Umatilla High School football player Tyler Pounders’ journey hasn’t just been about touchdowns and tackles, it’s been about honoring family, building faith and putting in the work when no one’s watching.

Tyler’s first sport was soccer, and he was good at it. But everything changed after the death of his grandfather Jerry Pounders.

“Popi loved football,” Tyler says. “I really wanted to do that for him.”

Tyler joined a 12U Pop Warner team and found immediate success, scoring every one of his team’s points that season. At first, his family thought it might be a fluke. But then he did it again in 14U. His natural talent, paired with a strong work ethic, quickly set him apart.

“I was really good at football right away,” Tyler says. “That first game, we were worried about the contact, but I

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