Mulvane High School football players Huldon Tharp, left, and Jordan Gosch stand next to the "M" rock at their practice field, which has become a memorial to two football players and a team manager, all three of whom died last year, and a cheerleader who died in September.
The names of the three students who died last year have been carved into the back of the rock.
Mulvane — When Mulvane High School junior Huldon Tharp sits quietly before Wildcat football games, he doesn't think about his team's undefeated record.
What pops into his mind, unbidden, are memories of two of his best friends - Sam Keys and Kyle Adams.
"I think about what the team would be like if they were there - they were definitely two of our top linemen - and how much better we'd be," Tharp said.
Keys and Adams died in a November 2006 car accident. They would have been juniors this year.
Their memory remains strong among the players and the coaching staff. Keys was the son of assistant coach Phil Keys.
Mulvane has also lost Emily "Emmy Sue" Rocha, a team manager who died of leukemia in September 2006, and Lindsey Moser, a cheerleader who died in a September car accident.
"Our school has been hurting," Mulvane coach Dave Fennewald said. "... We've had a tough year."
Football has helped, though. The team finished the regular season 9-0 and ranked fifth in Class 4A. Mulvane was to take on Rose Hill on Tuesday night in the state football playoffs.
"The football team playing as well as they have is something our school can really rally around," Fennewald said. "It kind of gets everybody excited and helps them take a step forward."
Phil Keys agreed.
"The real success is in the fact the kids and the community have picked themselves up and chosen to go forward and make good things happen," he said. "... I don't know if you can overcome, but you move past and embrace their memory and honor their memory by doing our best."
The Wildcats have kept the memories of the students alive.
At the football practice field, there's a rock with a large, green "M" on it, and trees around it that serves as a memorial for the students. On the back of the players' helmets is a "3" inside a red heart, signifying the loss of Keys, Adams and Rocha.
And before every game, Fennewald says "Thunder's rolling," a reference to the first day of football camp in July.
"The thunder was rolling, there was no lightning, just thunder," Fennewald said. "Both Sam and Kyle's moms came to camp ... and said that was Sam and Kyle saying 'Wildcats, it's time to come out and play.' That's the only rally cry we have."
Mulvane didn't expect to have such success. The Wildcats had lost too many linemen, too many experienced players from 2006 to even consider an undefeated season.
The Wildcats' success is largely due to the team's talent, but there's no discounting the importance of the emotion they practice and play with.
"We go out to every game and play for those people that have died," Tharp said."... It's more of an incentive to go out and play hard for them. In a way, it kind of helps us."
The resilience of the school and community is what has impressed Phil Keys, the assistant coach.
Junior quarterback Jordan Gosch agreed.
"We're just kind of doing our best for them," he said. "It definitely gives us more energy to play for them."
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.