SHERMAN, Texas (CNN) — Two high school football players went head-to-head during a game in Texas Friday night, but they captured many people’s hearts when they bonded after.
“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,” said Senior Gage Smith of Sherman High School.
Smith said he knows West Mesquite player Ty Jordan from a select 7-on-7 team they both played on.
Jordan’s mom is battling cancer and Smith asked to pray with him after the game.
Smith said, “I just had a moment with him praying over him, his mom, and his family.”
Smith says in that moment it was not about the score or being opponents, it was about showing compassion.
Jordan’s aunt posted the pictures on facebook expressing how much the gesture meant to their family.
So far it has over 140,000 shares.
Smith said, “To see that it blew up I was very surprised by it, and I wasn’t expecting it to be like that you know, I was just doing it for him and doing it for his mom and his family.”
Sherman Head Football Coach J.D. Martinez said Smith has been a team leader on and off the field.
Martinez said, “He’s a true leader, and he has compassion, and it followed through for a lot of the guys on the team.”
Martinez says his wife happened to capture the special moment. She sent the pictures to Smith’s mom who passed them on to Jordan’s family.
Martinez said, “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.”
Smith said, “Football brings people together in so many different ways, and that was just one example of it that night,” Smith said.
