By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
ST. PAUL, Ore.– The machine that is St Paul Football is back at it for their second year back in 2A this Fall.
After their undefeated season in 2024, that finished with a 2A State Championship Victory over Oakland 28-20, the Buckaroos, with a solid core of returners like Wyatt Smith, Sullivan Grott, Bricen Britten and company are turning to their standards placed upon them by longtime Head Coach Tony Smith:
Execution. Play Disciplined. Being Conditioned. Playing as a family. To go 1-0 every week and not to overlook any opponent that is lining up against them on Friday nights.
Their four seniors from last season left their marks as those leaders for those coming up behind them to be for this season.
“We have a tradition, we work hard, we play hard, we fight hard. All we can say about this year is that we’re ready to work and play.” said Britten. “We still have the same principals, working on executing plays right, being disciplined, and being conditioned.”
“(Head) Coach (Tony) Smith really taught us to lead by example. It’s one of our fundamentals that we go by. To lead by example, don’t put our teammates down, be a family,” adds Wyatt Smith. “1-0… we just like to focus on the game that is in front of us. One step at a time, one game at a time, is what that means. We focus on who’s in front of us and not the big team at the end of the year.”
And they got to have that mindset going into their first game of the season on August 30 when they open up the season against Oakland in a rematch of the 2A State Title Game at Noon at Harrisburg High School to open a two game road trip to start the season. St. Paul heads to Dufur to play Heppner on September 5 before a Bye Week goin ginto their home opener September 19 against Santiam.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
