Sometimes we get too caught up in all the football testosterone and forget what is really important in life. I am grateful I was reminded.

Our son’s team was playing a much bigger, better, larger Hamburg school in its final JV game of the year. That’s what they worried about all week. So they were down in the third quarter, 12-0, and faced a big challenge. They finally drove down the field and scored with extra points to make it 12-8. They also held defensively and got the ball back with about six minutes left in the game on their 20-yard line. Eighty yards to go to win, season on the line.

Then it happened. Our coaches decided to let Matt play. His first game not as the water boy or equipment manager, but as a fully dressed football player. First down, as a wideout, they ran the ball and he blocked. Second down they ran and he blocked well. That was it, he came off to a thunderous ovation and yelling his name. Two plays that a child with Down syndrome will always remember. In a very pivotal moment in the game he was like all the rest of those players.

Alden did drive down the field to score and seal a victory, 14-12, that I will always remember. I think the Alden JV coaches should be commended. Thank you for teaching quite a few die-hard, nutty football parents the meaning of sportsmanship again.

Eric Rosier

Alden