The Friday night lights are on. The ball is passed to the outside linebacker. He runs past his opponents and throws the ball to the quarterback. High school students yell and cheer on their team as they make a touchdown.

Tay Brown is a sophomore linebacker and running back on the varsity football team. This was one of his ultimate goals for his high school football career. Brown played football in middle school as well as his freshman year, leaving his mark on the coaches’ decisions to place him on varsity.

“I was pretty happy about making it,” Brown said. “It was like the icing on top of the perfect cake.”

While Brown has older friends, he wishes he could be with his peers.

“The only thing is that being on varsity[as a sophomore] means you don’t get to play with all of your friends who are in your grade,” Brown said. “I have friends here on varsity, but it’s not the same as having my real friends by my side on the field.”

Brown also plays track and basketball. He participated in all of these sports as a freshman, and continues to play them outside of school as well.

Brown is thankful of those in his life for helping him with his sport.

“My friends and family encourage me by coaching me about different aspects of the game,” Brown said. “If they notice I need to work on something, they’ll tell me and try to help me improve on it, which I really appreciate.”

Brown is grateful to have friends who are motivating him throughout this journey. They run through plays with him, get him ready for his games by getting him excited and most importantly, they stay at his side.

“I feel like I need to work harder on getting faster and improving on the defensive line,” Brown said. “I’m just ready to play football with my team and have a good time whooping the other team’s butt.”