France keeps family tradition going at Barnstable HS
BARNSTABLE >> In the sports entertainment world of the WWE, the pro wrestling giant fashions a dominant family faction called “The Bloodline” led by Roman Reigns with ancestors down the line including Dwayne Johnson, Jey and Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa, and the old school Wild Samoans. Tajardo France would make Reigns, The Rock, and the rest of the Anoa’i family tree blush with his own dominant hierarchy at Barnstable High School. The last chapter of the France Football Family has always been the multifaceted weapon fighting to be the head of the table in a sea of 16 descendants – 10 coming through Barnstable – as they’ve jumped over ropes and run through would-be tacklers down the hallways for the Red Hawks for over a decade. The chance to run the whole show is finally here for Tajardo France. “I’d say my awareness on the field is what I do best, but I could work on (defensive) pass protection and reading the plays,” said France. “I’m a leader on the field and I can get teammates motivated to do what they need to do. Tajardo is the 15th in the line of 16, but the last of the gridiron grinders to take it to the field, and he is making the best of it by making the family proud on and off the field. Four of his brothers, Tedaro, Theodore, Joseph, and Thaddeus have also graced the turf at W. Leo Shields Memorial Field. Despite breaking his leg twice in the past two years, ironically in Week 10 in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, France has compiled 1,500 rushing yards, 725 yards receiving, and 27 touchdowns in limited playing time due to his injuries. This season alone has the senior captain laying the smackdown for the Tribal Chief and head coach of the Red Hawks, Ross Jatkola, with 592 yards rushing, 10 end zone trips, and a pick-six out of his safety position creating headaches on both sides of the field for the rest of the Cape and Islands Atlantic Conference. “Being a captain is one of the best traditions in high school football. Speaking of Tajardo, it’s how he carries himself on the field,” said Jatkola, who also highlighted France’s resiliency throughout his career. “He shows up every single day, looks you in the eye when you talk to him, he sits in the front of the meetings. He’s a leader by example and does everything the right way.” “We grabbed our captains and asked what being a Barnstable captain means to you. Walking off the practice field, he stopped, looked us dead in the eye and said, ‘Everything.’ ” France didn’t blink an eye either when asked for his role models teaching the art of learning the ropes as he mentioned older brother Jadaro. Jadaro, graduated in 2020, was not the stand-out star Tejardo is for the Red Hawks but the senior pointed out that his brother now serves our country in the Air Force and is stationed in the United Kingdom. The pride was palatable as he always wanted to be like Jadaro regardless of his accomplishments on the field. France is extremely proud of his family’s love for the game, the Barnstable football community, and each other. The oldest member of the France football stable was able to lift Barnstable to the 2012 Super Bowl but fell just short of the title belt in a 20-19 loss to perennial champion, Everett “Looking up to all my brothers and seeing (football) is something that runs in the family, and I just have to be better than them. With all they do for me – it motivates me,” said France, who was a league All-Star as a junior and ran track with the intention of sprinting again this spring. As for this week’s Round of 16 matchup with North Quincy, France is not looking past the 3-5 Raiders in the first playoff main event for Barnstable. And while focused down the line on the championship belt in Foxboro, the two-way offensive and defensive star is keeping it one game at a time. “We just want to keep doing what we do, and all stay together as a family,” said France.