After receiving a hand-off from the quarterback, this player took the ball, ran right through the two defenders with ease, and scored a 21-yard touchdown against Shadow Mountain High School. He lives his life similar to how he performs on the field. He plays hard and makes the win look easy. And he does it all by following his motto.

“No wasted minutes...everything is no wasted minutes,” Paxton Earl said.

Paxton Earl is a senior running back and middle linebacker for the Arcadia High School football team. He stands out both on and off the field.

His life is like a balancing act. From a busy school day full of honor classes, to hours on the football field, to speaking out about issues within the community, to running his own business, and finding time for his personal life, this Arcadia football player excels in all of those categories.

Earl is one of the captains of his football team. On the field, he quickly accumulated over 200 yards within the first seven games of his football season and is a weapon on both offense and defense.

In the classroom, he stacks his schedule full of honor classes. Earl has 4.6 GPA and scored a 1420 on the SAT, placing him in the 96th percentile nationally and making him one of the top academic performers on the test.

His effort to strive to be the best version of himself doesn’t go unnoticed by his teammates or coaches.

“He sets the bar for guys, you know, when guys are messing up I just tell them ‘Hey what’s Paxton doing?’ You know, if you’re not doing what Paxton is doing, you’re not doing it right,” head coach Kerry Taylor said.

But it isn’t even the fancy statistics of football and academics that defines who Earl is.

Earl is a huge advocate for mental and physical health, and not just for himself. When he’s not in the ice tub post-practice, making sure he’s eating all the right foods to refuel, or studying through the night, he’s making sure people in his community get the help they need.

Earl helps make an impact in the community by working with Teen Lifeline, a suicide-prevention hotline in which high school students can reach out for help and someone to talk to.

Earl was selected to participate in this community outreach after receiving a medallion for the Ed Doherty Award. This award recognizes athletes for their overall character, and their achievements in the classroom and on the field. The top-five finalists of the Ed Doherty award are picked by a committee made up of writers and football experts.

Although Earl hasn’t experienced the loss of a friend due to death by suicide, he has witnessed two of his good friends experience the emotional pain of losing their close friends and the toll it took on the families. That was enough for Earl to think more seriously about the effect that death by suicide has on people and the community.

Joining Teen Lifeline and taking preventative actions helped Earl ensure that no one has to go through what he witnessed others experience.

“I think it’s really important, teenagers especially, they’re under a lot of pressure applying to colleges, playing sports, getting grades, friends, girlfriends, parents. It’s all over the place," Earl said. "So it’s important to know that none of that is worth taking your own life. Ever."

One of Earl’s good friends, Kadin Beler, is the senior quarterback at Arcadia. Beler knows just how big of a leader Earl is on the field and the impact his positivity has within community.

“The things he says you just take into account and you really think about, you know, ultimately just helps you, and just spreads it out everywhere. He’s very contagious with everything. Just a positive vibe he gives off,” Beler said.

While making sure that the community as a whole is receiving the help they are reaching out for, Earl also invests time into his teammates to make sure that they are on the right track.

“Everyone respects him. Paxton says something guys are going to listen, they’re going to follow his suit. He’s like a mini coach away from the coaching staff,” Taylor said.

But Earl’s impact doesn’t stop there. On top of football, school, and Teen Lifeline, he finds the time to run his own business on school breaks. With the help of his dad, he created a business based on the idea that people who live in Arizona during the scorching hot summers, often leave and need people to watch their house.

“During breaks or times of travel, people will go out of town and then my business, Arcadia Home Watch Professionals, will do whatever they ask us to do,” Earl said.

Adding to the pile of “What else does Paxton excel in?” Earl manages to find the time to play another sport that he enjoys: ping-pong.

“He like to play ping-pong a lot,” Beler said as he rolled his eyes and chuckled. “He’s like a wizard at it... I don’t know."

Earl even surprises himself that he is able to manage all aspects of his life with ease.

“Sometimes I don’t even know, it’s crazy. A lot of late nights…when I get out of practice and go to the ice bath, I go right home, start my homework, film. Everything is no wasted minutes. That’s the best I can say,” Earl said. “…I put my phone away. But other than that, I just got to stay disciplined. Because in the end, I want to have this pressure, like I put it on myself. None of my parents asked me to take these classes; I did it myself.”

Although Earl has a lot on his plate, he always makes room for more. He transcends expectations in all that he invests his time into from football to school, community advocacy, his business, and outside activities. Earl would like to continue his advocacy for health in the future as a healthy lifestyle is a big priority to him. He hopes to be a doctor or physical therapist.

With big goals set, his determination and effort are clear to his teammates, especially wide receiver and cornerback Crew Edwards.

“He has goals he wants to achieve, and I think he’s really, you know, going to do well in life,” Edwards said. “It’s awesome.”