By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DAYTON, Ore.– The Salem Academy football team had a young team out for the fifth-annual Dayton Small School 7-on-7 Tournament on Saturday as they battled through the Consolation Bracket at Dayton High School.
But, it serves good for those young players to get that experience, that exposure against quality talent, entering Fall Camp here in a few weeks.
Also too, for those few upperclassmen like Mason Schneider, who were out on the gridiron on this day, it also gives them an opportunity to find their leadership voice now entering the season ahead.
“It’s definitely different… but I had some great role models to learn from. It’s been a privilege , a cool opportunity to show these other younger guys how to work as a team and how to work as brothers on a football team,” said Schneider.
Guys like Dawson Rios, Jesse Bauldree, and Logan Brownell helped the incoming Crusader Linebacker and Tight End to see what it takes to be that Senior Leader for his team. Coming off a 2A State Playoff appearance this past Fall, falling in the opening round to eventual 2A State Champions in St. Paul, Schneider knows that his team has a lot of work to be done if they hope to make some noise in their return to the 3A Classification.
“They definitely taught me through the years how to become a leader, how to be the leader and how to show the younger guys how to be a leader when they come up,” Schneider said of the three. “We need to put in a lot of work into it. We got some younger guys. We need to hit the weight room a little bit. Routes, knowledge about football.
“(Last year) was pretty big. It was definitely rough last year with the playoffs, but coming in with the new start in 3A with some of the bigger schools, it’s definitely a place where we need to show out and step our game up a little bit.:
