My Favorite Football Photos Of 2024

This year I saw a ton of good teams. It seemed like most of the opponents to come into Ross Ade Stadium were destined for the playoffs or a good bowl. I also got to photograph Purdue playing Notre Dame thirty years after I first saw them play each other. Every year my goal is to make this list better than the one last year. I am really happy with what I was able to do here. Hopefully next year I can top this list.

I don’t think that it is any secret that I grew up a huge Notre Dame football fan. I grew up an Irish Catholic boy not far from the stadium. One of my favorite players over the years was Bryant Young. Here his son Bryce celebrates a huge play on the field. That boy from LaPorte loved making this photo.

I love the Purdue runout. The photos really don’t sell on the wire for me, but I really love making them. This year I realized that I should just have some fun and make the photo to start the game. It may not sell, but I start the game off with a photo that I like.

When the team you are covering has a potential Heisman winner on it you hope that the plays rolls to your side. Here things worked out perfectly for me to make a photo that I really liked as the quarterback rolled right at me. I gambled a bit hoping for a photo like this. I didn’t have the best angle of the score, but this was the photo that I was there for.

For one game every year at Harrison you get some great light during the team runout. I spend the final few minutes before the runout every year hoping the team hurries up before the sun goes behind the locker room. It always works out though so I don’t know why I worry so much. For this game I was photographing for the local paper, and this was a fun photo to have right away from the game.

This photo had a lot to do with my wife. She had told me a story of a Nebraska player during the week and what he had gone through on his journey to Nebraska. After the game I was next to him thinking he was going to be interviewed. Instead he went right to his coach to celebrate. It was my favorite photo of the day, and I made it because of my wife.

When I made this photo Purdue was on top of the world. They were handling the Sycamores, and the quarterback was setting records. Who knew at the time that this would be the lone win of the season? The games felt much different after this.

This was a fun game. It was the final high school game that I photographed on the year, and it was a win for West Side in sectionals. The early part of the game let me make some fun photos with the sunset in the background. I really liked how this one turned out.

The final Purdue home game of the year had a great sunset. I ran up into the stands to make this photo. The sky was amazing, and the field always looks good. I really like how this photo turned out.

I love the tight end position. Many, many years ago that is what I played. When I went to Purdue they had Tim Stratton who was one of my favorite players. This year they had Max Klare who I really enjoyed watching. Next year I will get to see Max again, but just one weekend when Ohio State comes to town. He is a real talent that I really hoped would stay at Purdue.

This year was a fun sword game to cover. It was the weekend before homecoming so some of the Harrison players were using that chance to ask dates to the dance. Here Ethan Karberg had a great game and was the player of the game. He had the sword and now a date to homecoming. As a high school player it probably doesn’t get much better than this.

Notre Dame came into Purdue after a loss and on a mission. Here they celebrate an early touchdown with a team celebration.

I had a great idea here. I wanted to get the kick returner up against that great sunset sky. I would make this photo, and then head to the other end zone in case Harrison scored. Of course Jacob would take this kick to the house. The good news is that Harrison has a ton of photographers so they had that covered. I could gamble a bit to make this photo.

Before the Oregon game I was having some fun making photos of the players going through their warm ups. I was going for one thing, but here I made a photo that I really liked.

Early in the high school season you get some great light to work with pregame. I love to use that light and the great skies to make some hero shots of the players.

I had no great angle on this defensive touchdown for most of the play. I was constantly blocked. When the player scored and turned to celebrate though I had a great view of that action. I loved this moment from the game.

The Purdue season opener was a game full of fun for the Boilers. Here the defense celebrates a bit play. When I look back on this season I hope that I remember these moments.

After a big play you get big emotion. It doesn’t always come your way though. When it does you remember it. Here I was in the perfect spot to make this photo. You had the defense looking to the sidelines to celebrate a huge stop. I was lucky to be in this spot to make this photo.

I really got to see some great teams this year. A lot of the college football playoff teams made their way through West Lafayette or played Purdue. Here Penn State celebrates a touchdown.

There are many ways that you can get lucky. Here I was in the right spot with the light working for me when a West Side player picked the ball off. As they ran down the sidelines I had a great view of the action.

A little mixup in timing made this photo a little better in my opinion. Purdue normally has the flags right in front of them during the runout. For the last game of the year though the flags took off a little early. That was great though because they ended up in the end zone a little backlit. I think that it made this photo much better in my eyes because of that.

When I went to the end zone just before this photo it was a pure gamble. West Side was at the far end of the field, but the sunset behind the players was too good not to gamble on. Kojo decided to try and reward me by breaking off a huge run with the sunset behind him. I love it when a gamble pays off.

The battle between Harrison and West Side is always a good one. The schools are literally down the road from each other, and the bragging rights are a big deal. Here early in the game I had some fun getting on the ground to make this photo. Being low helps make the players jump look even higher.

I love a good stiff arm photo. They can often happen far away from you though so you don’t get to see the impact of the play. Here this one happened close enough to me to allow me to make this photo.

You can’t beat a good stiff arm photo. Here I made one under the lights as Oregon was driving down the field. I was fairly close to the action here, and like the high school stiff arm photo that I made this one has a little more impact because of that.

Every year when my football season is over I think that I need to photograph more the next year. This year I think that I photographed as much as I could, but some things got in the way of a couple of games. It is one of my favorite sports to cover though. I really don’t have a high school team to photograph. Next year I think that I would like to try and get to all of the high school fields to make photos. I think that it would be fun to get around a little.