Rival high school football teams come together to give a player with special needs a chance to make the final tackle of the game. Andrews High School senior Evan Sparks has been a part of the Mustangs football program at the school for the last couple of years, but it was a challenge just being able to join the team. Evan has several conditions that make participating in contact sports risky including having severe scoliosis, neuropathy, a feeding tube, and only one lung.
So when Evan’s doctors finally gave him the green light to join the football team, it was a dream come true, but he couldn’t really see much action on the field. Then something amazing happened during their recent Homecoming game against their rivals the Lubbock High School Westerners.
The Mustangs were up on the Westerners 64 to 14 with seconds left in the game and some Andrews students started chanting “We want Sparky, We want Sparky.” Lubbock’s head coach Juan Rodriguez heard the chants and called for a timeout. He talks to an official who relays a message to Mustangs head coach Tom Harvey that if they put Evan in, they “won’t touch him.” So Harvey sends Evan in and he makes the final tackle of the game. And even though the Westerners may not have actually scored a “W,” everyone was a winner that night.
Source: Sunny Skyz
Photo: Getty Images