A Texas high school safety went viral after praying with an opponent following a tense district game, all in an effort to ease his rival’s stress and concern about his sick mother.
As reported by Texas Fox affiliate KXII, Sherman (Texas) High School senior football player Gage Smith went immediately after his team’s 56-27 rout of West Mesquite (Texas) High School to pray with West Mesquite’s Ty Jordan. The impromptu prayer session was inspired by a shared background in select 7×7 action and some news that Smith had received about Jordan’s sick mother.
“When you’re playing the game, you’re playing to win and the other team is the enemy, but afterwards you still have respect for the other opponent,” Smith told KXII. “I just had a moment with (Jordan) praying over him, his mom, and his family.”
Smith said he was surprised just how much viral attention the brief interaction received, noting that it was just one more way that football can bring people together.
For his part, Sherman head coach J.D. Martinez said he’s just happy his team’s captain is getting the attention he deserves.
“It’s pretty special that kind of everybody gets to see really what he is, he’s that type of kid all the time, it’s just not in front of the cameras or anything like that, he’s like that every day,” Martinez said.
