The team gets off the field, heads into the locker room with another victory, and belts out their song, “Colt 45”. Senior Claude Iban enjoys this victorious moment surrounded by his teammates and friends.

“Someone just turns it on the speaker and we all just start singing together and dancing, and it’s really fun. Another tradition is that at away games, if we win, we will always take something from their locker room. We have a shrine and we just add to it in the middle of the locker room,” Iban said.

Iban has played many years of football, and in the process he has had to overcome adversity such as injuries to keep playing.

“In fifth grade I got hit by a car and broke my collarbone, so I stopped playing football for a few years. I broke my hand in ninth grade and I have just been able to overcome everything, and football has really been helping me with that,” Iban said.

Senior Timothy Danehower first meet Iban after school in ninth grade when he would bus from Central Junior High to Har-Ber to play football. Danehower often faced him in practice, and has developed a lot of respect for Iban because he is such a team player.

“He really tries to help everyone improve, even if it means he is going to be left behind. He just sacrifices his body for the whole team. Off the field he is a pretty funny guy and he is a really good guy. He’s got the same personality off the field as he does on the field,” Danehower said.

Moving to a new school, program, and football team can be hard, but Iban was also there to help senior Grant Ferguson last year when he moved to Har-Ber.

“Our lockers were kind of close to each other, so he would just talk me through the practice schedule and just be there. We hung out in the locker room, and he is just a cool guy,” Ferguson said.

Iban has earned the respect of his teammates and he is highly respected. At Southwest Junior High. a lot of kids knew him from football and from who his grandparents are.

“There is like chiefs for every (Marshall) island and my grandparents were one of them, so my mom is well respected over there and that’s how a lot of people know me,” Iban said.

After suffering an injury to his AC joint, Iban is content with not continuing his football career after high school because he hasn’t been able to play due to his injuries.

“I haven’t been able to play that much this year because of my injuries and I think high school football is good enough for me,” Iban said.

Even though he probably won’t