During senior Paul Skoro’s freshman year, La Salle’s football team was a 0-10 program. Two years later, this changed drastically, as the Falcons battled their way into becoming an 8-2 program, earning a district title and a spot in the playoffs. 

Now, the team is working to make it to the playoffs once again, as they switch from playing in the 4A league to 5A. 

This year, however, the team also hopes to win a playoff game. “None of us have done it for the time we’ve been here,” Skoro said. 

Moving up a league has resulted in some challenges for the team, he added, specifically with the physicality levels of their new opponents increasing. 

However, the transition wasn’t something that worried the Falcons. “We always knew that we could compete with anyone we play,” Skoro said.

Although their goal of making it to the playoffs this year is especially important to the team, rather than focusing on mere wins and losses, the program is also working towards developing these young players into successful adults.

 “We’re trying to build something bigger than football,” varsity head coach Dustin Janz said. “We want to build a community, we want to build a family, we want to build a culture around football that’s bigger than football.” 

The present will always be one of the program’s main focuses, but so is the legacy that each player will end up leaving behind once they move on to the next chapter of their lives, whether that includes football or not. 

“The goal is that when our kids graduate, that they’re remembered beyond their time they’ll walk in the halls; they’re remembered as part of our program forever because they kept us moving forward,” Janz said. 

The community is constantly witnessing this goal being put into action, and it is currently happening among the nineteen seniors who are nearing the end of their last season at La Salle.

“On Friday night, in front of the crowd, it’s super electric and fun to see where they’ve come from and where they are now,” Janz said, describing just a few of the many players that he has witnessed develop into “phenomenal human beings.” 

Unfortunately, with their successes come struggles. One of these struggles is finding players and growing numbers in the program, Janz explained, especially with the amount of Falcons leaving the team after this season. 

“It’s going to be hard next year. We’ve got to grow from the inside out. We have a lot of returning, good players. We just need more of them,” he said. 

The team is strong in many aspects of the game, specifically when it comes to supporting each other in everything that they do. However, like all teams, there are still some areas for growth and improvement. 

“We tend to get ahead of ourselves a little too much,” senior Manu Tanzambi said. “We should be focusing on one game at a time rather than our season as a whole.” 

Tanzambi likes that football isn’t an individual sport. Rather, it requires the entire team in order to be successful. “If one person does something wrong, it impacts everyone,” he said.

One way the team works together is through their communication throughout the team positionally. Often, the players can’t rely solely on the coach to be there to tell them what to do and where to go.

 “Some people ask other people what they should do, and we’re always there to help out and lead each other,” said Tanzambi.

Junior Sterling Dressel also recognizes and appreciates the team’s chemistry because of the direct impact it has on the way they play. “You need all eleven guys on the same page to do the same thing,” he said.

Last year, the team took a trip to the beach, and this year, they went up to the mountain. Both of these experiences have been the highlight of many players’ seasons so far and are some of the ways the team stays connected and bonds with each other. 

“[The trips] are definitely two of the best parts about football,” Skoro said. 

The uninterrupted time with the team allows for everyone to get to know each other better, said Skoro. It also helps returning players become more familiar with the freshmen. 

On the field, players will find themselves the most successful by learning from those around them. “Watch the people in front of you, because nine times out of ten, you learn from the person that’s in front of you rather than the coach,” Tanzambi said.

Eventually, Janz and the rest of the football program hopes to surpass their goal of just winning a playoff game.

“The goal is to make this one of the best 5A football programs in the state of Oregon, and I think we can do that,” said Janz. “I know we have the coaches to do it, I know we have the players to do it. We just need time and consistency and effort, and over time, we’ll get it done.”