning said. "There's no doubt what he and Matt have is special — not only as brothers, but what they did to drive each other. I think Matt made Mike better and Mike made Matt better any time they stepped onto any kind of competitive surface, and that goes down as far as cell phone games."
Matt says it's been that way for as long as he can remember. As he put it, Mike approaches every competitive situation like it's a football game.
The two originally planned to play baseball together at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. But on the same day they signed their letters of intent, they found out they both had earned scholarships for the Air Force ROTC program at Colorado State. Again, though, their plans changed when Matt was medically disqualified because of kidney stones he had from trying to cut weight for wrestling. Eventually, he got cleared but decided to honor his commitment to UCCS instead.
So for the first time in their lives, they'll go their separate ways this fall, making all the highs and lows they shared together over the years perhaps that much more meaningful.
"It's been so much fun just always being on the field with him and stuff," Matt said. "It's honestly allowed us to branch out and be more independent, and then be able to experience all these things together every year. It's been really nice for the both of us to spend time together on the field and that sort of thing."
Mike's demeanor was perfect for football, where he was a tackling machine on defense and physical running back on offense. Had he stuck with wrestling, he would have almost certainly become a state champion after finishing runner-up as a sophomore.
However, baseball was his forte.
He was the prototypical five-tool player for the Eagles: a reliable catcher who most teams were afraid run against, an aggressive base runner who was always looking to grab an extra bag, and of course, a middle-of-the-order hitter who compiled video game numbers. In his three seasons on varsity, he finished with a career OPS of 1.404 and was above 1.500 each of the past two seasons.
He drove in 88 runs in 67 career games, highlighted by a senior year in which he led 4A with 43 RBI, 10 more than anyone else in the classification. He hit well over .500 as a junior and senior with more than half his hits (84) going for extra bases (44), including a dozen home runs in just 167 at-bats.
All that said, there was something else about his game that comes to Denning's mind first when he thinks about his reliable backstop.
"He's also another coach on the field. When he's behind the plate, he understands what our pitchers are doing and was able to save us some mound trips — as far as not only talking to pitchers, but to the team," the longtime Eagles baseball coach said. "So when he was out there, I was very comfortable with the fact that when he went to the mound, or I asked him to go to the mound, we were on the same page as far as what needed to be done.
"He's the one that led us out onto the field and led on the field as well."
Like so many great players, Mike rose to the occasion when the stakes were the highest. During the Eagles' run to a third-place finish in the 4A state tournament this spring, he hit .667 with 11 RBI, 12 runs and eight extra-base hits — in just six games — to help solidify the best season in program history. Oh and by the way, he also made his first-career pitching appearance right in the heart of the playoff run, earning a save to avoid elimination and advance the Eagles to the state semifinals.
Considering he produced at such a high level for such a long time, you'd think teams would've stopped pitching to him during the postseason. But with good protection around him in the lineup, with freshman Cam Nellor ahead of him and his brother behind him, teams didn't have much of a choice.
"I'm not surprised he hit so well in the state tournament because there's just not that many holes in his swing," said Mountain View coach Brian Smela, who said it took years to figure out how to pitch to Berg, and even then it was there was still some luck involved. "If you don't get to see him very much, he's such a good hitter that he will make you pay on 80 percent of the pitches you throw. Watching him as a leader of that team and how far he took them, he's just a great player, great kid."
At 5-foot-9, Mike was a bit undersized for a linebacker. But he easily made up for it with his aggressiveness and preparation. In 31 career games he had 374 total tackles, including an average of 101 solo stops the past two seasons. He also racked up 10.5 career sacks, two interceptions, five passes defensed, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.
He reached paydirt nine times as an Eagle and had more than 500 total yards during his senior season, doubling up as a bruising tailback and capable pass catcher.
The football team wasn't able to enjoy the same type of success the baseball program did in the spring, but that never stopped Mike from giving 100 percent effort 100 percent of the time.
"He didn't know the meaning of quit. It didn't matter if it was the first play of the game or the last play of the game, what the score was, he just kept playing at the highest level he could," Smith said. "I wish I had him for another couple years. I know talking to other teams, they were well aware of him and where he was going to be on the field at all times.
"He's the kind of kid that we're going to be comparing other linebackers to for a while."
Sean Star: 970-669-5402, sstar@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/seanvstar
Mike Berg holds down Longmont's Fernando Ramos-Vega during their state semifinal match in 2015 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (
Steve Stoner / Loveland Reporter-Herald)