Celebrating Excellence Everywhere: On anniversary of Sandy Hook shooting, a glorious touchdown brightens Newtowns spirits

Story Courtesy of The Washington Post

Dec. 14 is the most solemn of days in Newtown, Conn.

It is a day marked by vigils and religious services. Flags drop to half-staff. Family and friends gather to grieve. And at 9:36 a.m., the church at the center of town rings its bell 26 times — one ring for each of the children and educators killed by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

But on Saturday, the seventh anniversary of the shooting, the day of quiet remembrances was punctuated by joyful celebration when the local high school football team won the state championship in epic fashion.

In the game’s final seconds, Newtown Nighthawks quarterback Jack Street launched a soaring 36-yard pass to senior wide receiver Riley Ward, who carried the ball into the end zone just as time expired to give the team a 13-7 win over the Darien Blue Wave.

The crowd erupted in cheers as Ward threw his helmet in the air and took a celebratory sprint across the field. The stands cleared, and the young man was soon surrounded by teammates, coaches and a throng of supporters.

FINAL — Oh. My. God.

Street hits Riley Ward for a 36-yard game winning touchdown as time expires in the fourth quarter.

Newtown 13, Darien 7.

The Nighthawks (13-0) are your Class LL state champions. pic.twitter.com/qCIF3E5Ruu

— Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) December 14, 2019

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Ward told the Hartford Courant. “I love this town. I love everybody. I’m at a loss for words.”

It was a moment of pure athletic glory that lifted spirits in the town of 28,000 and rippled out into a nation where gun violence claims tens of thousands of lives every year.

Several of the team’s players attended Sandy Hook, and the brother of one of the linebackers was among the children killed in the massacre.

“7 years ago in Newtown, CT was an unspeakably awful day. 7 years to the day, kids from that town and school did this,” tweeted veteran sportscaster Scott Van Pelt of ESPN. “Sports are amazing sometimes.”

“Amazing,” said Jimmy O’Brien, a popular sports video blogger.

“This is a movie,” wrote sportswriter Molly Knight of the Athletic.

The attack on Sandy Hook remains one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history. A gunman armed with an assault-style rifle stormed into the school, fatally shooting twenty first graders and six educators before killing himself.

Ahead of Saturday’s football game, many Newtown residents attended memorial services for the victims at local churches. Some expressed frustration that the country had made little progress in combating gun violence in the years since the shooting that upended life in the town, despite wave after wave of desperate calls for gun control.

“On this day seven years ago, we all thought the world was going to change. But it seems we were deluded because the situation has gotten even worse with the violence of guns,” Monsignor Robert Weiss, of St. Rose of Lima Church, told congregants, according to the Associated Press. “We live in fear, we live in anxiety, and yet we live in hope because we know God walks with us.”

At the game, Newtown supporters donned bold green, the Sandy Hook school color that has become associated with the push to end gun violence. Cheerleaders wore green bows, fans put on green face paint, and Newtown players wore green tape, as the Courant reported. Even some Darien fans showed up in green apparel.

The teams fought through thick fog for most of the game. At the 1-minute, the score was tied at 7-7. The daring, game-winning pass came with less than four seconds left on the clock.

“The whole town showed out on this special night,” senior Jared Dunn told Courant. “We knew we had to bring it home for our town.”