All-around player
QB Lassiter fixture on sports scene
It isn’t just about football for Hayden Lassiter.
Lassiter is the starting quarterback for Warren, but he’s also a star basketball and baseball player as well as a golfer at the Bradley County school.
Lassiter’s football coach, Bo Hembree, said that’s the norm for several athletes at Warren, a Class 4A school with an enrollment of 346 students (the 31st-largest football-playing school in the state’s fourth-largest classification).
“We have to in Warren, Arkansas,” Hembree said. “A bunch of these kids do that. That’s nothing new here. We don’t specialize at Warren. We want our kids to play everything.”
Lassiter said he enjoys the competition of multiple sports.
“I’ve been raised like that,” Lassiter said. “I was always hyper as a kid. I love to compete. Checkers, chess, it doesn’t matter. If I get the chance to compete, that’s what I’ll do.”
On the football field, Lassiter has shined for the Lumberjacks (14-0), who will play Pea Ridge (13-1) in the Class 4A state championship game Friday night at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
“We’re feeling great,” Lassiter said. “It’s our goal every year to get back to the state championship game.”
Lassiter has completed 162 of 276 passes for 3,097 yards with 37 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He’s rushed for 1,049 yards and 15 touchdowns.
As a starting safety on defense, Lassiter has 40 tackles, 1 interception and 1 forced fumble. He also is Warren’s punter and holds on extra points and field goals.
Playing almost every snap is something Lassiter relishes.
“You have to have that mindset to not come off the field and make a play every time the opportunity arises,” Lassiter said.
Hembree calls Lassiter an unbelievable athlete who has been the Lumberjacks’ leader this season.
“He’s just an unbelievable athlete,” Hembree said. “Everybody just rallies around him. He’s able to get everybody involved, our receivers, our running backs. He’s just a great high school football player.”
Lassiter is a two-time Class 4A state golf champion. In October, Lassiter won the 4A title with a 3-under-par
69. That same day, Lassiter drove back to Warren and practiced with the football team, preparing for their game against Dumas.
“He plays at a high level,” Hembree said. “A bunch of kids can do it, but can they do it at a high level?”
Arkansas-Monticello, Harding, Henderson State, Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas have offered Lassiter in football. UAM also has offered a baseball scholarship. Central Arkansas has shown interest in Lassiter in baseball. Arkansas State has shown interest in golf.
Warren has won three state championships under Hembree. The Lumberjacks won the Class 4A title two years ago against Mena when Lassiter was a sophomore backup quarterback.
Lassiter said he and his senior class want to match the senior class of two seasons ago.
“They showed us how to win a state championship and get to a state championship,” Lassiter said. “They paved the way for us.
“Completing the task and winning a state championship, that’s everything. That’s it.”