By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– It’s not too often that you get four lineman on the same team playing in the same All-Star Game.
Well. It happened with the Sprague Football team this Summer when Max Knapp, Emmett Hunsaker, Drayton Decker and Ayden McVay all played together in the Les Schwab Bowl this past Summer. The four were part of a group of ten Sprague Olympian athletes who took part in the LSB this year.
“It shows that we build each other up, we get the work done, we go as hard as we can. We can do what we can do,” said Hunsaker.
The quartet are incoming seniors, the four looking to leave their marks on the gridiron once more this Fall for the Olympians. Hunsaker was a Second Team All-Conference selection as an Offensive Tackle and Honorable Mention selection as on the Defensive Line and Knapp was an Honorable Selection as an Offensive Guard to lead the group returning this Fall. Sprague went 5-5 last season, 5-3 in the Southwestern-Central Valley Conference Hybrid League and reached the 6A State Championship Bracket in 2025.
And the excitement is there for the squad entering this season knowing they could do it again, be successful and set themselves up for a nice playoff push by season’s end with the season starting next week officially.
“I’m just excited for next week. It’ll be fun to put the pads on and do it with my best buds in our last season,” said Decker.
“Really just leave everything on the field. Go to practice. Do everything we can because it’s going to be over in a couple of months and after that, you’re never going to play High School Football again,” adds McVay about this last season.
But for now. Their focus is on Kids Camp and giving back to the community and the youth. A fun little mental break from the Summertime grind before they tune it up for the season ahead.
“It’s great. I remember going to this camp as a kid and learning from a High Schooler. It’s cool to be in a position to teach the kids,” said Knapp. “I looked up to those kids as a little kid, I’m now in a position to teach them a little bit about Sprague Football.”
