The North Tahoe football team took down Coral Academy of Science – Reno last Friday, Oct. 7, in a 36-20 victory, but the work didn’t stop there.

In an act of giving back to the community, the Lakers made there way to Anchor Point Lodge the following day and got busy clearing 9 acres of land, helping remove old limbs, dead trees, underbrush and creating fire barriers for the community.

“It was pretty impressive,” said Head Coach Ryan Brolliar. “You were walking on branches and tree stumps and by the end it was cleared out. It looks really nice.”

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North Tahoe High School recently held homecoming at Anchor Point Lodge, and after the grounds and building were opened to the school, Brolliar and the Lakers football team got to work clearing vegetation around the property — work that hasn’t been done in roughly four decades.

“They put three hours in raking up pine needles, moving rounds, loading dumpsters, and just helping with fire suppression stuff for the Tahoe Tavern neighborhood,” said executive director at Anchor Point Lodge Mike Boals. “It’s creating synergy within the community, providing spaces for high school kids to contribute and providing spaces for high school kids to have a place to go … our goal is to serve the community, that’s what we aim to do, and this was another opportunity to partner with the high school and bring that to fruition.”

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The Tahoe City Rotary Club also partnered with the team on the project, and provided players with jackets emblazoned with the organization’s motto, Service Above Self.

“They’re starting to understand community and the benefit of community,” said Brolliar. “I don’t think kids realize how much the community supports them … we get these things as a kid and we don’t know where they come from. They were able to see first hand this is where our scholarships come from, our jackets and sporting stuff. This is how we have our dance because these guys opened up their doors.”

Brolliar said in the future he plans on finding other ways for the Lakers to give back. In the meantime, North Tahoe (2-3, 2-2 Northern League) will look to hand Yerington (4-0, 3-0 Northern League) their first defeat of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at North Tahoe High School.

“I hope this inspires other teams to want to do stuff like this, to give back to their community,” said Brolliar. “It’s not just about football.”