La Salle-Peru senior Nick Hachenberger started playing football as a second grader.

All through youth football, he played running back, but when he got to high school, he was moved to linebacker.

“It was definitely a big transition,” Hachenberger said. “I actually never really learned the techniques or form tackling even. I mean, they go over it in youth, but when you’re not playing defense, you don’t go into it as much.”

Over the last four years, Hachenberger transformed from a defensive novice into a tackling machine.

In eight games this season, Hachenberger made 81 tackles for an average of 10.1 stops per game and had 13 tackles for loss. He was voted All-Interstate 8 Conference.

For all he accomplished this season, Hachenberger is the 2025 NewsTribune Defensive Football Player of

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