Going into his second year at Andover, Co-Captain John Bancone ’25 has already impressed the likes of his coaches and teammates through his vocal presence on and off the field. Bancone’s high standards for himself have extended to his teammates as he works to instill commitment and dedication into the team.
Since Bancone was a kid, football has been a large part of his life. He shared stories of waking up early to watch NFL games before school, jumping on the first opportunity presented for him to play tackle football.
“I started playing football when I was in first grade and played flag football. I’ve always watched, I used to wake up early before school to watch the NFL Network. I started to play tackle as soon as you could in 4th grade and then I’ve played up until now and will continue to play,” said Bancone.
With a large number of new recruits, Bancone has worked on bringing the team together and fostering a positive community. Jackson Slack ’26 noted Bancone’s communicative style, expressing team-wide expectations and standards.
“John has done a phenomenal job so far and he’s really bringing the team together and being a brotherhood. Especially this year because we had a lot of new recruits, John brought us all together well. He organized team meetings and team lunches before games. He’s been really helpful being communicative with some of the newer guys on the team,” said Slack.
Within his leadership style, Bancone emphasizes the importance of providing opportunities for players to improve their skills. He highlighted the importance of relying on each other, showing how games and practices are approached as a collective team effort.
“One thing I find really important is giving guys opportunities to get better and really allowing everyone to lean on each other. We all rely on each other during games and practices and everything we do is a full team effort,” said Bancone.
Furthermore, Bancone holds his team accountable, assuring that each athlete can learn from mistakes. Ollie Velez ’26 mentioned how this accountability allows the players to stay in control of their actions and understand personal roles within the team.
“He makes sure we learn from our mistakes. One example is that he makes us run if we are having a bad practice or anything. This just keeps everyone accountable and makes sure everything is on top of what they are supposed to do and what their role is on the team,” said Velez.
Velez described how Bancone leads the team throughout games and pushes them to fight through challenges together. Bancone gave the team a motivating pep-talk during halftime on Saturday’s game, fueling the team as they prepared to enter that second half.
“One example of his leadership was at halftime of our game against Salisbury. He gave us a very inspiring and motivating talk. He had a very strong tone and it definitely fueled us for the second half. It was a rough game and he showed us that we needed to lock in. He said that we have to play together and if we wanted to win we needed to be successful not just in that game, but throughout the season. We have to play as a unit and play hard 100 percent of the time,” said Velez.
Bancone provides his team with constructive feedback, motivating them to bring players to bring their best effort to the next practice. Slack mentioned the importance of Bancone’s passion after a loss, ensuring the team takes action toward improvement.
“After we lost, specifically after our two losses to Williston and Salisbury, he was pretty pissed off, which is a good thing because that’s what we need. He has high standards for this team as do we all, but it’s really on the Captain to make sure that everyone knows that and really gives their a hundred percent. He supported the team by telling us what we did wrong and what we needed to fix and improve, which is really helpful towards putting our best foot forward for the next week,” said Slack.
Bancone shared his goal to make this season memorable for him, his teammates, and his coaches, through dedication on the field and a strong team bond.
“I want to make this season into one to remember and make sure football is a positive thing not only in my life but also in all the lives of my teammates and coaches as well. This will take a lot of dedication to both strong playing and also creating a good culture on the team,” said Bancone.
Bancone is committed to furthering his academic and football career at Dartmouth College.
