Let's be honest, here.
Prior to Chris Whidden taking over the reins of the Barnstable High School football program, something had faded away from a football program steeped in pride, deep history and the very fabric that had helped build the Red Raider athletics program. It seemed, to be frank, that Barnstable's heart had been broken a few years back. Many feelings and egos had been stepped on. Relationships were tested and some sheared in two.
The indivisibility of the communal sense of togetherness and pride that had been well over 100 years in the making, seemed to have been, well, divided.
And while Coach Whidden's presence and leadership had become a welcome breath of fresh air, while his invaluable, bright and loyal coaching staff had proven to be remarkably apt, devoted and downright joyful in being part of a "great thing," the true laurels of leadership belonged where they have always belonged: the players. The kids. The young men. Those who wore the Red & White.
Somewhere along the line, that ineffable, intangible and wholly necessary quality that makes a great football team had been lost or forgotten. And when such a quality seems absent, it can be next to impossible for any team, regardless of sport or talent, to win. No amount of yardage gained, no touchdowns scored, no degree of bravado or chest-thumping can replace what is irreplaceable.
It does not mater how many superstar, collegiate prospects a high school football team lines up or boasts or can brag about.
What matters most - what wins football games - what cannot be divided, bought, sold, marketed, dissected or deconstructed is a team's collective soul. For that very reason, it would be next to impossible to pinpoint or single out any one particular individual soul who is representative of an entire body of souls, any more than someone could select from all of us the next Messiah.
But what can be singled out and revealed as true is this: that there is something to be said for those who never give up. There is something to be said for those who stand up straight, heads held high yet not haughty in defeat or victory. There is something to be said about those precious few of us - our children included - who reach deep down inside themselves and turn off the "easy-to-flip" switch of concession.
Not a single individual young man on the 2012 Barnstable High School football team gave up believing that it could be done. With snowflakes whirling about, the bitter December wind cutting into their bones, young men like Andrew Ellis... Jason Frieh... Ryan Litchman...Kevin Hardy... Bryan Hardy... Jon Eldredge... Tom Grimmer... Derek Estes... Hayden Murphy and so many more... none of them were willing to concede a single inch of ground to a team that has long and continuously basked in high school football glory.
Barnstable had slain the Massachusetts High School football giant - Everett - in late September and in spite of the Super Bowl scoreboard reading "20-19," the Red & White had not failed to fight to the very finish. No newspaper poll could change that. No record book could erase the one major victory that this group of young men had achieved and will always be remembered for: that they had succeeded in re-unifying not just the 120-year-old football program, but the very thing that had built Red Raider Pride in the first place.
No, football is not everything. But if football is anything it is symbolic of the very struggles we all endure and aspire to overcome in our lives. It represents every human quality in each of us and its core values symbolize what this country was founded upon.
These 2012 Red Raider football players understood that and took it to heart long ago and because of that very thing - regardless of the win-loss column - the success they accomplished is immeasurable.
For they have mended a broken heart and reinstilled hope that leadership really is all about hard work mixed with a healthy dash of humility and topped off with a necessary comprehension that we are all connected and are all in this together and together we can can achieve great things.