Since 2013, the La Quinta High football team hasn’t been able to start their season off 3-0. This past season the football team was able to get off to an undefeated start, thanks to the help of quarterback Tommy Ansley ‘23.

Ansley is a junior and has just played his second year of varsity as the starting quarterback. 

He has been working during the off-season with his team and individually to make sure that him and his teammates were prepared for the season. 

“I was in the weight room a lot, did a lot of running, and threw a lot of routes with my receivers,” Ansley said. 

He stated that having a good team environment was really going to be key this year.

“It was pretty good. Everyone had a lot of fun every day. One of the big differences this year is we had a locker room, and we had a lot of growing as individuals,” Ansley said. “I had a lot of teammates coming together and having that this year was pretty big. Everyone was pretty close, so it was a pretty good year. We were all pretty good friends.”

He compares his quarterback style to Kyler Murray, a quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. Murray is a quick and mobile quarterback who can run with the ball, along with dropping dimes (or throwing a nice pass). 

Ansley played two different positions as well. He was also the kicker and the punter.

He noted that there seemed to have been a different type of energy and brotherhood within this football team, and last year’s team.

“We had a lot more time together, a lot more time to grow together, and work for a better season than we had last year. Just had more guys come together for a better role,” Ansley said.

Even with the good that happened this past season, he noticed things that they could have done better even when the season was over.

“I think we could have practiced better on Mondays during the week,” he said, “and just made less mental mistakes, and been more prepared.” 

Ansley feels that next year’s Desert Empire League is definitely in reach.

DEL is a league consisting of six teams. La Quinta, Shadow Hills, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Xavier. La Quinta is getting players back and coming with a chip on their shoulders. 

“I think next year, we will do pretty well. I think winning league is within reach and I think we should be favorites to do that,” Ansley said. “Makaury Warren is coming back from an ACL injury. I think that is going to open up the passing game a lot more. We will change our offense a little bit by having a guy like that catching the ball, so I will be throwing it a little bit more.”

Ansley’s teammates feel the same way as him about this year’s football team.

One of his main receivers Calvin Miller ‘22, has been playing with Ansley since their freshman year. 

“On the field, I think Tommy was a good teammate who also stayed into the game and fought until the last whistle. He always gives it his all,” Miller said.

Even though people know he is a really good football player, he is also known for his friendliness off the field as well. His teammates described him a “fun guy to be around.” 

“He’s always trying to push everybody to be the best player they can be,” Raymond Benjamin ’22 said, who is one of Ansley’s main tight ends.