Matt Goes All Way . . .

[NickDG 23]

Excerpts from the below story link:

Matt Ziesel doesn’t stray far from coach Dan McCamy on the sidelines during St. Joseph Benton High School’s freshman football games. He likes to stay within earshot.

“I’m ready, Coach. … Coach, I’m ready,” Ziesel says.McCamy says he hears it about 10 times a game, and also at practices, from Ziesel, his 5-foot-3, 110-pound running back.

So in the final stages of Benton’s third game of the season on Monday at Maryville, McCamy decided it was time for Ziesel — a 15-year-old freshman with Down syndrome — to make his season debut.

With about 10 seconds left in the game, and Benton trailing 46-0, McCamy called his final timeout, told an assistant coach to organize the team for the “Matt play” and ran across the field to the Maryville defensive huddle — and to some puzzled looks from the opposing players.

“I’ve got a special situation,” McCamy remembers telling Maryville freshman defensive coach David McEnaney. “I know you guys want to get a shutout. Most teams would want a shutout, but in this situation I want to know if maybe you can let one of my guys run in for a touchdown.”

“The (Maryville) players, they didn’t hesitate at all,” McEnaney said. “They jumped right on board.”

And so Matt Ziesel ran a sweep to the right and just kept going. This time, it was McCamy making sure he was close enough to be heard — running down the sideline alongside Matt, yelling as loud as he could.

“Come on, Matty! They’re coming!” McCamy yelled, making the play as real as possible for Ziesel.

Benton lost Monday’s game 46-6, but those six points made a bigger impact than McCamy could have ever imagined.

“It’s not necessarily about winning or losing,” said McCamy, a second-year coach who played college football at Missouri. “Obviously up in Maryville we lost the game. The end result, we lost the game, but when we went away, we were all kind of winners.”

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ylwXOxKb7I

Story link: http://boards.ign.com/football/b5105/185250293/p1/

NickD

• Quote

[Ketia0 0]

Stories like that are nice..

its a good thing i didnt play on the opposing team. My ADHD kicked in everytime my coaches talked to me..

i would be the moron that would have thought it was real and tackled him

Then it wouldnt have been such a nice story....

but, im not on the team, and it is!

"In this game you can't predict the future. You just have to play the odds. "-JohnMitchell

[skyrider 0]

This was on the today show, this morning, always good to start the day with a feel good story,,,,,(just wish I would have stopped watching news right then...)

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

Cool story. Thanks for posting it. I hadn't seen it.

The only thing I don't see is that nobody seems to notice that the opposing team willingly gave up a shutout to let this happen. That they understood that there are more important things than stomping your opponent into the ground.

And unfortunately that is becoming rare these days.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[longtall 0]

Contrary to popular belief , the world is NOT full of self -absorbed ass-holes.

" 90 right, five miles then cut."---Pukin Buzzards

[BillyVance 35]

I saw that on TV yesterday. Too cool.

But they ran like it was pee wee football. Yes I know, I'm going to hell.

I almost expect Kanye to step in here and say, "kid, I'll let you finish, but that autistic kid who dropped seven 3 pointer bombs in the high school basketball game in the last 2 minutes was the greatest retarded feat of all time!"

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[matthewcline 0]

  Quote

I saw that on TV yesterday. Too cool.

But they ran like it was pee wee football. Yes I know, I'm going to hell.

I almost expect Kanye to step in here and say, "kid, I'll let you finish, but that autistic kid who dropped seven 3 pointer bombs in the high school basketball game in the last 2 minutes was the greatest retarded feat of all time!"

Yep, your going to hell, but at least you'll have company aside from Kanye, well, most of us.

Matt

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[NickDG 23]

I especially appreciated how Matty gently tossed the ball back to the referee, without spiking it, or doing some stupid dance like you've never been there before. That's a man . . .

NickD