FALL SPORTS ‘24: Vashon football ready for a new chapter

Vashon Football Head Coach Brian Banducci is shepherding a growing program at the high school into what could be a new era.

“Coming out of spring football, leading to this season, we had very few numbers — we were not quite sure how the team would shape up,” he said.

But they’ve entered the fall season with a 27-person roster and a “really good” class of younger players.

“We’re really excited,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy around the program.”

Let’s back up. Banducci and his family came to the island just over a year ago from the Los Angeles area.

You could say he comes from a football family; Banucci’s grandfather, Bruno Banducci, was an All-Pro for the San Fransisco 49ers. His father Russ was an All-American player at UCLA, where his younger brother also played. And Brian himself was invited to play D1 football at the University of Pacific before ultimately transferring to play rugby at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He came out of college and immediately jumped into coaching and teaching. Over more than 30 years of work in education, he’s worked with teams from schools with 3,000 students to those with only 600.

As he spent more and more time in administration, Banducci found himself missing coaching. So now on Vashon, he spends his time as a paraeducator and football coach at Vashon High School, “which has been tremendous fun,” he said.

This is his first full year as head coach of the high school program; he coached the middle school football program last spring and helps out with middle school wrestling.

All that to say: Banducci knows football. So what do all the programs he’s coached have in common?

“The things that really last and that are impactful … are the life lessons that are taught, no matter how many players are out there,” Banducci said. “Building character and leadership qualities, supporting success in the classroom, the field and in the community … and volunteering and helping out.”

That optimistic energy will serve the team well as Banducci and the players embark on a quest to write the first chapter in a new book for Vashon football, a program that has often faced harsh odds against the competition.

“I see Vashon as a kind of story that is just beginning to be written,” he said. “And we talk to the kids about the fact that a good story often starts …where there’s a lot of potential for growth. … We’re at a place where there hasn’t been a lot of recent success, but we want to write the chapters in the story where we are making gains and showing growth, we’re having fun.”

He’s got all the pieces a great story needs: A plucky protagonist (nearly half the team are freshmen) with a wise mentor (strong leadership from the upperclassmen) and something to prove.

Senior captain Logan Connor and junior captain Tallis Sullivan are leaders “for a lot of young players who look up to them,” Banducci said. “It brings that enthusiasm that helps us continue to grow.”

Assistant coaches Casey Rose and Payton Bonaventura both have deep island roots, care for the kids and are “great role models” too, Banducci said.

And they’ve got a small-town community behind them: “I want to make this program part of the community,” Banducci said. “After games I’m inviting families to come down to the field with the team. … Vashon feels very special to me and my family. … We are isolated from a lot of the outside influences of big cities. We are a close knit community.”

How do they reach success? Bringing their best every day at practice, mastering the technical side and focusing on learning and improving instead of just what’s on the scoreboard, Banducci said. He’s asking the team to play with joy, energy and “great abandonment.”

“Whether we score more points than the other team, for example, will be less important than how we do it,” he said.

That attitude was put to the test September 13 in Skagit County against La Conner High School, against whom the Pirates lost 60 to nothing. It was their first eight-man game, and “we learned a lot,” Banducci said.

There wasn’t much time afterward to sit around and talk. The football and cheer teams hustled back to their bus so they could catch a ferry home.

But on that long ride home, “you might have thought the score was reversed,” Banducci said.

“We had music going, and both the cheerleaders and the players were singing at the top of their lungs, maybe a couple of the coaches too,” Banducci said. “It was almost a celebratory, bonding type of environment. That trip home was something that was a positive, fun experience for everybody on the bus.”

That’s what they have control over, Banducci said: What you learn, how you grow, and why you celebrate and find joy in the game.

Growing up in a sports family, “I’ve always had a kind of philosophy that sports is the playground of life,” Banducci said. “And while it is just a game at the end of the day, we learn life lessons and we grow … to be better in things that matter in life.”

So no matter where the story of Vashon football goes from here, Banducci and his team have already passed the most important test.

“They’re playing football because they love to play football.”

SCHEDULED GAMES

• 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 5: Nathan Hale High School (JV, at Nathan Hale)

• 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11: Homecoming game against Kingston High School (Varsity, at home)

• 7 p.m. Thursday Oct. 17: Klahowya High School (Varsity, at home)

• 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26: Bainbridge High School (JV, at Bainbridge)

• 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1: East Jefferson High School (JV, at Port Townsend Mem. Stadium)