The stadium lights shine bright against the field. With grass-stained pants and the sound of helmets smashing together, the crowd cheers as their team scores yet another touchdown. For senior Ethan Reed, this is a scene that he knows best.

Most high school football players dream of moving up the ranks and playing for a college football team. For Reed, he has earned the opportunity to do exactly that, as he has been offered a full ride scholarship to play football for Louisiana Tech.

“What excites me the most is continuing to play a game I love with a group of people that have the same passion as me,” he said.

Aside from football, he has also proven to be successful in track and field. Reed has conquered the goal of becoming a State medalist in discus his junior year and plans to win State in shotput and discus this year.

“I am doing pretty well this track season,” he said. “I have set a new personal record in shotput at 56’ 4” and have been getting consistently better at discus. I am looking forward to later meets where I will get to throw against top throwers in the region.”

Ethan has gotten plenty of motivation from his older brother Hayden, who graduated from LCM in 2013 and is currently attending University of Alabama on a full-ride scholarship for discus. Hayden was also a gold winner at the 2013 Pan American Junior Championships in Medellin.

“My brother helps me progress as a thrower by me sending him videos of throws and he will talk me through what I’m doing wrong and what drills I should do to fix them,” Ethan said.

According to Reed, his motivation comes from the will to do the best at what he does.

“I always saw my brother successful at the highest stages of competition and have been inspired to do the same,” he said.

Reed will leave for Louisiana Tech five days after graduation in order to start workouts and a week after that, he will start summer classes for his major in Mechanical Engineering. Though Reed will have the opportunity to be on the track team in college, he does not believe that he will be able to keep working on football and practice for throwing. Through the years, Reed said he has learned many lessons through playing sports.

“Playing sports since middle school has taught me that if you work hard at what you’re passionate about, you will succeed,” Reed said.