As school begins in the fall, communities are used to seeing their students participating in cross country and football practice. Watching students join in these extracurricular activities have seemed all but guaranteed for the past 100 years. Now is the time when communities gear up to cheer on their respective schools while supporting students.
Last spring reminded Jayton head football coach Josh Stanaland that “the plug can be pulled on a season at any time.”
Just moments after the Jayton Jaybirds finished playing Slidell in San Antonio at the state basketball tournament, the entire world shifted from people going to public events. All sports from the professional, college, and high school level were affected. At schools, instruction was moved to online and so were extracurricular sports—canceling spring conditioning for football.
After a “stop and start” summer program, Stanaland spoke of how grateful he felt for students to have a chance to play games. “A few months ago, we didn’t know if we were going to have a season. Because of the changes, we have decided to play every game knowing that there are circumstances out of our control that can impact everything.”
As Stanaland continued in our interview, this writer heard the word “grateful” several times. The idea of gratitude is being spread across the football team towards the rest of the community.
The Jaybirds are grateful to have a chance to play a game they love while also being able to gather their community together. “We want to play every game as if it is our last,” said senior Mason Long. For seniors Pecos Smith, Caleb Valerio, Devin Jones, Tripp Scott and Long, the goal to leave a lasting mark has given these leaders an interesting perspective. While playing for a district championship is still a huge goal for Jayton, the team is looking deeper into their will to play.
“Expectations are high,” said Smith, a four-year starter at running back who is looking to have a huge year for the Jaybirds. “While there are difficult circumstances outside of our control, we are focusing on our goals to win games and make a deep playoff run to the state championship.”
With new faces playing large roles in the team’s plans, like Jaydon Rivera, Joel Williams, Ben Blankenship, Nathanial Williams, Cameron Harris, Kaden Valerio and others, there is no reason to think that the Jayton Jaybirds will take a step back from their success over the past few years.
The Jaybirds scrimmaged against Spur, Knox City and Valley on Thursday, August 20 at Jaybird Stadium. Their season is set to begin against the Ira Bulldogs at home Thursday, August 27 at 7:30 p.m. (time is subject to change).
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