At the first varsity game of Andrew Evans’ junior year, he took a devastating hit, tearing part of his quad and hip flexor. Due to this incident, he played most of the season with an injury, but chose to work as hard as possible to strengthen his body for the next season.

“Tearing my quad and hip flexor was really frustrating because I had trained all summer and then, at the first game, I tore it,” Evans said. “It was pretty discouraging, but I overcame it by lifting a lot in the off-season and making it stronger so it wouldn’t tear again this year.”

Evans overcame this injury and now stands as a team captain, leading on and off the field. Evans also heads the team in tackles and touchdowns per game as middle linebacker and running back.

“I try to lead vocally and keep the team in check when I need to,” Evans said. “I rarely ever come off the field, so my body language means a lot. I’d also like to lead our team to a winning season and make a ministry of our team.”

According to Evans, the job of a captain may not always be glamorous and easy, but sometimes hard work is required.

“I have to keep the players in check and stop any potential arguments when things get heated on the playing field,” Evans said. “I sometimes have to get in the middle of things.”

Many leaders learn from their elders or someone they idolize. For Evans, he observed a couple of seniors on last year’s squad, alumni captains Tyler Revis, ’10, and Landon Martens, ’10.

“The senior class last year taught me what it meant to lead a team,” Evans said. “I learned a lot from them because I saw them step out in their actions and in their faith. For me, that was always a struggle to step out in my faith when the time came, so I got to see how they did it.”

Senior offensive and defensive lineman Zach Camden says the team trusts in Evans’ leadership abilities and looks up to him on the playing field.

“He is definitely a leader,” Camden said. “He brings the team together with his actions and words, and everybody always looks to him for help.”

Other than being a captain, Evans also must take on the challenge of high school classes which can take up large amounts of time.

“There are several nights where I am up past 10 p.m. trying to figure out homework, and then going to math lab the following morning,” Evans said. “Life is just sometimes non-stop and kind of stressful.”

Although this is Evans’ fifth year playing football, he did not always have a passion for the game. He struggled in the eighth grade for his first season and found it quite difficult to keep up with the pace, he said.

“The hardest part was just figuring out the game because I hadn’t ever played at all, so I didn’t know much about how to play,” Evans said. “However, after a while it clicked, and it began to grow on me once I figured things out.”

Many athletes sacrifice hours of their time to weightlifting and training their bodies for the season to come. Evans took on the same attitude and spent hours over the summer getting in top physical shape for senior year.

“He put an amazing amount of time in the weight room during the off-season and pushed himself,” assistant coach Robert Foshee said. “This has paid off as he now has power, agility and speed.”

Although Evans is intrigued by the idea of college football, he sees it differently as college athletics is not the only way to go.

“I would love to play at a college level,” Evans said. “I am uncertain of where right now, but I will go wherever God takes me.”

After the football season, Evans heads straight to the soccer field and then, during the spring, track and field. However, when he is not lifting weights or practicing for a sport, Evans enjoys art class.

“I find it relaxing and a place where there is no rush or pressure; a time to unwind and let the creativity do the work,” Evans said.

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