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 More Than A Championship
The Sweet Home Panther football team won its second consecutive state Class A football championship this year. The victory was historic for our school district, which has a proud history of athletic accomplishments. Even more, the victory was a testament to a group of young men who learned how to overcome adversity, rally around a cause, and consider life issues that were much bigger than a football season.
Everyone who is familiar with Sweet Home football knows the story of Deshanaro (Day-Day) Morris. A star player on last year’s state championship team, Day-Day suffered injuries in an automobile accident soon after that game that left him unable to continue his football career on the playing field. The injuries did not stop Day-Day from being a leader for this year’s team, or from serving as inspiration to the football team and the high school. It would have been easy for Day-Day to take a different path, to separate himself from football and become discouraged with his circumstances. His teammates and coaches wouldn’t let him go down that road, and over the course of the season, the team learned about courage and passion from Day-Day and he learned about unconditional support from
them.
Sweet Home competed against Burnt Hills in the championship game at the Syracuse Carrier Dome, the same team they had faced in last season’s championship game. The young son of the Burnt Hills football coach is battling a rare form of cancer, and the team had dedicated their season to the coach’s son. Prior to the game the Sweet Home team sent the young man a gift basket and a signed football, with a note that read, “As hard as you will be cheering for the Spartans on Saturday, we will be cheering for you everyday.” Day-Day had kept in touch with some of the Burnt Hills players via Facebook after last season’s championship game, and the Burnt Hills team had sent him a t-shirt used to support fund raising efforts for cancer treatment. Day-Day wrapped the shirt around his
neck during pre-game team introductions in a sign of support for the young man, the Burnt Hill’s coach, and the spirit of the Burnt Hill’s team. The shirt was still wrapped around his neck when he held up the state championship trophy after the game.
The mother of the young man is a teacher who writes a daily blog entry named “Jacob’s Run” about the family experience of supporting her son in his battle with cancer. She wrote an entry after the championship game to express her son’s feelings about the Burnt Hills team, the loss of the game, and the impact of the Sweet Home team’s gesture. Her words are poignant and powerful, and describe how the Burnt Hill’s team season relieved her son’s pain and gave him something to look forward to. She describes his words of praise for the Sweet Home team, the strength of Day-Day, and how the Burnt Hills team makes him feel special. Two young men, one paralyzed and another fighting a life-threatening disease, shared something with each other because of a football game.
They each gained from the relationship and their respective teams gained not only inspiration, but also life lessons that sometimes take many more years to discover.
Our community is extremely proud of our football team for their athletic accomplishments. We’ve even more proud of them for their human accomplishments.
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Geoffrey M. Hicks became Superintendent of Schools on July 1, 2002 following the retirement of James P. Sheehan. Prior to serving as Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Hicks was principal at Sweet Home Middle School. In all, Mr. hicks has over 25 years of experience in education as both a teacher and administrator in the Sweet Home and Wellsville (NY) school districts. Mr. Hicks can be reached by calling 250-1402 or emailing him at ghicks@shs.k12.ny.us.
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