By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The South Salem Football program held their annual Saxon Nighy Saturday night.
Starting with the Youth Football program then their Frosh and JV program’s before ending the event with their Varsity program at South Salem High School, the Saxons showed case their squads for this upcoming season before gearing up for jamboree week here starting on Monday.
“Oh, it’s awesome. It’s one of my favorite nights of the year to get everyone together, everyone playing in our program together on one field for one night. We have a great community here. It’s super, super fun,” said South Salem Head Coach Josh VanLue. “This year is actually special for me. My four-year-old got to play, his first game on the field. He’s been waiting his whole life to play on it in front of all his friends,
“It’s been an awesome night for the program, especially for me and my family.”
The Saxons closed out their first week of the season with the Saxon Day on Saturday. With the graduation of 29 seniors from last year’s squad, it’s kind of a retooling year for South Salem going into this season with 11 seniors and roughly eight sophomore’s looking to get some significant Varsity time this year. The plus side for VanLue and the Saxon Coaching Staff is that for those younger players with those sophomore’s, it’ll give those kids some valuable experience going into their junior and senior seasons within the program.
And they’re eager to learn points VanLue and have been putting in the work over the offseason to better themselves to be in the best possible position entering the jamboree and their season opener against North Salem at home on September 5.
“We’re going to be a young football team, but they’re getting better every day, and it’s been fun every day so far,” said VanLue. “I just love how every guy is soaking everything in. The best part about having a young team is that they’re eager to learn. They don’t know everything yet. So they’re doing an unbelievable job being coachable and giving everything that they have.
“There is no experience like getting experience. So for them, going out under the lights, we play Oregon City and Tigard, so two Three Rivers (League) teams. It’s going to be a great test, and we’re going to learn a lot after Thursday night, but it’s going to be valuable for them.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
