Like many athletes Orangefield 8th grader Kaysen Click played baseball during the summer. But he also got to do something many don’t get the opportunity to do. He put on the pads and played football this summer.
Click participated in the select football weekend in June put on by “All-State Game” in Dallas. It took place at Maverick Stadium on the UTA campus in Arlington.
To be considered as an All State nominee, your coach must endorse you as being one of the best players on the team.
“Kaysen has worked hard and has been a leader all year,” said Orangefield JH Coach Lee Legate. “He truly deserved this opportunity to play in the All State game. I am really proud of this accomplishment for him and glad that he got to go show his skills and represent Orangefield.”
On day one they competed in competition skills and Kaysen finished in the top with his times for both the 40 yard dash and the agility drills.
During the evening of day one and day two, the athletes separated into groups of the positions they would play in the All State game. Kaysen was super stoked to find out he would be playing receiver, his favorite position. Click said, “The hype and excitement they had all three days was contagious, especially on game day. This experience reminds me of my Senior League football team, where everyone trusted each other 100%, which allowed us to finish the season 10-0 and to win the Super Bowl. My All State teammates had the same mentality, and that is to work together to trust one another and to always compete at 100%.” He also claims that he walked away with a better understanding of how to play strong safety and is ready for 8th grade football season to start.
Kaysen finished the game with two pass deflections, two pass receptions, and a fumble recovery. His team(Team Red) came out on top 28-2 and brought home the gold.
Coach Smith from the All State Game shared this about Kaysen. “Kaysen stood out to me with his energy and great hands on first glance. He was always willing to get an extra rep in if he didn’t perform a drill or technique correctly, and his teammates respected him and vice versa. There are things you can coach, such as alignment, assignment and technique, but then there are things you can’t coach and that is, hustle, grit and having that dawg in you and Click has the dawg in him. He has a very bright future ahead of him. I will be following along with his journey.”
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