Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Dillon Trainer leads way for La Salle football

The senior linebacker has sparked the third-ranked Explorers to a 4-0 record in advance of Saturday night's showdown with No. 1 St. Joseph's Prep.

La Salle College High School senior linebacker Dillon Trainer has led the Explorers to a 4-0 record and the No. 3 spot in the rankings in advance of Saturday night's showdown with No. 1 St. Joseph's Prep.
La Salle College High School senior linebacker Dillon Trainer has led the Explorers to a 4-0 record and the No. 3 spot in the rankings in advance of Saturday night's showdown with No. 1 St. Joseph's Prep.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Dillon Trainer loves playing linebacker so much that sometimes he will line up at the position with the scout-team defense against La Salle College High’s first-string offense.

It might seem an odd place to find a star senior, who could be taking a rest on the sideline during a break for defensive starters in the Explorers’ practice.

But Trainer prefers the middle of the action in games, during practices, and with regard to almost everything related to La Salle football.

“The thing that strikes me most is his ability to hold everybody accountable,” La Salle coach John Steinmetz said of Trainer. “No job is too low for him to do. He’ll be out there with the scout team, just making sure everybody is in the right position, everybody is doing the right thing.”

The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Trainer, a University of Delaware recruit, leads La Salle in tackles and sets the tone on-and-off the field for a team that has burst to a 4-0 start and the No. 3 spot in the Inquirer Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10 rankings.

La Salle hosts rival top-ranked St. Joseph’s Prep (1-2) in the Catholic League opener for both teams Saturday at 7 p.m. at Wissahickon High School.

"Bitter,” Trainer said in describing the rivalry between the powerhouse programs.

But he’s quick to note that the Explorers, who have lost six in a row to the Hawks, need to be careful not to put too much emphasis on what is expected to be the first of two meetings between the teams.

They likely will meet again in the playoffs, as they have played twice in each of the last seven seasons.

"I know there’s some talk about them not seeing us as much of a rival as we have been in recent years,” Trainer said. “To us, that’s kind of a slap in the face.

"But we have to realize it’s just another game. It’s the most important game of the year, because it’s the next one on our schedule.”

Trainer is a sturdy, straight-forward guy with the look of a born linebacker. He’s the son of former long-time Villanova assistant and Millersville and Rhode Island head coach Joe Trainer, who is now the athletic director at Pope John Paul II in Royersford.

Trainer’s older brother Liam, a former La Salle standout, is a sophomore linebacker at Delaware. That was one of the reasons Dillon Trainer committed to play for the Blue Hens.

“It’s great for my parents – one-stop shopping on Saturdays,” Trainer said. “But it also was right for me.”

Trainer leads La Salle in tackles with 28 and is second in tackles for loss (six), sacks (two), and passes defended (five).

“He plays fast,” Steinmetz said. “He finds the ball. He flies to the ball.”

Trainer is a heavy hitter who remembers pestering his dad to allow him to play tackle football instead of flag football early in his career.

“He would keep signing me up for flag, year after year,” Trainer said. “Every game he would be like, ‘You had a great game’ and I would be like, ‘Well, was it good enough for me to play tackle?’”

Now, a senior star and NCAA Division I recruit, his love for the game has never wavered. Which is why he still sneaks on the field at times.

“I love the demanding role that it is,” Trainer said. “It’s kind of like being a captain and a senior. When things go wrong, everybody is looking at you to kind of be the problem-solver and sort things out.

“I’ve always loved being able to take that lead and also bash some heads in the process.”