One of the most important things for any sports team is have a leader that is respected by teammates.

For the Northwest Christian Crusaders, that leader is senior lineman Jaden Hoyt. He has been on Northwest’s varsity squad since breaking the starting lineup his sophomore year.

Hoyt’s opportunity came when a starter on the Northwest line went down due to an injury. Hoyt was then forced into the action, according to line coach Matt Haeger.

“We needed someone to go out and fill in for an injury that we had; we didn’t expect him to do as well as he did,” Haeger said. “At the time, he was a step behind everybody else.”

Hoyt is a year younger than the rest of his class as he is only 17 years old, making him just 14 when he broke onto the varsity squad.

Despite being thrown into the fire a year younger than the average sophomore, Hoyt said that he felt ready for his varsity debut.

“The first game was really nervous, but after that, each game you grow more comfortable on the field in yourself and in your play,” Hoyt said. “You feel like you can dominate more and more.”

Although the coaching staff was impressed with Hoyt’s play, Haeger said they expected to go back to the starter once he returned from his injury.

However as time went on the injury did not improve. But Hoyt’s play did. Haeger said it then became very clear that Hoyt was going to stay on the field.

“Ever since then, he’s been on the field for every offensive play we’ve run in every meaningful game we’ve played.” Haeger said.

Hoyt is a two-way player for the Crusaders, as he sees about 75 percent of snaps on defense in addition to being on the field for all offensive plays. Haeger said this type of role mandates a lot of conditioning.

“It requires one heck of (a player) being in shape. It requires a lot of physical endurance,” Haeger said. “He’s worked really hard at doing that.”

Haeger said the workload does not provide excuses for Hoyt, as he makes sure he is on the field every time the team needs him.

Not only does Hoyt help the team on the field, but he said he also tries to bring the team closer together off the field by being a friend. Hoyt said he tries to be a friend to his classmates whether they are on or off campus by hanging out with team members outside of school and on weekends.

“It just makes the team a lot closer,” Hoyt said. “(It) allows you to be able to be a leader because they listen to you.”

One teammate that he is particularly close to is Harmon Shacklette, a lineman who transferred to Northwest Christian his sophomore year and has been close with Hoyt ever since. Shacklette said that he and Hoyt hang out a lot off the field, just the two of them and with other members of the team.

“He has a really nice house and a big pool,” Shacklette said. “Over the summer he would have people over a lot of the time and we would just have big group hangouts and stuff.”

The best part of the pool hangouts were the tall diving boards Hoyt’s Dad built for the pool, Shacklettte said.

Hoyt and Shacklette’s chemistry plays a huge role on the as they same side of the line. This gives Shacklette a front row seat to Hoyt’s football IQ.

Shacklette said an example of Hoyt’s football IQ was in the Crusaders’ win over Valley Christian High School, where an in-game adjustment initiated by Hoyt resulted in a play that gained 20 yards.

But Hoyt has bigger aspirations than 20-yard plays and said he hopes to play college football next year.

Hoyt said that he is talking to a lot of schools right now but one that he has an offer from right now is the University of San Diego.

“I’ve been talking to the coaches a lot, I’ve visited this summer, I love it,” Hoyt said. “The coaching staff is awesome, I’ve love how they run their program, they know how to win.”

However, Hoyt said that his primary focus is the season in front of him, and he knows exactly what he wants to achieve this year.

“Always state; we want a ring,” Hoyt said. “It’s our (the senior class’) last chance to do it and we’re going to go all out.”