Being a student-athlete at Saint Francis can be a challenging task. It comes with many responsibilities, such as juggling schoolwork, working a job, and working hard during practice to prepare for Friday’s game.

Hunter Balogi has been playing football his whole life. He started playing when he was in elementary school at Cambridge Isanti. He played there until he came to Saint Francis in middle school.

“I play corner, sometimes I could play safety, but usually I’m at corner,” said Balogi.

Once he moved to St. Francis, he has been playing for the Saints.

“There are struggles sometimes,” said Balogi, “But I love it. It’s my favorite sport.”

Balogi is still considering what to study in college but is leaning towards engineering. When it comes to thinking about playing college sports, Balogi says that he would like to just focus on school.

“I was thinking Hamlin, Saint Thomas, UMD (University of Duluth), and NDSU (North Dakota State University). But I’m still open after that,” he said.

Balogi’s life out of school is similar to that of a normal high school student. He is currently attending classes in college algebra this trimester and will be taking college trigonometry during the third trimester.

If football has taught him anything, it’s how to be tenacious.

“It’s pretty hard, I didn’t do too great on the first test,” he said, “but I’m just going to keep grinding.”