Inspiration Can Be Evident, Even In a Loss

Locust Fork High School's 7th-8th grade football team lost a game Tuesday night, but they all played the game of the year so far.  In the stands, I knew something had to have gotten inside their heads.  Something was different.  They were hitting harder, concentrating and they seemed to be a little more fired up.

Earlier in the year, the head coach collapsed at school and was rushed to the hospital.  The result was necessary open heart surgery and Coach Martin was out for the season.  The kids were kind of lost after that.  The assistants are very good, but the mixture of Coach Martin and the rest of the guys just wasn't there anymore. 

Tuesday night, Coach Martin came to visit.  Now, to the spectators, it was amazing that he was in the press box for the first half.  We were all very happy to see him.  What we found out after the game was nothing short of inspiring.

In the car ride home, Anthony Quartapella (my son and a player on this team) informed us that Coach Martin spoke to them before the game.  He told them that the doctors said that he was not supposed to be around people, "but yall ain't people.  Yall are my boys."  He spoke these words with tears in his eyes and a frog in his throat, but the kids got the message. 

With a minute left in the game, Locust Fork had the ball on 4th down and about 20 yards to go for a first down.  The coach opted to punt the ball.  Kyle Hornbuckle (QB, kicker, punter and cornerback) punted the ball 40+ yards and pinned Hanceville inside the 10 yardline.  The defense held Hanceville on 4 consecutive plays and got the ball back.  With only seconds and less than 10 yards to go, Kyle went to the air and the Hornets could not deliver.  There were a couple of close plays and one INT called back for roughing the passer, but it just wasn't in the cards.

The final was Hanceville Bulldogs 16  Locust Fork Hornets 8.  For a winless team to be just yards away from beating the defending county champs, there had to be something different there.  Coach Martin was out there with his "boys."