Every athlete covets their senior year. Whether in high school or college, a final chance to put on the uniform and step on the field is special.
Athletes are at their physical peak and are the most mature they’ll be at that level. They know the playbook backward and forward. They understand their role on the team.
“All that’s left to do is play,” Woodland alumnus Tristan Thomas said in a recent interview.
Unfortunately for Thomas, a former Beavers and now Pacific Lutheran University football standout, he’s done very little playing as a senior. Between a high school injury and a global pandemic, Thomas’ cleats have scantly touched a gridiron with an “sr.” next to his name on the roster.
At Woodland High School, Thomas — a star linebacker at the time — broke his collarbone one week into his senior season. He missed the rest of the year, and for a time, was uncertain he would get another chance to play.
He had some interest from college coaches at the time, but with little to no senior-year film, his chances of playing at the next level dwindled.
“It sucks not being able to show what you got,” Thomas said. “I didn’t have the money to do these huge showcases. I didn’t have that luxury, so I was kind of a sitting duck.”
Thomas took one of the only offers he had: Pacific Lutheran. It ended up as a strong fit for the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Thomas.
He played in eight games as a sophomore and recorded 16 tackles. After a move to the defensive line as a junior, Thomas flourished. He appeared in all nine games for the Lutes, tallied 52 tackles and 5.5 sacks and was named an all-Northwest Conference honorable mention.
He was poised to enter his senior year as one of the team leaders and a cog on the Lutes defense. Then COVID-19 swept across the country and the Northwest Conference football season was postponed until the spring. At one point, there was the possibility of not having a season at all.
“It felt like the same thing that happened my senior year of high school, when all of a sudden it’s just done,” Thomas explained. “You feel like it’s taken from you and stolen.”
The Northwest Conference is poised to have a six-game schedule starting in February. That is subject to change.
For now, Thomas and the Lutes practice twice a week without pads. They condition three days a week and lift twice a week. Thomas is preparing like the season is a certainty and sees his teammates following suit.
“We’ve kind of embraced it, and are using it as an opportunity to put ourselves ahead of the other teams,” Thomas said.
If Thomas and other seniors in the Northwest Conference play fewer than five games, they’re eligible for another season. Thomas isn’t sure he’d take that deal.
Tuition is expensive and he’s already on track to graduate with a degree in sociology with a focus in criminal justice. In the future, he’s considered becoming a state patrolman.
“It’s hard to pass up another year but at some point, you have to accept the reality that you’re done playing,” Thomas said. “At some point you have to start your life.”
Despite a pair of senior years that went anything but how Thomas envisioned, he’s staying positive. His high school years were filled with standout moments; his college days highlighted by goofy teammates, plane rides and friends.
“What play I made in what game, I don’t care,” Thomas said. “It’s all the in between stuff that matters.”
Whether it’s as a coach or just a participant in Thanksgiving Day pigskin games, Thomas vows to be around football in the future regardless of what this spring or the ensuing years hold for him.
“If my time is up, it’s up,” Thomas said. “I’m happy with how hard I worked and what I’ve done. I would like another year, but I have no regrets.”
