St. Michael football has existed for 39 years, but has never had its own football stadium.
That changed this season.
For the first time in school history, players walked down the hill toward their new venue, Warrior Stadium, full of fans on Friday night against Tara to begin a new era.
“It’s nothing like it,” senior tight end Jackson Samson said about playing their first home game. “It’s exciting, and I think it gets everybody else excited too.”
St. Michael came away with a 42-8 victory to begin 1-0 in their new stadium nestled behind the high school.
Playing at home for the first time and coming away with a win was special for coach Zachary Leger, who played football for St. Michael.
“To walk them down the hill, and have that honor and be tied to that piece of history,” Leger said, “it’s a priceless moment for me.”
Leger emphasized the importance of being the first group to play in the new stadium. They weren’t just playing for themselves; they played for the 39 teams that played away from St. Michael.
Talks about building Warrior Stadium began in 2023. Leger remembers getting called in by the principal and athletic director to be told they planned on building a new stadium. Leger remembers his first reaction: “Where am I supposed to practice?”
The team only had one practice field and that was where the new stadium would be built. During construction in 2024, the team spent practiced on the school’s baseball field.
Excitement built as the players watched piles of dirt slowly transform into a new football stadium.
The facility felt real early in the 2024 football season for Leger. One of his assistant coaches had a classroom that overlooked the stadium and he remembers one morning receiving a text from the coach: “I see green!”
“I ran across the hall,” Leger said. “They were starting to lay down turf. That’s really when it started to take foot.”
He remembers seeing the lines and end zones get painted, and field goal posts being put up throughout the 2024 season. He recalled driving by St. Michael and seeing the floodlights peeking over the school.
“It started taking a life of its own,” he said. “That did nothing more than just continue to build the excitement behind it.”
Leger emphasized the importance of making the most of home-field advantage. St. Michael lost in its spring game and jamboree they hosted in Warrior Stadium. But Leger said that only helped the team understand the feeling of losing at home and not wanting to experience that when the results counted.
Samson said the wait only built the excitement, and being part of the first senior class to play at Warrior Stadium is an honor he doesn’t take lightly.
“We get to build a program that plays here and plays for the community,” Samson said. “That’s what we’re trying to do as a senior class. That way, this field is just not just a nice field; it comes with a nice program, too.”
Senior kicker Ben Jones was grateful to be a part of the first senior class to play on the new field.
“We’re going to be playing games here for years, decades, hopefully,” Jones said. “Just to start that winning culture in the new stadium is a really good thing.”
Both of Jones’ parents attended St. Michael. For him, being a part of the school’s legacy, being the first senior class to play at Warrior Stadium, is still hard to take all in. He feels like there’s more energy within the team to play harder when they’re at home rather than hopping on a bus to head to Olympia Stadium for their home games.
While the Warriors have left traveling for home games behind, one tradition remained. St. Michael began a tradition after wins of playing the song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and singing it together on the bus ride back to the school.
The song choice stemmed from the team not having its own home stadium to call home, Leger said.
“After a win playing “Country Roads” on the way home, the whole team singing it,” Jones said. “I remember the first time we did it, I was blown away.”
But after St. Michael’s win against Tara on Friday night, the song blared over the speakers for the first time. Players gathered around the 50-yard line, belting the words in front of the fans for the first time.
The tradition nearly slipped Jones’ mind because they didn’t have a bus they had to board to drive back to the school. It was one more realization they had a place to call home.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, this is our home now,’” Jones said. “Country roads take me home. We’re here.”