An Outpouring of Faith

There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

Rick Reilly writes for ESPN, where he describes what is most likely the oddest game in high school football history, played last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

Grapevine Faith, with a record of 7-2 going into the game, played Gainesville State School, 0-8 with 2 touchdowns for the year.

But Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Its kids have convictions for drugs, assault and robbery. Many of their families have disowned them, and football is one of the few outlets for these kids to be kids. Even at that, it is rough.

"We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals."

12 uniformed officers escort the 14 Gainesville players off the field. After the game, handcuffs ready in their back pockets, they line the players up in groups of five and march them to the team bus.

But Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray. Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "L~rd, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

Most importantly, they were given the gift of hope.

Gainesville coach Mark Williams saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."