Red Raider thankful for a path less traveled

Jeron Jache makes the tackle as his teammates, nearly 100 of them, erupt on the sideline.

Listen closely and you might hear, "The Silver Fox!" among the exclamations.

"That's what they call me," says Jache, a 34-year-old senior at Northwestern College and the only Red Raider sporting gray hair.

That appears to be the only evidence of a man nearly double the age of some of the competitors in the Great Plains Athletic Conference contest. Jache, a special teams player and backup linebacker, stands 5 feet, 10 inches. He weighs about what he did when he graduated from high school: 210 pounds.

"There is a difference," he says with a laugh, explaining what the years have meant to his play-making ability. "I'm not as quick as I used to be. And, the recovery time takes a little longer after a game. I'm on bed rest a little longer."

Jache is all smiles on a day during fall break at Northwestern College. He has completed mid-term examinations, his last of that kind during an odyssey of a collegiate career. His team has also won three in a row after having started the season with three straight setbacks.

"We're hoping we can win some more games and maybe sneak into the playoff picture," Jache says.

Doing so would lengthen a football playing career that has already stretched far beyond normal. The bulk of NWC grid stars, after all, hang up their helmets in their early 20s.

Jache took a path less-traveled. The San Diego, California, native remains thankful for the experience.

"I graduated from high school in 2000 and went to the University of San Diego for one year," he says. "But I was too close to home. I didn't have the courage to get out of my comfort zone."

Jache left the university after one year. He enrolled in junior college, but found that wasn't for him, either. He left the world of textbooks and term papers, intending on working for a year before heading back to class. One year turned into two, two turned into four and so on.

Jache worked in construction, building homes in San Diego. He headed north and worked one summer on a commercial fishing crew, landing salmon off the coast of Alaska, near Valdeez. He came back to San Diego and went to work for a brewery, toiling as a bartender.

Just after he turned 30, Jache took stock. "I thought about the big picture and heading back to school," he says. "My dad mentioned that I would have some football eligibility left. We pinpointed Northwestern."

Orange City, mind you, is approximately 1,000 miles from San Diego. Didn't matter, as the family had a connection in Dietrich Jache, Jeron's brother. Dietrich earned a business degree at Northwestern in 2005. He played baseball for the Red Raiders.

Jeron Jache spent a year doing his background work, contacting college officials and the football coaches, who invited him to try out for the team. He arrived in 2014, leaving his girlfriend, Vanessa Estrella, back home in San Diego, where she works as an analyst for a bank.

Jache took his redshirt season in the fall of 2014 and immersed himself in his studies, conditioning and learning the complexities of the Red Raiders defensive scheme.

"The practice field looked huge and felt huge that first year," he said with a laugh. "I had to use that year to shake the rust off."

Northwestern's housing officials awarded Jache an individual room in the dormitory. He noted that while most of his "peers" are playing video games, he's likely studying or sleeping.

"But I have really been embraced by the kids here," he says. "It's been such a blessing to be on this campus. The kids have accepted me. This experience has transformed me, allowing me to step out of my comfort zone. I've grown academically in my time here. I've grown physically on the field, I think. And, I've grown spiritually in a place that's a lot quieter than back home."

Back home, things changed too. Jache wed Vanessa after his first year at Northwestern. The couple now have a daughter, Sofia, and another child due this March.

"Vanessa is the one who deserves the credit," he says. "She kept everything together at home while I was 1,000 miles away at school."

Jache earned a spot on the special teams units last fall at Northwestern. He recovered a fumble that ultimately resulted in a field goal that helped the Red Raiders defeat Concordia College, 17-14. He also played some back-up tight end when injuries took a toll at that position.

Jache has several tackles this fall, again from his spots on the kick-and-punt teams for Coach Matt McCarty's club.

He didn't transition into the starting lineup and didn't deserve to, he says. "There are freshmen who have bumped ahead of me and that's fair," he says. "I agree with the coaches' decisions. We have 100-plus guys on the team; the coaches put the best 11 out there."

Jache made four tackles on a recent Saturday, helping to spoil the Dordt College homecoming in a 64-16 victory by the visitors. He spent the following Monday completing a workout and a film session.

"I haven't missed a workout or a practice this year," Jache said, noting how he's savoring his last go-around on the field. "I'll be back in the real world shortly. In a couple of months, no one will want to interview me about going to work."

"He approaches practice each day, like he's thankful for this opportunity to play football," says Coach McCarty. "A lot of the guys take that for granted. Jeron brings great energy and it rubs off on our guys."

McCarty has nothing but praise for the "Silver Fox," who is older than nine of the 14 coaches. "He's a tough kid who is one of our best special teams guys," he says. "It's kind of a cool situation."

Jache relishes his last season and the friends made in Orange City, including host parents Carol and Brian Kleinhesselink, whose son, Kelly Kleinhesselink, played baseball at NWC with Dietrich Jache nearly a decade ago. Jeron Jache has spent the past two Thanksgiving holidays with the Kleinhesselinks, opting to stay in Orange City before flying home at Christmas.

Kelly Kleinhesselink now lives and works in the San Diego area. So, the families will likely get together on the West Coast in the future.

It's a future that's got much promise for the 34-year-old football player. When he hangs up the spikes, he'll head west to reunite with his family, ready to embark on a career, diploma in hand.