Another season in the books. We had a number of injuries and players playing with injuries, but with all of the struggles, adversity, and changes that took place throughout the season our players hung together and kept battling through it all. One of the top goals our team accomplished was earning a home play-off game. It is a great thing not to have to ride on a bus all day and then play football; great job Patriots!
We continued to learn throughout the season even into the last game. Our plays seemed to be warned all year long for yelling “hit, hit, hit,…” on third and fourth downs by referees, but in the last game the nose guard for the other team was continuously yelling during our cadence and the defensive-ends were jumping at our players to draw our offense offsides; referees agreed but didn’t call it. This is one thing we did not prepare our players for. Another thing we didn’t prepare for was no timeouts after an offensive penalty, which caused us to miss a chance for a touchdown before half. We do our best to prepare for all circumstances, but we didn’t get to those two things.
I want to acknowledge and thank our seniors for their time and commitment to our HT program. They put in at least six years in a row of their lives to improving themselves and their team for a chance to play football and accomplish a State Championship, but more importantly hopefully to gain life experience that will carrier with them for the rest of their lives.
#23 Blaze Binger - a running back and outside linebacker for our HT Patriots. Blaze ended with over 1000 yards rushing and receiving, with 8 touchdowns, and 3 2pt conversions. Blaze was a great linebacker for our Patriots and was leading tackler. He had 65 tackles, 11 for a loss, and 1 interception. Blaze is a lead by example type of guy, and an Academic All-State player. He is planning on eventually working on the family farm, but is still figuring out his college plans.
#8 Payton Chasing Hawk - a wide receiver and safety for our HT Patriots. Payton ended with 500 total offensive yards, 7 touchdowns, and 4 2pt conversions. Payton had 3 interceptions, one for a pick-six, and 46 tackles. Payton was also our kicker, punter, and returner. Payton is quiet, but really took on his leadership role this year. Payton is one of the best athletes in the state in my opinion, but just wasn’t able to fully show it off this season. Payton is still working on his colleges plans and possibly will be playing college football.
#62 Mikael Nielson – a center and linebacker for our HT Patriots. Our offense ended with over 2300 total yards, 25 touchdowns, and 17 2pt conversions. Mikael had 40 tackles on defense. He is the last of our State Championship starting players from 2022. Mikael is an Academic All-State player, he has over a 4.0GPA. Mikael did a great job leading our team and is planning to go to college. He earned Eagle Scout this year.
We are so proud of our seniors. We appreciate their leadership and commitment to our HT program. Even though we will miss our seniors; we do look forward to our future in HT Patriots Football and it is good. Thank you for all of the support this season by our school, community members, businesses, and especially our parents. Let’s Go Patriots Family!