Meet North St. Paul’s coach and star players ahead of the homecoming game

At North High School in North St. Paul, students and staff are gearing up for another exciting homecoming week. Here’s how the football team is preparing for the big game.

Graham Freeman, 16, is one of four football captains of the North St. Paul High Polars. He plays tight end and defensive end for the Polars.

Freeman started playing football in the 3rd grade with the Junior Polars. He stayed with the team until his 5th grade year. During his middle school years at John Glenn Middle School, he stuck with football, having fallen in love with the game and with the familial aspect of the team building.

During his 2020-2021 school year at North High, he missed out on a whole year of football due to the pandemic. Come the next year, he was right back in the game. This year, he applied to be captain and made the cut, becoming one of the four 2022-2023 captains.

Alexander Moore, 17, is the second of four football captains for the North High Polars. He currently plays center for his team.

Moore’s football career started with encouragement from his dad to play a sport. Moore’s brother went to Hamline University for the sport, and wanting to follow in the same steps, he chose to join football. He stuck with the sport all though elementary school, middle school, and high school, now he’s in his senior year.

During his junior year, he applied to be team captain and was rejected the first time. The second time he applied; however, he was successful, and is now currently one of four team captains.

“The team is what keeps me going”, Moore said, “You make a family with your team. The whole team keeps each other going while holding strong on the field.”

Justin McDonald is the head coach of the Polars. With a love of the sport at just four years old, it’s no wonder he went on to play at Boyd Anderson High, and eventually earned a captain position at the school.

He moved on to playing at University of Central Florida as a linebacker, achieving team captain by his senior year at the university. After getting drafted for a few teams, he decided he wanted to coach.

He started off coaching at a Florida high school. Eventually, he moved up north and became the coach for the Polars.

Coach McDonald loves the game, the thrill, the ups and downs with the team, the lifelong brotherhood made within the sport. He wants to be able to give that experience to kids that remind him of himself in high school. “Just know, support is all you need,” Coach McDonald said.