By Shawn Kavanaugh
Taking the field on September 6th was not the average football team, instead, it was the Unified Football Team. This game gave everyone an opportunity to play football even if the individuals wouldn’t usually play. Louisville hasn’t had a Unified Team before.
Milford kids look forward to participating in the Unified Football Game every year, but when their usual opponent wasn’t available, Mr. Soester was called in to help. Over 30 kids from sixth graders to seniors volunteered to play in the game.
The Unified Game was held before the high school football game. The coaches included Secondary Principal Mr. Soester and Vice Principal Mr. Walker. Prior to the game, the Unified team had a practice.
Soester said, “ I was shocked that there were 30 who wanted to be a part of the unified football game, and it made me proud.”
The game couldn’t have gone better for Soester. He knew kids on both sides of the field. Soester was previously their assistant principal before coming to Louisville. He was also glad that the cheer team showed up and cheered for both teams.
Not only were there cheerleaders, but there was a good crowd cheering. Many Lion fans came out to support the players, along with Milford fans. Mr. Soester looks forward to continuing the Unified Football Game for many years.
This game allowed everyone to play, even those in a wheelchair. Freshman Jacob Heard was able to push his seventh-grade sister Joslyn Heard for a touchdown in the second quarter of the game. The stadium erupted in cheers as the siblings crossed the field toward the end zone.
Both high school football teams came and watched the Unified Game and they both cheered very loudly. Junior Coltyn Larson was a part of the team.
Larson said, “My favorite part was playing with the younger kids because it was cool to see them look up to us.”
It was a great experience to see the high school, middle school, and elementary students having fun together. Even if they would have lost the game, just playing football and having a good time was worth it. It was like a recess football game. Everyone had an opportunity to be a quarterback and both high school teams were there supporting the Unified Team. At the end of the game, both teams shook hands and they all took one big picture. All the competition was left on the field as both teams sat down and ate at the PTO tailgate hosted by Milford.