Playing for Jake, Slicers’ Ultimate Goal Comes Up One Step Short

Playing for Jake, Slicers’ Ultimate Goal Comes Up One Step Short

All around me I heard chants of “Let’s go Slicers” and “We are LP.” All around me I saw an ocean of orange and black flowing throughout Lucas Oil Stadium. All around me I felt an extremely strong sense of Slicer pride and a surge of pure excitement.

See more photos of the Slicers at the State Championship! 

All of this was because the La Porte High School Slicer football team had made their way to the state final championship game, a feat they had never accomplished before.

“These boys don’t have anything to be ashamed of,” Pam Boardman, mother of linebacker Noah Boardman, assured. “They’ve played their hearts out all season. They played the game they know how to play, and they played well. This was just a tough team that they played against.”

It was a tough team, indeed. The Slicers played with an infinite amount of heart, but it just was not enough to take down the Indianapolis Cathedral Fighting Irish, and they lost by a score of 56-7. With this win, the Fighting Irish earned their fifth consecutive state championship title and 12th title overall, breaking the record for both.

However, La Porte has made history in its own way. The success of the team this season has not only taken a school to state for the first time, but it has also brought an entire community together in a special way.

LPHS athletic director Ed Gilliland shared, “What a great moment for our whole community, our school corporation, the kids, and the parents. It just brought everybody together. Somebody asked me when we first got down here if I thought we’d have a good following, and I said, ‘You can count on it. The Slicers will be here.’”

He was right. No matter the distance, Slicer pride was much too strong to keep the fans away.

“It was really cool to see everybody come,” LPHS junior Mara Eason said. “Even though it’s three hours away, the stands were still full.”

Support for this team stems from many reasons, but one major reason is the fact that the team has come together and persevered through tragedy. The story is well known by now. On September 25, 2013, La Porte football player Jake West passed away at the young age of seventeen from an undetected heart condition. Since then, the team and community have banded together, and they have adopted the motto, “Play for Jake.” The student section cheers “Play for Jake” at every game, and the team definitely plays with Jake in their hearts and on their minds during every play. At the end of the game, as the boys accepted their runners-up medals, senior Noah Boardman walked up carrying a large flag with the number 26 (West’s jersey number) on it to honor his friend.

“They played for Jake,” LPHS senior fan Matt Walls stated. “Even though the scoreboard might not show it, I think they played hard. It’s the farthest they’ve gotten, and overall the season was great.”

Of the student section, Walls shared, “We’re all one big family. I love our student section.”

Outside the student section sat Slicer fans of all ages, donned in orange and black to support the team that has made them so proud.

One fan who has been made extremely proud is Sonja Lancioni.

“I just think it’s been really exciting to see each individual player play so well and come together as a team. I think they just put it all together, and this post season has made us so proud of them.”

The Slicers ended their season with an 8-6 record and a lifetime of happiness and memories that they have brought to their school. As a senior LPHS student myself, I cannot even put into words the amount of pride I have in my school. I have always loved being a Slicer, and, after this season, I cannot say it enough. I have the utmost respect for the team, and I cannot begin to explain how it felt to watch them play in Lucas Oil Stadium, regardless of the outcome. It was never really about the score of the game, anyway. It was just extremely exciting to be there, and to watch them make history.

Slicer alumna and current LPHS teacher Brenda Cooper summed up the season perfectly.

“It’s an amazing group of young men, and because of them we’ve brought a whole community together. It’s just been a really fun ride, and I’m very, very proud of them.”

Great job, Slicers.