As the end of the 2019 football season slowly approaches, senior Bauyett Young’s role in his final year of high school football must not go unnoticed.

By the third grade — which was almost a decade ago, — Young’s passion for the well-loved game began to grow. Unlike his family’s drive for basketball, Young looked to pave his own, unique path, sticking to football instead.

“[I enjoy playing football] because, like my dad and my uncles, I come from a family of basketball players,” Young said. “I am the only one that’s played football for as long as I have and … it just feels good to do something other than basketball.”

Growing up, Young played for the Little Indians, coached by Scott Munsen. During his time on the team, Young shared some of his favorite memories of football with his former teammates.

“[My friends] Sam and Jack, when we were little we beat a team that we hadn’t beat in years,” Young said. “That’s kind of one of my best memories.”

Following his middle school football career, Young started his high school football career as a freshman — upgrading his once “Little Indian” title to “Manhattan Indian.” He officially earned a spot on Varsity in his sophomore year. As a junior, he started in safety position and this year Young started as both a runner back as well as safety.

Throughout this season, Young has proved to be a dependable teammate, sealing most nights with at least four rushing touchdowns and countless carries. 

A few major highlights of his season so far include FURTHER STATS

Notably, being part of a team is an important factor in football for Young, in addition to the hard work put into making and maintaining his strong game.

“[My favorite aspect of football is] the relationships you make with your teammates and your coaches throughout the years,” Young said.

As the season has not yet ended, the objective is to persevere through practice and continue to treat each playoff with the same level of effort, which is vital to the team’s success. Ultimately, the goal is to keep winning — which they succeeded last Friday against Lawrence Free State (8-2) with a score of 49-28 — and to pursue taking steps toward the championship in two weeks.

“[The plan is to keep] practicing every day and [play] every game like it’s our last, which it very well could be,” Young said.

After high school, Young aims to continue competitive football in college — in which the location is currently indefinite. Before he leaves his high school football team, Young hopes to encourage his younger teammates to focus on the here and now and to savor it, because the whirlwind of the final stretch will end in a blink.

“Don’t take it for granted,” Young said. “It goes by fast.”